Now That You Have Brought A Dog Home, What's Next?

Bringing a new dog into your home is always an exciting experience. However, there will be many challenges with living with your dog. Here are some things to consider to help you and your dog enjoy each other.

Know Your Dog

Get to know your dog so that you have an understanding of their personality and behavior. This way you will be able to tell when they are going to be aggressive towards people and other dogs. You also need to be aware of the changes your dog will go through as they age.

Obedience Training

If your dog is going to be living with you and other family members, you will need to be able to control them. This is where dog obedience training becomes valuable. Once he has gone through the training, realize that you will have to constantly remind them of what they learned. They need to know that you are the boss and are in control.

Be consistent when dealing with them. This will let them know what is expected of them and what is right and what is wrong. Be clear with your expectations and your own behavior. You should not feed them at nine in the night one day and the next day at midnight. This will only confuse your dog and encourage bad behaviors.

Keep Your Dog's Breed in Mind

Learn about the breed of your dog including why that breed came into being. Some dog breeds were bred for aggression and others for work. In some fields of work, certain dog breeds are used to haul heavy loads or to round up sheep and other animals. Others still are used to search for contraband while some breeds make great guard dogs.

Reaction to People

Be careful who you expose your dog to, as there are many people out there who are not dog lovers. Some people are not fond of certain types of dogs so you may have to reassure them about your dog's behavior.

However, your dog may still react in an aggressive manner towards people. This can often be a signal that there is a bigger problem. You must react quickly when the aggressive behavior occurs. Let your dog know firmly that the behavior is not appropriate. You may need to take your dog in for more training to fix the unwanted behavior.