There’s nothing quite as appealing as adopting a dog. Adding a furry friend to your family adds another layer of love.
It also comes with a few responsibilities, however. You’ll need to take care of them properly, making sure they’re healthy and happy.
You’ll need to make sure you can do this before adopting them. That means asking yourself a few questions, including:
Can you offer them a safe home?
Can you afford them?
Do you know how to keep them healthy?
When you’re finally convinced you’re in the right position to find your furry friend, there are a few specific steps you’ll need to take. Doing so not only makes sure they’re the right dog for you, but you’re the right owner for them.
Adopting A Dog: 4 Steps You Need To Take
1. Get Them Chipped
You’ll need to get a lot of paperwork done when you’re adopting a dog. While this could seem complicated and confusing, it doesn’t need to be. Since it’s an essential part of the process, it’s best to get this done early.
One of the more important aspects of this is getting your dog chipped, as this also involves filling out a lot of paperwork. You’ll need to be honest and accurate when filling this out. It affects your dog’s safety, so you’ve no reason not to be so.
Being able to find your dog if it goes missing is the most important reason to get them chipped. Make sure you don’t overlook this. It might even be a legal necessity to get this done, making it even more important to do.
2. Have Everything Ready
Before you take your new pet home, you’ll need to make sure you have everything ready for them. That means having collars, dog food, and somewhere for them to sleep. Even chew toys and similar toys should be bought before you bring your furry friend here.
It doesn’t need to be an expensive process, however, and you can get coupons for collars here, for example. Don’t go solely on price, as you’ll want to make sure everything you have is suitable for your dog.
Don’t forget to pet proof your home, too. You wouldn’t want it to be unsafe when your furry friend gets there. Once you’ve all of this done, you shouldn’t have to worry about getting it all done with your dog running around.
3. Take Them To The Vet
Visiting a vet should be one of the first things you do once you’ve gotten your dog. It lets you make sure they’re as healthy as they should be, while letting you get to know their vet. No issues should come up during this visit, but it lets the vet establish a health baseline for your dog.
With that, they can better judge and identify any issues that might come up in the future. That puts you and your furry friend in a much better position when they get sick. You can also start trusting your vet this way, and you wouldn’t want your first visit to them being when your dog needs help the most.
It’s worth researching a few vets before you pick one and take your dog to them. You’ll want to make sure your furry friend is in good hands, after all.
4. Implement Routines
Routines could be an important part of your daily life. They’ll be even more essential to your furry friend. You’ll need to make sure this is relatively strict, as it ensures your life with your pet goes as smoothly as possible.
You’ll need to focus on several things during this process, from meal times to when you take them out to go potty. Even when you take them for a walk, it should be at the same time every day.
Without this, they could end up interrupting your routine quite significantly. There’s nothing worse than a puppy running into your bedroom at night trying to go for a midnight walk. Implement a routine early to avoid this.
Factors To Consider When Adopting A Dog
When you’re thinking about adopting a dog, you’ll need to consider multiple factors. Doing so lets you make sure you can properly look after them. It’s not as simple as knowing you can house and feed them.
Instead, you’ll need to consider:
Commitment - Dogs live much longer than you might think. They’re at least a 10 to 15 year commitment, so you’ll need to take care of them long-term. If you can’t handle the responsibilities of pet ownership for that long, it mightn’t be the best choice for you.
Lifestyle - It’s not uncommon to have a busy life. Between work, family, and social commitments, you mightn’t have a lot of time to yourself. If you don’t, you mightn’t have the time for a dog. They need a lot of time and attention, so you’ll need to have a lifestyle that allows for that.
Training - Unfortunately, dogs don’t automatically follow orders. They’ll need to be trained. Some dogs will be more trainable than others, while some could take a lot of time and effort with this. Make sure you have the time to focus on this.
Adopting a dog comes with multiple responsibilities. You’ll need to be prepared for these before you adopt them. With each of the factors above, you should make sure that’s the case. If you feel as though you’re not prepared, that doesn’t need to be a bad thing.
Instead, it could be as simple as waiting until you are ready.
Wrapping Up
As appealing as adopting a dog is, it’s something you’ll need to be careful about. You’ll need to make sure you’re in a position to actually take care of them. By doing so, you can make sure they’re healthy and happy.
Asking yourself a few questions, considering several factors, and following a few steps will make sure that’s the case. While that means putting the effort in, the love you’ll get from your furry family member will be more than worth it.
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