article from dogtime.com
The reality is that unlike your children — or anyone else you’ve helped raise and take care of — your dog will probably not outlive you. Even more sobering, you may end up facing a difficult decision about when to end the life of this precious friend and family member.
By Madeline Gabriel, Certified Professional Dog Trainer
Have you ever beamed with pride seeing your dog do so well with children? Great! This one is for you and your wonderful dog. Historical bite statistics project that over 50% of our children will be bitten by dogs before age twelve, most often by a dog they know. Despite the fact that dog bites rarely cause serious injury, families are distraught and dogs often lose their homes, or even their lives.
So You Have a New Dog!
Introducing a new dog into a household where there is already another pet, whether a dog, cat, bird or small mammal, can be quite tricky. How to accomplish this without squabbles or bloodshed is a question often posed to animal behaviorists. The character of any new dog you plan to integrate is an important factor. Where possible, you should take into account the sex, age, breed, and past experience of any dog you plan bring home before making a commitment.The impact of obtaining a new dog can be strenuous on the other pets in the household. However, once the initial stress of introductions has passed, the new arrangement can turn out to be a happy one!
Happy International Assistance Dog Week! These canines devote their lives to the safety of their humans. We found this excellent article on BuzzFeed Animals and wanted to share.
Many dogs and cats get along very well. Dogs who are gentle and friendly and aren’t squirrel-chasing, predatory types can be great housemates with cats. Even dogs who do chase small prey outdoors can often learn not to chase or harm cats indoors once they’ve grown accustomed to their household cats as family members. Although you should carefully prepare and supervise your new dog, you should have little trouble integrating him into your household if he’s lived peacefully with a cat before or if your cat has lived with a dog. But keep in mind that dogs and cats, like people, need time to get to know each other. If they’ve never seen each other before, they probably won’t be instant friends.