Train Your Dog

Dog training isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone; some new owners find they lack the necessary knowledge to train their pet and the dog ends up training them, while others try to train their dog using the same tactics as what worked the last time, with unsuccessful results. But every dog is different—what works for one may be totally wrong for another. I was talking to the people at Locum vet jobs and got a bit of advice.

Here are a few tips to remember when getting your new dog:

1) Getting your dog from a shelter is absolutely fine—just be sure to ask the dogs history. That doesn’t only mean whether or not it was ever aggressive, it means asking what the dogs routine was, where it slept, and what kind of a life it was used to leading.

2) Don’t expect that the dog will like the food you give it. By asking the aforementioned questions you will hopefully have a better idea of what it is familiar with.

3) Don’t feed your new dog scraps from the table: boundaries need to be set from the off set. The dog who constantly gets his or her way is the dog who rules the household.

4) Expect that the first week will be difficult—if it isn’t then you will be pleasantly surprised. In that first week the dog my not want to eat much, drink much, or even go outside into the open air.

5) Similarly, don’t be surprised if your new dog doesn’t pay much attention. Dogs can often express their nervous feelings in this way, but after a while most will come around and want to be with you all the time.