Do you have pet insurance for your dog?
When results were analyzed by gender, age and region, the survey found:
Many dog owners who haven’t considered buying pet insurance think it’s too pricey (37%).
Can you prevent separation anxiety in dogs?
All dogs will at some point need to spend time alone at home, without their owners, which means they need to be taught how to spend time alone. This is quite simple to do; however, it needs to be done gradually so that your dog has time to get used to being alone before you return to work.
The advice from dog experts is that dogs shouldn’t be left alone for more than four hours at a time. If you work an eight hour day, and are unable to pop home at lunchtime to give your dog some company and exercise, you might want to think about hiring a professional to help care for your dog.
Coping with Puppy Blues
Puppy blues is the feeling of anxiety, overwhelm, depression and possibly regret after getting a puppy. It typically hits after a couple of months of getting a puppy and stays for a while. There are several reasons why a puppy parent will feel puppy blues and regret getting a puppy. Let me cite a few –
I REGRET MY DECISION… | SHOULD YOU GET A DOG
Getting a puppy is an exciting time, especially if you are a first time puppy parent.
I bet while you were waiting to bring home your puppy you thought about what it would be like to live with them.
Maybe you were dreaming of puppy cuddles and kisses or a sweet playful puppy who adores you?
But the reality of living with a puppy can be very different from what we see on TV. When this happens people can get the “Puppy Blues”.
You may have heard the term puppy blues in the past, but not known what it meant. Or maybe you are feeling overwhelmed or regret and don’t understand why. The most common reason the puppy blues happen is when life with your puppy doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would. This can affect everyone differently.
For some people they may feel sad, depressed or lonely, others may feel anxious or overwhelmed. It’s not unusual to want to cry. You may feel like your life will never be the same as it was before the puppy. Some will feel regret and want to return the puppy. Others still will start to have second thoughts about whether they were ready to get a puppy in the first place.
Whatever you are feeling know that you are not alone. Those first couple of weeks is the hardest but it does get better.
So you may be wondering what causes the puppy blues. After all you were so excited to get your new puppy. So what changed? The causes will differ by person but the most common reasons are:
Absolutely! I know I did the first week we brought home our puppy. Since this was not my first puppy as an adult, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about taking care of a puppy. But our previous dog, Molly was 4 months old when we brought her home. Although she was still a puppy we missed a lot of the early puppy behaviors, like chewing on everything and biting us all the time. Plus with Molly, it was just my husband and me in the house. This time around we had two school aged kids to care for too.
The funny thing is we chose to get a puppy because we were hoping it would help with some of the stress our family was feeling. We had read that dogs were great stress relievers for kids. I can tell you the first few weeks of Bella living with us were anything but stress free. I worried about everything.