Most Common Mistakes New Dog Owners Make

When you first decide to add a canine companion to your family, there are all sorts of exciting emotions you can feel.

Often, the excitement of procuring the perfect pup can make you forget that accepting responsibility for a pet means more than just getting slobbery kisses every morning. Dogs have all sorts of needs beyond getting pet and getting fed. And, if you’re not careful, you can form harmful habits that will make life way more difficult for both you and your new four-legged friend.

With the help of a little research and a lot of discipline, and you can easily avoid many of the mistakes first-time dog owners make.

Keep in mind, every dog is going to have a special set of needs, but if you follow these general guidelines, you’ll set you and your furry friend up for years of cuddly, playful happiness.

Once an adorable dog locks eyes with you, it can be hard to turn away. After all, puppy eyes have their powerful reputation for a very good reason.

But prepare yourself before you ever start your dog search process to better understand all the different breeds and each of their specific needs. Over the years, dogs have been bred for all sorts of varying purposes.

Knowing what that purpose is will help you to create the happiest life for both you and your dog. Because of that, you need to know which pups might be best for your lifestyle and living situation.

If you end up adopting a dog that you’re not sure the mix of, there are tons of easy genetics tests you can take to find out. Arm yourself with knowledge so when you do finally lock eyes with your forever friend, you’ll know how to make sure they are (and in turn you are) the happiest.

Even though it can be difficult to say “No” to a big set of doe-eyes and floppy ears, it’s essential that you set down the proper rules and expectations for your dog.

We may treat them like people, but they are actually animals that thrive when they know their human’s expectations of them. Setting down clear rules so they know what they should and should not do will alleviate their anxiety of wondering how they should behave.

Plus, when they know you’re in charge, they can relax and enjoy themselves more than assuming they’ve got to rule the roost.

Puppies tend to live more extreme lives than the rest of us. They’re often extremely friendly, always extremely floppy, can be extremely skittish, and basically define what it is to be extremely adorable. As they grow, those extremes can transform in all sorts of ways — except, of course, the extremely adorable because they retain that forever.

Sometimes, that can mean something beneficial like they become less skittish as they gain more confidence. But sometimes, that means that their personality becomes a little less friendly to other dogs. To get angry at or simply try to force them to be something their not is unfair to you and your pup.

Adapting and embracing all the personality changes in your dog as they come about will allow you to simply grow with your pup. Having unfair expectations or attempting to change their personality will set you both up for immense frustration and constant failure.

If it’s a dangerous behavior, enlist a professional to help you. But if it’s just an annoying little quirk that you wish they didn’t have, both your lives will be way happier if you simply embrace who they are and work with it rather than against it.

This is a pretty hot button issue in many parts of the world with people feeling very passionate on both sides. The most important takeaway is knowing just deciding what type of conditions you want to support. Plenty of wonderful dogs find their way to shelters every year.

Before you immediately assume your perfect first pup has to come from a breeder and that you have to get them as a puppy, consider at least stopping by a local animal shelter. Most shelters are filled with loving, amazing animals who will make incredible — not to mention grateful — companions for you.

If, for some reason, you are really specifically set on a certain breed or procuring a pup in a different way, that’s your choice. But at least a quick perusal of an animal shelter will remind you that there are lots of four-legged friends begging for homes every day.

If you take one home, you’ll not only be giving it a forever home, but you’ll also be creating a temporary space for another homeless pup in the future who could also get adopted.