Common mistakes we make with our dog

The most common mistakes we make with our dog and which we sometimes don’t realize are errors are the following:

1) Inadequate nutrition – due to too much cuddles or sometimes for convenience, we choose inappropriate foods for our dog. Either we choose to feed them with leftovers from our meals or we choose a commercial food rich in grains and lacking the proteins so necessary for dogs or we choose to cook them ourselves without having the slightest idea about dog nutrition and what it needs to be healthy.

2) Lack of attention – dogs are sociable animals and eager to interact with their owners. Unlike cats, they need our attention almost constantly. In their absence they tend to become anxious, sad, aggressive.

3) Excessive or unnecessary compensation – Rewarding dogs is not done to show our affection for them (there are other methods for this). Rewards should appear when we encourage/reward a behavior we desire. By rewarding him often and unnecessarily, the gesture will lose its value and will become something as natural as feeding the dog.

4) Reward the dog with food from our diet – it is preferable to purchase premiums from the trade that contain nutrients and are made specifically for them. It is not preferable to reward the dog with bread and pretzels. Let’s not forget that for many dogs the final reward is the ball. Therefore, rewards do not necessarily have to represent food.

5) The absence of rules – often leads to conflicts between us and our four-legged friends. Depending on our complaints and our way of life, we must impose some rules on our four-legged friend and, above all, we must be consistent so as not to disturb the dog.

6) Failure to update documents – it brings great inconvenience when you lose your dog by mistake and you have not updated the change of telephone number in the rec

7) Forget about brushing your dog’s teeth – hoping that commercial dental sticks can replace this practice. It is best to use them together: toothbrush + dental sticks

8) Lack of outdoor walks – it is not enough for a dog to be taken outside just to defecate for 10 minutes. Try taking a longer walk with your four-legged friend every day, or even going to a dog run for a play session.

9) The bones – We DO NOT give bones to dogs to gnaw on unless they are ONLY large beef bones and ONLY raw. NEVER boiled. Even so, we subject them to close supervision. Under no circumstances do we give dogs bones from chicken, turkey, pork, sheep, etc

10) Punishment – Disagreement about a behavior only manifests itself when it occurs. Never after a certain time (you come home from work and see a red slipper). The dog will not know what he did wrong. Disagreement is not achieved by physically punishing the dog, nor by yelling. Disagreement is expressed firmly through specific commands: “no”, “you are not allowed”, etc. These must be repeated every time a certain unwanted behavior is repeated, you must be constant so that your four-legged friend knows what to associate them with.

11) In the summer you leave it in the car in the parking lot – This operation should NEVER be done even if you leave the windows ajar, not even for 5 minutes. The heat from a hot car can be fatal

12) Don’t overdo hygiene – We must provide the dog with an adequate toilet. This means that his brushing and grooming must not be missed. However, we do not bathe the dog if it is not necessary and if we can only clean his paws when he comes from outside or only his face if he gets dirty with food, it is preferable to do so. We do not dye the dog’s fur or polish his nails. Whether it’s the special dog. Yes, there is such a thing.

13) The children – yes, they are ours, we love them but we are careful how they interact with the dog we have. Out of clumsiness, inattention, not at all out of malice, young children tend to express their affection towards dogs in a more bizarre way. He grabs his tail, ears, neck and this may not be to the dog’s liking.

14) We do not take the dog out without a leash – no matter how much confidence we have in our dog and the completed training program, we do not go out with the dog off leash. Dogs, no matter how trained they are, can be unpredictable around certain stimuli. His safety is at stake, we only remove the leash in designated dog enclosures or in places where there are no roads, cars or other animals and we are sure that there is nothing that could harm him

15) Visit to the vet – it shouldn’t be done only when the dog feels sick. Take him to the vet periodically for a routine check-up, for a series of blood tests to prevent certain disorders. Prevention is better than cure, right?

16) Our stress – we don’t spread it on the dog when we come home after a long day at work. The pace of our life can be very careful and we often come home after a day at work tired and stressed. Let’s not forget that our four-legged friend has been waiting for us to come home all day and there is no greater joy than that. We don’t burden him with our stress and we don’t get angry/revengeful at him for the less pleasant day we had

These are just some common mistakes that we make without realizing it most of the time. If you also have examples of such errors, please do not hesitate to let us know