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Showing posts with the label pet life

12 Useful Tips for New Dog Owners to Avoid Common Raising Mistakes

12 Useful Tips for New Dog Owners to Avoid Common Raising Mistakes The first three hours are a blur. I remember the box was open and Biscuit stood in the doorway of our apartment and did not come in. I had read that dogs need a few days to decompress. That sounded reasonable at 2pm on a Saturday with a dog I'd never met. So I sat on the floor in the hallway and waited. He waited. We were both fairly certain we had misunderstood something about this. Three hours later he was on the couch, head on my foot, asleep. Nobody had told me what those three hours were actually for. That's the thing nobody tells you. Raising a dog well isn't a set of rules you memorize. It's about a hundred small decisions, most of which you make once, in the first weeks, and then live with for a decade. Get a few of them right and the next ten years get easier in ways you can't measure. Here are the twelve I'd give a friend on day one. Start With a Vet Visit Before You Start With a Traine...

Before vs. After Getting a Dog — The Gap Is Absolutely Unhinged

Before vs. After Getting a Dog — The Gap Is Absolutely Unhinged I used to be a rational person. Then I adopted a dog. Now I occupy 18% of my own bed and I have no regrets. I want to issue a formal warning to anyone thinking about getting a dog. Not a "don't do it" warning. More of a "you will not recognize yourself in six months and somehow be completely fine with that" warning. Let me show you what I mean. The bed situation Before After The bed is mine. Queen-sized. All of it. I sleep in the middle like a starfish. It's glorious. I occupy 18% of the bed . My dog is spread across the rest in what I can only describe as a power pose. I sleep on the edge like I'm about to fall off a cliff. I do not move him. He weighs thirty pounds. I weigh six times that. And yet. Leaving the house Before After Grab keys. Walk out. Done. Forty seconds, tops. Step 1: put on shoes. He sits by the door, staring. Step 2: explain where I'm going . Step 3: he whines. Step 4...