Dog's Best Friend: An Activity Book for Kids and Their Dogs
Introduction for Parents ids and dogs is a great mix Having a pet puppy or dog provides a regular source of fun and exer cise for your kids without carpooling and with no assembly or batteries required Caring for an animal can teach kids many valuable lessons including Responsibility from taking care of the animal Patience from training and playing games with the animal Confidence from teaching the animal tricks Leadership from remembering to provide for the dog's needs and Satisfaction from a job well done Kids will have fun and at the same time develop a positive self image A Dog's Best Friend is written with the belief that regu lar healthy interaction between a kid and her dog will lead to good care for the animal while teaching valu able life lessons Activities are designed to keep kids involved with their four legged pals after the initial excitement is over Your kid will find fun games to play with his dog and cool things to make for his four legged friend Most of the activities require only
household items and a little imagination many can be done individually Adult help is suggested for those activities that require the use of the oven or tools Good pet care tips and information collected from pet care professionals and extensive research are included as well Appendix 1 provides a valuable chil dren's reading list provided by The Anti Cruelty Soci ety You'll find books about dogs cats owls and other animals that will teach kids about caring for their new four legged friend help them to deal with the loss of a pet offer great adventure tales and more Appendix 2 is a resource section that provides the addresses of animal friendly Web sites cable sta tions and organizations that can provide you with more information or additional fun animal time B Healthy Hound Hint Many pet care professionals suggest that you keep your dog indoors and make him part of your family Checklist of considerations Before Bringing a Dog Home A dog is a constant loyal unconditional friend for your child However there are a number of important things to consider before bringing a dog into your household
1 Think about your lifestyle your family and your finances Any animal that you adopt will require a long term commitment from you and everyone else in the household It's a commitment that should last for your dog's lifetime 2 Talk with everyone in your home before adopting a pet This is the time when you're likely to find out who your pet care helpers will be and who won't be helping 3 How many hours a day is your house empty Puppies can be adopted as young as seven or eight weeks old but such young creatures need to develop self confidence so that they will inter act in healthy ways with kids and other house hold members This confidence is built by not leaving the puppy alone for long periods of time and giving him a lot of attention and even a few short obedience training sessions where your puppy can receive much needed praise Training problems such as chewing on things you don't want him to may develop if the dog is left home alone too often 4 Is an adult in the household willing to provide the obedience training including socializing behavioral training and house training to make the addition of a puppy to your home a good choice 5 What kind of time do you have available for a
dog Are you home a lot but work out of your home so that you're not readily available 6 Do you have young kids who are not in school Are the kids older 7 What is your family’s activity level Do you like to sit and read books Watch TV Or is your fam ily very active and do they enjoy a lot of physical activity If you are a low activity crowd don't adopt a dog who requires a lot of physical exer cise such as a greyhound Instead think about adopting a breed like a basset hound They enjoy a lot of relaxing too 8 How do you want to interact with a dog Do you want a dog who's going to give a lot of affection or one who's more independent 9 Do you want a small medium or large dog 10 Do you want a male or female dog Male dogs tend to be larger eat more and be more indepen dent and therefore more difficult to obedience train They are also more likely to fight Female dogs tend to be easier to manage and are gentler These are generalizations and early environ mental influences such as loud noises and phys ical abuse and breeding will also affect the personality of individual dogs Neutering male or spaying female will mellow some of these sex specific
