Am I ready to get a dog?

I hear a lot of people say "I'll get a dog when I have a garden", as if the garden is the only thing that makes a dog happy. So how do you answer this question "Am I ready to get a dog?" before taking the plunge? If we dig a little deeper into how dogs function and what contributes to their well-being, we can highlight some key points:

• The presence of his master at his side.

  The longer and more often during the day as possible, the better. Rather than waiting to have a garden to get a dog, you should focus on the aspect of "I'll get a dog when I'm available for him", that is to say, a job at home or many days of teleworking, or in the worst case, the possibility of returning at least for the lunch break. Some companies now even accept that you take your pet to your workplace (let's hope that this becomes more widespread!). Getting a dog that will be left alone from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is not ideal, garden or not. Our dogs dedicate their entire lives to us, so the least we can do in return is spend time with them.

  
  

• Time to devote to him.

  A dog can live with just your presence, food, a bowl of water, and a place to do his business. But will he be happy like that? No.

  A dog needs relationships, a bond with his/her master(s). Moments devoted just to him/her. Moments of play, moments of caresses, moments of going out, real outings and not alone in the garden.

  
  

• The walks.

  A dog can certainly do its business in a garden and let off steam a little. But for your dog to be truly happy it is essential that it can smell different odors, and not just its own urinary and excrement which will not really arouse its curiosity and interest it. A dog needs to be able to smell the odors left by its peers to be stimulated, but also the odors of other animals which awaken its instincts. It needs to discover new places, so do not hesitate to regularly change the place of walk or even from time to time, let it guide you. You will see it is quite fun to discover what is the ideal walk according to your dog. In this way you will learn to know it better and this will strengthen your bond a little more.

Contrary to popular belief, a dog can be happy in an apartment. It is not the living space that matters but the presence of its owner and the complicity with it. Thus sometimes, dogs in apartments are even happier than those in houses, because they are more at the center of the home, they cannot be left alone in the garden. The fact of not having a garden also obliges owners to give them time to let off steam and therefore play. Time just for them. For their needs, in an apartment the owner will really walk his dog, several times a day. So it is not just opening the door to the garden here, but a real walk for the needs, its fundamental needs and its psychological needs.

Taking on an animal, dog or cat, requires also thinking about the costs involved . You have to be aware of the costs, and be able to assume them, be able to pay the daily medical expenses, and provide it with quality food.

It is also essential to think before deciding, about the question that will arise for the holidays. Are you ready to adapt your holidays to your dog? To choose vacation spots where you can take him with you? If not, do you have family or trusted friends to whom you can entrust him for a few days during your holidays? In the worst case, take into account the cost of a quality pension for several days.

Once all these parameters are taken into account, if you think you are ready to welcome an animal into your life and into your daily life, you will then live an incredible love story, because the love between a human and his animal is something incomparable. The dog will devote his life to his master, give him love every day without asking for anything in return, and the human will have in his dog his most faithful companion of life, a little being who will be there to share his moments of joy as well as support him during his moments of sorrow. His confidant, his support, his best friend.