It is About Dogs Too (Not Only About Fish)

by Jan Hvizdak; owner of aqua-fish.net

This article is not going to talk about fish or aquariums, but about dogs instead. Also, it reflects a personal point of view, and is that exception which happens sometimes. Aqua-Fish.Net is purely about fish keeping and there won’t be many articles devoted to other topics than aquariums here. In my personal life I’ve spent more time with dogs than with fish, and I want to share my experiences. From adopting a dog to basic steps how to stay dominant. I’m writing this article to tell you how great it’s to adopt a dog, how cool it’s to help a stray dog because if you love fish, you will most likely love many animals including dogs.

Why to adopt a dog?

Instead of buying a pure blood dog, adopting some from your local animal shelter is a gesture of humanism. It’s a gesture of how you treat animals and live beings. I adopted a dog because I wanted to help, and I wanted some to be happy. In the streets there are many starving animals and it’s not their fault. Their previous owners were tired of them, in many cases these animals were just Christmas gifts. At this point we can see similarities between buying dogs, fish, cats... practically any animal. Kids are good, or we want them to be happy during holidays, so we bring an animal. When the holiday is over, no-one wants to take care of that animal, people are leaving them at home for a long hours without giving them what they need. Animals, just like people, need interaction and need activities. Otherwise dogs may destroy things, eat shoes, cables... It’s not what owners want, but if they’re bored, dogs will start doing various things just to entertain themselves.

Here at aqua-fish.net we’ve been reading questions such as “I got this fish for Christmas or birthday, how to care of it?” hundreds of times. Fish are no exception, cats aren’t, dogs aren’t too. Of course, with fish it’s easy as it doesn’t need walks. All it needs are good water conditions, oxygen, filtration, food and maintenance.

But when someone left a dog in the street, it’s like a capital punishment. Most likely such a dog is going to die. There are cars, there are angry and brainsick kids practising their aggression and sadism at stray animals, there are diseases, cold nights, there is lack of food and water. A dog who have lived in a flat for about a year or more it’s a disaster. Not only there are all above-mentioned problems, the dog is left without the leader.

By adopting a dog from animal shelter you’re saving one life. You can save eventually two, because by giving a home to one, you’re allowing another to be accepted into the shelter. Of course, in some animal shelters animals are killed after 48, or 72 hours after being found if no-one is willing to adopt them. On the other hand there are no-kill animal shelters.

Give some dog a chance and adopt it if you can!

With a dog or two you’ll smile more often, you’ll spend more time outside, you’ll find new friends, and you’ll have more fun! If you can be a good leader, the dog will appreciate it and will always do what you want! A happy dog is the dog who knows own position in the group.

Things to do after adopting a dog

After you introduced your home to your new dog, make sure that you’re still the Alpha. Depending on a dog’s personality, with some dogs it’s harder, with some it’s very easy. Follow these tips to make sure you’re not doing anything wrongly:

Eat first, the dog must eat after you. If possible, show your dog that you’re eating from it’s bowl. You don’t need to eat the food at all, just act like you were doing so. When you’re done, give the food to the dog.
Don’t let the dog sleep in your bed. Dogs must feel where their place is.
If a command is given, never reward your dog if the command isn’t executed.
Don’t hug with your dog too much. As the leader you’re not going to hug with less dominant members of the gang. Especially if your dog has problems accepting you as the leader, don’t show your weakness by hugging!
Be fair! Always! Hierarchy is how things must work if you own a dog.
Just like rewarding your dog for good behaviour, punish it for doing bad things. But never hit your dog! Change the voice, don’t let the dog get your attention, be strict, let your body speak.

If you can follow these simple tips, you’ll have no problems with your newly adopted dog. I could speak about ways of rewarding or punishing a dog, about training in details, but as mentioned above, this website is about fish and this article is here to tell that if you can adopt a dog, do it.

There are other websites where you can learn about how to train a dog, puppy training, barking dogs and so on.

Thanks for not ignoring the dogs! A dog who lived through starvation and cruelty will give you the whole heart for the place called home and food!