dogs

We’ve all heard the familiar pleas: “Can we get a dog?” “I want a dog, look how cute he is!” Dogs are tons of fun and having a canine companion is great, but what’s involved with owning a dog can catch a person off guard.

Having any kind of pet comes with a price tag, but here are a few ways to keep your dog out of the vet’s office - or at least to keep the bills down if they do end up there.

There have been a spate of tragic & nightmarish stories in the media recently involving small children & dogs. Here is just one of the latest stories. Incidences of aggression towards kids, by family dogs, seems to be on the increase. 

Chatting with a client during a behaviour session recently, I was moved to comment. They stated that their dog was extremely large and that they were afraid. The dog had grabbed at visitors' trouser legs on two occasions and on another, had nipped someone's ankles as they retreated from the room. The family lead a very busy but gentle life with callers at all hours and times, and this dog was described as a nervous puppy, right from the outset. Always hiding, or going to her crate when people arrived. Despite their socialisation and training attempts, this pup remained wary and shy.

It's become quite popular in many areas to move dogs from one shelter to another in the hopes that they will have a better chance to be adopted.  The original idea of shelter transfers was a good one, I believe, when done right.  In my opinion, doing it right means that shelters and rescues are helping one another to better serve their communities by trading animals, giving long time shelter residents new exposure in a new location or transferring a dog with special needs (health or behavioral) to an organization with the resources to meet those needs.