Just like humans, your dog needs a lot of tender love and care. This is extremely necessary for its overall health and happiness. From their outer appearance, they do seem like those stuffed animals you see in the toy stores. However, you must always remember that they’re living and breathing animals that have their own needs.
In the process of raising a well-rounded dog, you must pay close attention to its diet. Additionally, it’s important to ensure that it gets enough exercise. You must also make sure that you’re keeping up with the scheduled visits to the vet. Here are a few things that you must do for your dog to keep it healthy and happy:
1. Give it a good exercise daily
Regular exercise will help your dog maintain a healthy weight and give it some mental stimulation. You can develop good behavior in your dog by keeping it active. The dogs that are inactive and bored often tend to display unwanted or unpleasant behavior. Just like human beings, dogs need daily exercise to remain in good health.
The proportion and intensity of the exercise depends on your dog’s breed, size, age, and level of fitness. Additionally, you can include several other activities in your dog’s routine. This variety would challenge its senses and keep it active.
2. Give your dog a balanced and nutritious diet
Feeding your dog a generic kibble mix might not give it the required nutrition. The foundation of your dog’s healthy life depends on what kind of food you’re feeding it. A custom kibble that has been prepared just for your dog can be quite effective. It provides your dog with excellent overall nutrition. The kibble mix must be made using real meat such as chicken, lamb, or beef.
It must also include healthy carbs such as whole wheat, barley, and oatmeal. You must give your dog a good balance of vitamins and minerals in addition to nutrient-rich fats. One important thing to remember is that the diet must be based on your dog’s individual requirements. This greatly depends on its age, size, and health. You can also have your dog’s kibble mix tweaked at any time.
3. Allow your dog to socialize
You might think that socializing your dog involves walking it on a leash and meeting its neighbors. In fact, socializing goes well beyond this. Socializing means introducing your dog to different types of environments, sounds, objects, people, and other animals. Of course, this must be done in a safe and controlled manner.
This is to give your dog some positive experiences and allow it to learn some valuable skills. These skills include adapting and problem-solving. You must help your dog understand how it must respond to new situations. If you’ve adopted a puppy, you can sign it up for group play and socialization classes.
4. Teach your dog to behave well
Many think that their dog looks cute when it jumps on other people. On the other hand, those people might not find it cute at all. They, especially the children, could find this behavior scary. So, it’s important that your dog knows how to behave well.
You can teach this to your dog using positive methods. Training your dog must not involve force, pain, or punishment. They might have long-term negative effects on your dog.