What Does Responsible Dog Ownership Mean to You?
This September, cities all over the country are hosting their own Responsible Dog Ownership Day festivities.
Is there a dog in your family? If so, what does responsible dog ownership mean to you?
Responsible dog ownership can mean a lot of different things to different people. It all starts when you decide to adopt a dog. Will it be a big dog or a small dog? Male or female? Energetic or laid-back? Does it get along well with other pets in your family and will your other pets be okay with the new addition? These questions are just the beginning of a myriad of decisions that must be made in order to be a responsible dog owner.
It’s not just about making sure your pet has adequate food and water. Pets have many needs – physical, emotional, and medical. Depending on these needs and a host of other factors, the cost of owning a dog can range anywhere from $700-$3,000 or more per year. If you’re considering adopting a dog, it’s important to determine what kind of dog fits your budget – or if caring for a dog is affordable for you. While a pet may be perfectly healthy at the time of adoption, medical conditions and emergencies can arise with any animal – like when one of our office dogs recently ate a tank top and needed emergency surgery or when Pierre started having seizures earlier this year.
It is also important to make time for your dog. While some breeds are less active than others, dogs by nature are pack animals and need exercise and affection. Most misbehaved dogs simply have not been trained or do not receive the regular discipline and activity that they need.
Here at Found Animals, we are fortunate to be a pet-friendly workplace. On any given day, several members of our team bring their dogs to the office. Others occasionally bring their cats or foster kittens, and someone even brought in chickens for a photo shoot once. While bringing your dog to the office may sound fabulous, we encourage everyone on our team to be a responsible dog owner. Each office dog must be:
• Spayed or neutered
• House-trained
• Licensed
• Up to date on vaccinations
• Collared and leashed with appropriate identification
• Certified AKC Canine Good Citizen
Chester is one of our office dogs – you can see him here proudly displaying his collar and identification, including his AKC Canine Good Citizen tag!
While a collar and tags are essential pet identification pieces, it is also critical to microchip and register your pet in a microchip registry. A microchip is not a GPS, and it does not contain your information. The microchip stores a number that is linked to your contact information in an online database. If your pet is ever lost, an animal shelter, clinic, or veterinary office will use the microchip number to look up your contact information and let you know where your pet is located. If you need to register your pet’s microchip or update your contact information, you can do so for free with Found Animals’ Microchip Registry.
Lastly, but most importantly, remember that adopting a pet is a lifetime commitment. Puppies are adorable, but they grow into adults – sometimes very large adults. If you have the time and resources to commit to an animal, a new pet can be one of the most rewarding additions to your family.
What does responsible dog ownership mean to you? Tell us in the comments below.
Responsible dog ownership means taking Oliver and Susie out for a walk every morning and evening, even when I don’t feel like going out. It means taking them to the vet for check-ups and making sure their vaccinations are current, and playing with them each and every day and having fun with them, taking them on outings in the car and making sure they are seat belted in for their safety. It means getting them groomed every month and brushing their teeth every day. Reminding them of their manners when around other people with dogs, and giving them lots of hugs and kisses. Loving them even when they try to dig their way to China in a mud hole (Oliver).
I am responsible for a young dog and two cats. My dog Roxy is a bull terrier and has tons of energy – I take her for an hour long walk every morhning. We also do agility classes and practice in the backyard. Roxy has had many obedience classes also in order to learn good manners. When she completes her current class I think she will be ready to pass the CGC test. One responsibility with Roxy that I did not expect is the number of times I have had to take her to the vet. She has a low immune system and has had multiple problemns – urinary tract infections, intestinal infection, demodectic mites twice, and now has papilloma (warts around her mouth) And Roxy is only eleven months old! We have been to the vet 15 times in the 9 months that we have had her and we have had to do many home treatments like special shampoos three times a week and medicine every day. Roxy is on a very high quality food – grain free, limited ingredient – that is pretty expensive, and we buy special training treats that have no grain, chicken, peanut butter or soy in them. I am lucky that my husband makes enough money to pay for the vet and the special food, but sometimes I get stressed out trying to take care of Roxy’s health. So then I play with her and she makes me laugh at her antics – especially when she does “huckle buck” which is a wild and crazy way of moving that seems to be a signiture move of bull terriers. She gives me back so much love and laughter that I can’t imagine life without her.