Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Responsiblity of housing you new pet

Where are you planning to house your new pet? Hopefully, your answer is “indoors.” For some reason, many cat owners are under the false impression that a cat cannot be happy unless it is roaming free outdoors. Although this might have been the standard of thinking years back, it is
time that cat owners change their attitudes toward this subject. Aside from the obvious health hazards to outdoor cats, such as car fenders and fan belts, hostile dogs, hostile humans, and infectious diseases, there is another important reason: an increased threat of zoonotic disease transmission. As a result, although it is fine to allow your cat to spend some time outside, it should spend the majority of the day (and all of the night) inside.

Dogs raised as housepets will respond more favorably to training and generally have less behavioral problems than those that are perpetually banished to the backyard from day 1. This is because dogs crave the attention and company of people, and, in most instances, a backyard existence does not fulfill this need. Problem behaviors and disobedience frequently result from such discontent.

In decisions regarding the housing of dogs, excitability, size, and coat length are certainly three important considerations. As a rule, the more excitable the dog, the more attention that dog will crave. Isolate an excitable dog in a backyard away from human contact, and you are just begging for behavioral problems. At the same time, selecting a large dog for a housepet and failing to housetrain or command-train it properly could lead to some very disturbing and destructive confrontations.

If you are not willing to devote the time to properly train an indoor dog, you should stick to one of the smaller breeds in order to limit the damage that is bound to befall your carpet and furniture! Depending on the type of climate in which you live, haircoat length becomes an important factor to consider when deciding on indoors versus outdoor housing. In colder climates, dogs with long coats and dense undercoats can withstand the outdoor chill much better than can their shorthaired counterparts. Conversely, dogs such as the Siberian husky and the chow chow may have a difficult time coping with southern heat without the benefits of air conditioning.

Outdoor dogs with long haircoats will also require more grooming time and effort to keep their coats healthy than if they were housed indoors. Are you willing to devote this time each day? If not, either select a dog with a shorter coat, or plan on housing your dog indoors.

If you plan on housing a dog outside when it becomes an adult, be sure that it is housetrained as a puppy. That way, if the need ever arises to bring the dog indoors, it will be easier (and certainly more sanitary) to accomplish such a conversion.

No comments: