|
|
||
YOU AND YOUR DOG Most people who have kept a dog at some time in their lives know that a family seems incomplete without one. Your dog will give you an enormous amount of companionship, love and affection for many years. For many of us, we also gain a good measure of protection and much needed support from our dogs in present day society. Most people buy a dog for companionship: it is something which is alive and responds to us in a way which objects, though they may be very attractive in themselves, do not. Beautiful books, paintings or pottery, although desirable as objects, are different for our being there with them. As they do not react to us, we cannot have a normal, loving relationship with them. Most dogs give us immediate, unstinting and generous love and affection. They undoubtedly enrich our lives and we would be very poor without them. Whatever other objects we collect around us, dogs hold a very special place.
ASSESSING THE COST Another consideration is the family budget. As a member of the family, a dog is entitled to a part of the family’s financial resources. In short, it is bound to cost something to keep and feed another living being in the household. Just to introduce a dog into the home and expect the costs to be absorbed without any effect on anything else is naïve, just as it would be to do the same for a new baby in the family. The daily costs are not great for most dogs, for they are continuous and will go on for some 10 to 15 years and, with luck, even longer. The actual cost of buying a dog, although an important consideration, is small spread over the average lifetime of most such pet animals. Once the decision has been made and the time and effort required is set aside for the care of the dog, then the rewards are very great indeed. But to get the best out of the partnership, there are many matters which need to be considered. ASSESSING THE DOG Should it be a purebred or crossbred? What size, what type and which breed should it be? Active or passive, hairy or shorthaired, a good guard dog (either as a warning or burglar alarm or a formidable anti-burglar device), male or female? Should you take on a puppy or would an adult be better? There are points for and against all these options, but to be able to make the best decisions you will need to know the many characteristics of as many types of dog breed as possible. Then you need to assess your own circumstances to see how they fit together. THE HUMAN-DOG BOND If we look at the relationship between ourselves and our pet animals dispassionately, or as nearly so as we can, it seems strange that one species, humans, should keep another, dogs, to share its home. Dogs are certainly not humans, but we tend to treat them as such. We are attracted to their facial appearance, especially when they have eyes which can look at us as directly as those of a child. We get comfort from the touch of their fur. The very act of stroking a dog is known to have a calming effect. This contact with the dog’s coat has been shown to reduce raised blood pressure, and recent work has shown that survival after heart conditions is greatly improved by owning a dog. We give dogs names, and talk to them as if they actually understood our language. There is much to gain from confiding in a canine friend which will never betray us or will never take a disagreeable attitude to what we try to express. Dogs are certainly very quick to understand something of what we mean, but that is usually clear from the way we say the words we use and how we behave in terms of what is known as ‘body language’. We do not have to know any of the Japanese language to understand when a Japanese man or woman is angry and threatening, or happy and pleased to see us. They can make it very clear that what we do is to their liking or not, without the need for us to have any idea of what the words mean. So it is that our dogs ‘read’ us very well indeed, and as they are mostly very anxious to please us, they anticipate our actions with great skill. We tend to forget that we are always giving our signals which tell our dogs what is likely to happen. As an example, it is quite clear to a dog when we are making preparations for going out for a walk or getting a meal ready. Much less obvious actions can be every bit as clear to a dog., which has the opportunity to watch its owner and the family for many hours each day. The dog usually has no trouble anticipating what we are going to do and when. Unlike most mammals, which can express a great deal from their body language, dogs also use their very mobile facial expression. This range of movement allows at least six different emotions to be expressed. A DOG IN THE FAMILY Dogs are very social animals; that is, they thrive in groups. A dogs sees its own social group as the pack, in which there is a well-established hierarchy, popularly known as the ‘pecking order’. The pack does not have to be all of the same species, and in the human home the whole family is the ‘pack’ as far as the dog is concerned. What is crucial to a happy home is that the human owner is the ‘pack leader’ and does not allow the dog to behave like a spoilt child. Just as a spoilt child is not a happy child, the dog which has its own way all the time can make everyone’s life a misery. This does not mean that an owner has to be so dominant that aggression or even cruelty is needed to maintain dominance. A much gentler and subtle way is all that is required. In addition to the health benefits to heart patients already mentioned, the dog can help maintain physical health in a more direct way by encouraging an owner to take regular outdoor exercise. Less obvious is the fast that as dogs need attention and food every day, so older owners who might otherwise neglect themselves tend to make special efforts on account of the dog, from which both parties benefit. Left alone, retired people may not get any provisions into the home or even keep it warm and dry, if it were not for the fact that they have another living thing to care for and consider. Dogs can act as a remedy for loneliness outside the houses as well as in private. A friendly and attractive dog acts as an ‘icebreaker’ in situations where it might be difficult to talk to anyone. Most people find that the company of a well-behaved dog allows them to make friends with a variety of passers-by in public places, without any other cause for them to become acquainted. Dogs are the perfect subject in conversations with casual acquaintances or total strangers who would not consider striking up a conversation in other circumstances. The dog even allows for conversations to be ended without embarrassment if this is needed. Dogs give an owner more confidence, independence and self-esteem. This is especially so with guide dog owners. Not only do their dogs help them along the road, but they reduce the need for reliance on the help of others but at the same time the dog helps the blind person to make more friends. DOGS AND CHILD
DEVELOPMENT There is even a hidden educational role for the dog in the family where there are small children. It is easier to demonstrate biological functions such as growth and development, toilet activities and reproduction when these can all be seen in the dog in the home. It can be shown to a child that the dog may be reprimanded effectively without violence and that it will still be loved afterwards, even though it may have been naughty. Censure for one matter can be shown not to be universal condemnation and rejection. There are some benefits from learning about parting bereavement from a relatively short-lived animal; this can stand a child in good stead later on for coping with the inevitable family deaths. An only child can gain much benefit from the companionship of a playmate dog, which is always around to join in the everyday adventures of the child’s world. It has been shown recently that a child with a pet animal is held in greater esteem by school friends, and that a child will confide in its dog more than any other individual. A healthy respect
and love for dogs and other pet animals can certainly improve pet
ownership later in life, as the early experiences are freely drawn upon.
A child who has owned a dog is almost certainly going to be a dog
owner as an adult. from The Practical Guide to Dog & Puppy Care - Andrew Edney and Roger Mugford |
|
|
||
