The most important pet safety tips require a lot of work. But, before we get into pet safety tips, there is one thing you should know. Getting a pet will be a lot of work. If you are planning on adopting a dog, expect it to be your child for a few years. You have to take care of it. You have to train it. I cannot stress enough how incredibly important it is that you train your dog.
Before I even bothered looking up any pet safety tips for my family pet, I looked up pet training tips. Contrary to popular opinion, there are right and wrong ways to train. The most important of pet care tips are all about how crucial it is to train your dog. Simple commands like Come, Sit and Stay are key. Not just having them do it when there is a treat nearby, but, as soon as they hear the command, they are to respond. Think about how important those commands could be during a walk.
The next tip in family pet care is to socialize your pooch as early as possible. When dogs grow up with other dogs around them, they remain calm in the presence of dogs when they are older. My dog was not socialized when we adopted her. So now she has something known as barrier aggression.
Barrier aggression is so rarely diagnosed, and so tragic, but can be trained out of a dog with enough time. It is important never to write off your dog. Always persist in their training.
An example of walking my dog can explain barrier aggression. This is completely true and happens every walk. My pit mix pooch, 1.5 years named Yuki, and I are casually walking down the street. Also casually down the other side of the street comes a walker with the dog. We eventually cross paths.
Two things can happen here. If the other dog was trained, it will be mellow and just walk on by, not caring about me or Yuki. This rarely ever happens. Most people do not train their dogs, and therefore they flip out when my dog is near.
If Yuki sees another dog losing its mind, she also loses her mind. She will bark and pull, trying her absolute hardest to get to that other dog. If I pull on the leash to get her to move away from the dog, she will snarl and bite at her leash, and even nip at me. The leash and I are barriers keeping her from getting to the dog. If Yuki had been socialized before we adopted her at one, and other people had trained their dogs not to go insane, none of this would happen.
It bears repeating. One of the most important pet health and care tips is just to train your dog. Obedience is the only way you will be able to fully control your dog. So, rather than have her go bonkers for a whole block as you drag her while barking her fool head off, train her to calmly and quietly ignore any other dogs and walk along. For the health of everyone involved.