A dog seems to be the perfect way of coping with stay-at-home blues. A puppy will love you and keep you busy at home when you need to stay home as much as possible to stay safe. But as explained by canine trainer and behaviourist Paramita Das in the first instalment of this column, a dog is not a toy.
Das, a resident of FE Block, had held a webinar telling families interested in adopting pets, what to expect. In the earlier instalment, she had explained the kind of time, effort and support system one needs at home before getting a dog, whether one should get a puppy or adult dog and about how to choose a puppy that would compliment the ambience in your home.
In the second instalment today, she explains what to do next.
What breed to get
Choose a breed that suits your lifestyle. Spend time researching breeds and don’t just pick one up as it looks cute.
Activity level- Do you sleep till 10am? Do you watch TV all evening and want your dog to sit next to you or are you a runner who wants to take your dog on treks? Do you have kids at home or adults?
These questions are important in picking a breed. People think Labradors and Golden Retrievers make great companions but this is not what they were bred for. These dogs were bred to retrieve fishermen and hunter’s catch. So you may want to relax in the evening but your Lab is energetic and wants to play then. Mind you, not giving your dog exercise amounts to cruelty.
People think they can make Calcutta comfortable for a Siberian Husky by air-conditioning his room but that’s not enough. These dogs were bred for endurance, to survive miles in the snow. To keep a Husky healthy you have you wake up at 4.30am and take him for a long run before it gets hot. Can you do that?
A Malinois pup fetches a ball Sourced by the correspondent
After the lockdown, we all know how frustrating it is to be stuck indoors. This is how your dog feels if you don’t let him out.
Flooring- Breeds like Labradors and Golden Retrievers are prone to a condition called hip dysplasia. Pups of these breeds should not be running on marble floors that can be slippery. Grown-up dogs with this condition should not be walking on marble either.
Games- Beagles are extremely popular as they are compact-sized with short coats but they are also stubborn. You have to design mentally stimulating games for them else they’ll get frustrated and destructive. Beagles are scent hounds and so they see the world with their noses, even more than other dogs. To keep a Beagle happy you can hide his toys in the house or in the park and ask him to find them.
Training- Should you want breeds like German Shepherd Dogs, Rottweilers and Belgian Malinois, you must train them well. These breeds were meant to rear sheep and cattle and nipped the legs of these animals when they tried to go astray. Unless trained, these dogs may bite children they see running. One need not always hire a professional trainer; you can do it yourself but you need to learn it first.
Once the pup comes home
From the age of 60 days (eight weeks) to about 20 weeks, the pup’s sense of smell, sight and touch is developing rapidly and he is curious about his environment. Ideally you should expose him to 100 new experiences every month at this stage.
Throw steel vessels on the floor, open and shut umbrellas before him, burst fire crackers, play Rabindrasangeet and rock music… Otherwise, your summer-born dog may panic on Diwali night or in winter, when he sees people wearing hoodies.
You also need 100 new people to handle him in this period. Sadly, we live in an age when we have 5,000 friends on Facebook but none that we can call to play with our pup.
Nonetheless, allow the puppy to explore. Unless the pup explores now, his curiosity will get replaced by fear later and you’ll need a behaviourist to help him out of it. You’ll complain that he bites but you won’t realise that he bites out of fear and not aggression.
• To be continued
