Increasing numbers of dogs and cats are abandoned every year in the USA due to behavior problems. 80% of shelter population are there because the prior owner gives up their pet because of a behavior related issues.

I strongly recommend:

1. Spend alot of time selecting your next pet. Most pets are purchased as a spur of the moment decision. More than 90%  of animals are chosen based on appearance, not personality. To be real about our life choices we pet lovers must admit we spend less time selecting this living, feeling and active new being,  than picking out a pair of Jeans. We carefully research our cars, homes, appliances, TVs and our lifemates in the hopes of finding a good match for our needs and expectations.  Do not the pets, who will be living in our homes and sharing a place in our hearts also merit careful choosing.

Check out this website’s free ebook:

” Before you get your puppy” at www.dogstardaily.com

2. Teach your new pet the rules and manners necessary to live happily in the world of people.  Remember that in the eyes of a puppy or kitten, humans are strange!!  We make constant mysterious noises (our language & tendency to talk to one another). Dogs and cats vocalize for sure, however much more of their communication occurs through combinations of body language, scent and context. Even the slight tilt of an ear,or change in pupil size has meaning in dog-land. Vocalizations often convey more exuberant, fun or urgent  messages and are a few sounds, not strings of different words into complex sentences.

The  first meeting with our new pet, where we laugh at the puppy’s mannerisms or coo over their cuteness, is a mystery to the object of our attention. The puppy is hoping to be safe and wants to figure out how to be submissive enough to avert aggression from us. So some puppies will “over-greet” us with lots of; wiggling, tail wagging, licking  faces and even roll over or make short squeaks, or high-pitch barks. All puppy-isms for; “I submit to you, you are the boss, don’t hurt me, and  “show me what you want” .  The next  year for the puppy will be filled with difficulty, while pup tries to learn English or read our confusing body movements.

I encourage all pet owners to learn about the brain and social development of the puppy or kitten to become better owners.  So much more is known about  behavior & how they learn, than was thought 30 years ago. Thankfully this is leading to many new methods to educate our pets on how to live with us. I recommend the site http://www.dogstardaily.com.  Good source of info and best of all, the training methods are easier & more successful for the average pet owner and much faster compared to older dominance or clicker methods.  See “After you get your puppy” and don’t miss the  online training book.

3.  Do yourself and your pet a favor; socialize it very young to humans, cars, dogs and cats and vet offices. Teach it the manners of living in a human household and neighborhood.

a. Dog and Cats both become more bonded to their human family through the process of consistent and daily training.

b. They also become confident in their surroundings when they understand how to behave when human do unpredictable things. In the view of a Dog or Cat especially in the first year, much of what we do is unpredictable.

c. An important fact to know, for the welfare of the  puppy is,  they do not know when to use the skills learned in puppy class.  To the dog; Sit, down, stay, come are just tricks that are part of a playdate in once a week class. Most animals need hundreds of repetitions of “sit”  within every part of the house and day, to slowly understand what it really means.

In Madison WI area check out “www.Badgerkennelclub.com for classes, sport with your dog,  good breeders of puppies and more.