The greatest thing that Baxter taught me was that I’m a canine person. I always knew he wasn’t going to be my one-and-only dog. during this time between dogs, I’m taking some time to think and plan for the next addition to our family (in addition to being a canine person, I’m an organized, analytical, planful person).
One of the things I’m finding helpful is to think about what I’d like to do differently with our next canine and what I hope will stay the same.
I’d appreciate your input as well. What do you do when you’re thinking of getting a new dog? What changes have you made—for better or worse—with the dogs that have been part of your families?
What I’ll do the same with our next dog
Adopt our canine – We went the adoption route with Baxter and could not have found a much more ideal canine for us. I know that we can find the best canine for us again through adoption. I’m not picky about breed or sex. I want a big (not giant) canine with short hair. and she/he needs to certainly get along with our two-year-old daughter, Ellie. Adoption also makes sense for us because we are not searching for a puppy.
Choose an older canine – I still have no desire to go through the puppy stage. Ίσως κάποια μέρα. but for now, I like the idea of adopting an older, but still young dog. Ideally, I’m searching for a canine around 3 years old. Still young enough to hopefully have good health and a long life with us.
Select for energy level – I have written before how low energy Baxter was. For us, it made him a very easy canine to live with. I know that I do not have enough energy to correctly care for a high energy dog.
I like to do two walks a day, mixed with some longer walks or off-leash hikes. But, like many of us, some days it’s hard to juggle walking the canine with everything else that I have to do (especially while single-parenting an independent-minded two-year-old). I need a canine who can adapt to the activities we’re doing on a given day.
What I’ll do differently with our next dog
Prioritize “good with children” – The big difference from the last time we adopted a dog, is that we now have a child. Ellie loves animals and is very well-behaved and gentle with them. but kids are still freaky to some dogs.
Bax was described as good with children, but it wasn’t a huge issue to us as we didn’t have little kids in our life when we adopted him. and after a few years of not being around children, Bax struggled in some cases with little kids (though he eventually became rock solid with Ellie). I am not expecting rock solid best away, but whatever canine we bring into our house needs to be very, very alright with Ellie.
See our post: Adopting a canine when you have kids
Train recall – Bax was not always the best at coming when we called him. He was pretty well-trained and very well-behaved. but if he wasn’t in the mood—and he was independent minded—or if his prey drive kicked in, we in some cases couldn’t make him come. Come is such a critical command. Something I will do differently with our next canine is do a better job of training recall.
Invest in good food – For many of our time with Baxter, we fed him kibble. At first, we started with a bargain brand, but when he seemed to be itchy, we upgraded to a better quality kibble. towards the end of his life when we were struggling with a mystery illness, we switched to a raw diet. I feel there are benefits to a raw diet, and it’s something I’d like to give to our next dog.
Skip the training class – this one is a maybe. We loved our trainer and felt that the classes we took helped us a lot with Bax. However, I took very comprehensive notes during our classes, and I also learned a lot with Bax. I feel like I ought to be able to replicate at least some of the training on my own. but class creates a level of commitment that I can’t replicate. and training is so essential for bonding. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do. I feel like a lot will depend on the canine that we get. For other second time canine owners, do you do training classes with your subsequent dogs?
Use our outdoor canine run – Our original plan was to give Bax some freedom and fresh air on days when we weren’t at home by putting him in an outdoor canine run on our property. Bax vehemently vetoed that plan when he hated the canine run and continuously escaped. I still feel it’s a good place to spend the day, so I’m wishing to try again with our new dog.
Crate train – Bax was never crate trained, and we didn’t really miss it. (There was one separation anxiety-esque event in his earlyΗμέρες, αλλά ποτέ δεν συνέβη ξανά.) Είχε την πορεία του σπιτιού κάθε μέρα, και λειτούργησε καλά. Αλλά μπορώ να δω τα οφέλη από το να μπορώ να σκοντάψω το σκυλί μου, οπότε είναι κάτι που σκέφτομαι.
Κάθε σκύλος είναι διαφορετικός. Γνωρίζω λοιπόν ότι η εμπειρία μου με τον Baxter δεν θα μεταφερθεί εξ ολοκλήρου στο νέο μας σκυλί. Αλλά ελπίζω ότι ως ένας ελαφρώς πιο έμπειρος ιδιοκτήτης σκύλου, μπορώ να προσφέρω ένα καλό σπίτι για ένα άλλο σκυλί. Και αυτό με λίγη σκέψη, μπορούμε να βρούμε το καλύτερο σκύλο για την οικογένειά μας.
Ποια καθοδήγηση έχετε τους υπόλοιπους;
Τι θα κάνατε διαφορετικά με το επόμενο σκυλί σας; Τι έχετε κρατήσει το ίδιο για όλα τα σκυλιά σας;
Σχετικά άρθρα: Επιλογή του καλύτερου σκύλου για την οικογένειά μου
Πώς να επιλέξετε το καλύτερο σκυλί
Η Julia Preston γράφει για αυτό το mutt σχετικά με τη συμπεριφορά και την κατάρτιση των σκύλων, τα σκυλιά που εργάζονται και τη ζωή στο αγρόκτημα της στο Οντάριο του Καναδά. Έχει ένα γλυκό, χαλαρό μίγμα μπόξερ που ονομάζεται Baxter. Είναι επίσης blogger στο σπίτι σε 129 στρέμματα όπου γράφει για τις περιπέτειες της χώρας που διαβίωσης και η DIY ανακαίνιση.