Before you Adopt/Buy a Dog, Lessons We Learned as Furparents by Sanegeal Farmhear

I longed for a dog since I was little and was even bothering my mother that if ever we already own a house we would have a dog. She agreed but I found out that it was a white lie. By the time I was a grown up when I realized this, I came up with the conclusion at that time that I won't for now as I didn't have the heart to adopt one because I know I'm not ready yet for another responsibility.

But one day lo and behold! Things changed when a puppy in a box was brought in by my brother without the family's consultation. The puppy was cutely yipping and yapping and none of us knew how to care for a dog. What can we do? Are we going to give it away? Definitely not. We felt sorry for the pup and in the end we welcomed him home. By December, we had another official family member. 

As I've mentioned, we didn't know anything about pup-rearing. Let's start with the physiological needs of dogs.

One mistake that we did was to give him stir-fried human food that was made solely for him (Very VIP-like, right?). We did ask in our defense but it was the wrong one. Haha. One lesson that we learned was that it was best that you start them with dry dog food only which are suitable for their needs. Puppy and Adult dog food are entirely different as the former contains high in protein. If you feed an adult dog with a dog food that is purposely for a puppy dog, this may eventually lead to kidney failure. We gave him Cosi Dog fresh milk which he loved. Did you know that there was also a dog milk powder for puppies?  Too bad I learned it too late as fresh milk for dogs are now priced at 200 pesos per 1 liter. The label in the milk states that after opening, this is only good for a week or less.  Also, don't forget to give them plenty of fresh water.

Next is to their need to eliminate. Potty train them while young. But how? We bought pee pads but he was only keen on destroying it every time he gets to see one. Pee pads are expensive in pet stores and a friend told me that she buys them online which is cheaper than those in the malls. By the way, did you know that there is a diaper for both female and male dogs? I thought that it is just the same. Apparently, the one that has the resemblance of the human baby diaper is for the female. And oh yeah, a trivia: the word bitch pertains to a female dog.

Anyway, back to the need for urination. I asked around and a coworker said that he sprays some kind of spritzer bought in a pet store in the pee pad so that if able they are able to sniff it out they would pee there. What worked for us was that because he was destroying the pee pad every chance he gets, I thought that why not put a little bit of his urine in the pad. Surprisingly, the naughty pup avoid ripping the pad into shreds and did pee in the pee pad. Another tip that I've discover if you cannot afford pee pads is the use of newspapers. Maybe it's the smell? But it worked for me, he was peeing and even defecating there.

Next lesson that we learned is the importance of vaccinations. Please do not take out your pets who are less than 1 year old outside if you haven't completed their essential vaccines. A lot of furparents are grieving for the loss of their beloved pets due to them succumbing to viral illnesses such as parvovirus and distemper which are highly lethal to young puppies. Our dog had parvovirus despite him not socializing outside. The veterinarian said that the virus can also be acquired through shoes that we use outside and the pup may have licked it. That dark time was pretty intense and devastating for us as we were told that it was a 50-50 percent chance for him. Furthermore, even if he did pass the critical stage, he still isn't safe as there are instances that dogs may still die after 1 week of hospital discharge. He was lucky because he was brought out early in the vet. For parvovirus, time is of the essence. So for the furparents out there, please sanitize your shoes or keep them out of the puppies' reach. Hospitalizations and medications when your dogs get sick are very much expensive. The vet costed more than 10,000 pesos for a week which I think was minimal than other clinics. And we were also lucky that our pup was a fighter.

Before you even consider taking an animal, please make an assessment of your personality and your lifestyle if a pet will be okay. If you can, please adopt instead of shopping for one. Animals are also living beings.  As pets, they are dependent on us for their needs and in return they provide unwavering selfless love. Please let us not be selfish. And if you ever want one, ponder and reflect if you are sure in taking a long term commitment because taking care of pets like dogs are like taking care of toddlers.