Use A Dog To Teach Your Child Responsibility

Has your child been begging for a puppy? Well before you say yes or no there are a few things you need to think about. Having a pet is a really good way to teach your child responsibility, however, is your child ready for responsibility?

Let's discuss the things you need to think about to help you make the decision.

Have you and your child thought about all the things that are required for raising a puppy or taking care of an adult dog? Let's go over a few those things right now.

Potty Training

If you're getting a puppy it will require being taken out several times a day probably even in the middle of the night while it is being potty trained. Who will be doing that, you or your child? If you don't have a fenced yard somebody will have to take the dog for his potty walks again the decision is who will be doing it.

Here's a big question that comes up quite often. If you do have a fenced in yard and are able to just let the dog go out into the back to do his business who will be cleaning up the poop? It needs to be done on a regular basis to keep your yard sanitary and to keep everybody from stepping in it.

Feeding

For a puppy feeding time comes three times a day and if this is going to be your child's dog certainly your child should be doing the feeding. Even though feeding a puppy is not a hard chore your child needs to realize that he or she will need to be home in order to take care of this responsibility. An older dog only needs to eat once or twice a day so it's much easier.

Exercise

Playing and exercising your dog is a large responsibility and something that your child should be doing with the dog. Dogs need to be walked on a daily basis or taken out in the backyard and allowed to retrieve a ball but no matter how you do it you need to spend a generous amount of time with your dog.

Training

Training your dog to be an obedient and faithful member of the family requires some work but it's definitely something that is a necessity. If you get a large breed dog they grow very rapidly so training should begin early when the dog is 16 weeks of age. Smaller dogs can wait to be trained a little bit later around six months of age. However it doesn't matter whether your dog is big or small training is something that is a must. There is nothing worse than a poorly behaved dog.

As you can see there are several different things to consider when getting a dog for your child. However allowing your child to have a dog is an excellent way to teach responsibility as you can see from the list there are many things that he or she will be responsible for. So now the decision is yours, however if you decide to allow them to have a dog make sure that they stick to their responsibilities.

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Exercising Your Dog Can Maximize Your Training

Dogs need proper exercise. Making sure you burn off excess energy can greatly impact the way your pet responds to your training efforts. Here are a variety of ways for dogs to get the exercise they need. Utilize these ideas to get your dog in shape and be able to train a calm, relaxed animal.

1. What kind of exercise is good for a dog? Swimming is always at the top of the list for exercise for your dog and just like for humans you don't have the impact problem on joints. So if you have a pool or live close to a lake or river get that dog in the water for some really good exercise.

If you aren't close to a good swimming hole then you can always go for a nice long walk or even use a treadmill for areas that have really hot, cold or wet climates.

2. When are the best times to exercise a dog? I think the answer there is, what is your weather like and when are you going to train? If it is summer you will want to walk early or late so that it isn't too hot for you or your dog. During the winter when things are cold going for your walks during the middle of the day when you can get the warmest hours or the best.

3. Does a dog need a specific amount of exercise for training? Exercising your dog prior to a training session can be as simple as a walk around the neighborhood or a few minutes of retrieving the ball in the backyard. You will be able to figure out how long is the right amount without completely exhausting your pet.

4. Does play count as exercise? Sure, retrieving a ball, catching a Frisbee, or any other fun activity can be a great method to exercise your dog.

5. How long should training sessions be after exercising? Training sessions are always best when limited to about 15 minutes. Keep in mind one very important thought. Make sure that your current training session makes you dog just a little bit better at obedience than the last session.

6. Does the trainer need to be the exerciser also? Absolutely not. If one of the kids wants to do the long walk for you, then just give them a big thanks. That will keep you fresh for the hard part, the actual training.

If you will take a few minutes to exercise your dog using some of these tips before your training session, I think you will find that it is will be much better for you and mans best friend as well.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Exercising-Your-Dog-Can-Maximize-Your-Training&id=8347236