Raising a dog is a decision that lasts for over a decade! So, you must carefully assess whether you have the time and energy.
My dog Dazai has been home for a month. I had previous experience taking care of a Samoyed puppy, so I’m not a complete novice. However, that experience with the Samoyed also made me hold back from getting another dog, even though I really love dogs.
This month, Dazai has brought joy to me and my friends, but it has also added some daily tasks of taking care of it.
Four cute shots of Dazai
Since I live alone, I considered getting a cat at first. I visited a cattery, but I thought cats were too aloof, just having fun on their own. And after holding a cat, my clothes were full of fur. Also, considering that cats can climb high and might knock things over, I decided to raise a dog instead.
Be cautious when raising a large – sized dog. You must consider whether the dog’s personality traits match the owner’s lifestyle. Puppies, especially large – sized ones, poop and pee more frequently. When a large – sized puppy grows to 30 – 40 pounds, cleaning up its feces can be quite a pain. Secondly, if the house is small and has no balcony, it will smell bad. Moreover, if a large – sized dog is not well – trained, it can cause a lot of trouble by destroying things at home. In addition, large – sized dogs generally need a lot of exercise. If you’re a woman with less strength, you’ll know how painful it is to walk a dog that suddenly dashes forward. Large – sized dogs also eat a lot… so they can be quite costly… (Nowadays, when I see people raising large – sized dogs on the street, I think they must be wealthy.)
So, I decided to raise a Bichon Frise, considering its light body odor, minimal shedding, and intelligence (I later found out that Bichon Frises aren’t highly intelligent).
On a dark and windy night, I brought my Dazai home.
Actually, I brought Dazai home after work on a weekday. I originally planned to pick it up on the weekend, but the kennel was too far away, so I took it home directly.
Here, I still suggest bringing a dog home before having a few days off. Because training a dog to use a specific place for elimination basically requires understanding the dog’s habits, and you need to take it to the fixed location every two hours. Dazai still occasionally makes mistakes when pooping.
The seller was very responsible and kept emphasizing that Dazai should stay in the cage for the first three days and not be let out. Cage – raising is recommended before it’s three months old. Don’t think about dogs from a human perspective. When a dog first arrives home, it may have a stress reaction due to unfamiliarity. So, let it rest well in the cage. Living in the cage for a while can also help it develop good habits and reduce the owner’s property losses.
On the first day home, it’s very likely that the dog will bark. Don’t pay attention to it. Once you do, it may think that barking can attract the owner’s attention, and it may be more difficult to correct this behavior later.
Dazai barked intermittently for an hour or two on the first night, but it didn’t bark on the second day.
It found the toilet to pee on its own.
Now Dazai still lives in the cage. This may not be the best for the dog, but for a working person, it may be the best choice.
After Dazai got its first vaccination, I took it out. I didn’t follow the seller’s advice on this. Of course, this was an experiment on my part. When getting the injection, the veterinarian said, “Socialization is the key to determining a dog’s personality.” As a learning – loving “Dazai’s mom”, I went online to learn more about it. Socialization, simply put, means helping the dog adapt to the world we live in, so that it won’t have extreme reactions.
Dazai’s experience list
Now Dazai is super calm when facing a vacuum cleaner. When a big dog sniffs it, it’s also very calm. It remains calm even when a steel basin drops or when there’s renovation upstairs.
Back to the question of whether it’s troublesome, let me talk about how much time I spend each day.
In the morning, I need to feed it and take it to the toilet, which takes about 10 minutes.
In the evening, after coming back, I feed it, brush its fur, and take it to the toilet, which also takes about 10 minutes.
Generally, after it poops, I let it run freely. In fact, it just clings to you all the time.
Playing with it, taking it out to experience the world, washing its feet, occasionally wiping its bottom, and changing the pee – pad take half an hour to an hour.
At the beginning, you may need to buy a lot of things online, and unpacking the parcels can be quite time – consuming.
And you need to learn how to raise it more easily.
I think raising a dog is like loving a person. At first, it’s an emotional impulse, but later, it’s all about responsibility.
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