The Advantages of Introducing a Pet into the Family

The Advantages of Introducing a Pet into the Family

For most parents agreeing to bring a pet home and assimilate it into family life is a responsibility they’d rather do without since it somewhat inevitably comes right back to you. You’re often the one who will have to make doubly sure that it’s fed and that it’s cleaned up after and you’re the one who has to buy it food and take it to the vet should it require professional medical treatment. Despite all of that though, a family pet comes with many advantages which perhaps make it worth all the trouble. As long as you are aware of what the responsibilities are and can act accordingly to what they need, you’ll be able to live in harmony. For instance, if you want to know why your dog licks your pillow as well as why it will try and bite you at certain times, you may be able to find the answers online before having a medical check, but it is always worth it to check in with a vet just in case.

A pet teaches responsibility

So yes, you might have to assume ultimate responsibility for the pet as one of the adults, but you may be surprised at just how the kids may respond to the responsibility of keeping the family pet healthy. Owning a cat or dog can teach valuable lessons on how to treat others as you would want to be treated, and also teaches the harder things like how to cope with illness. If your dog develops dog anxiety, for example, it can help kids to learn about mental illness before they experience it in other humans. It can also teach them how to look after those who are ill, and to be gentle and nurturing. Things may get to a stage where your ultimate responsibility is simply to check up on your pet to make sure everyone in the household is caring for them. However, you still may want to ensure that you look out for your dog around others, especially if they have issues such as anxiety. Stressful situations could cause the dog to lash out at those around it and could end in you having to deal with legal services similar to The Keating Firm (https://www.keatingfirmlaw.com/dog-bites) if your dog decides to bite someone.

A pet brings a different dimension to family life

I suppose the most likely pet you might be thinking of is a dog, which puts us on the same path because a dog is indeed what popped into my mind when I first got the idea of writing about the advantages of a family pet. So assuming it is indeed a dog as the pet of choice, these definitely bring a whole new dimension to what family life is all about.

If you have kids whose ages are a bit far apart then it’s quite possible that they may find themselves isolated from each other a lot more than say kids who are two or three years apart. Dogs work perfectly to bridge that divide caused by the age gap and one, both or all of your kids will just have another friend to play with.

A welcome addition to the family

If you’re done with the number of kids you want to pop out and raise, a puppy always makes for a great addition to the family. A dog takes a lot less responsibility to raise and since every indication is that the responsibility will be shared in any case, get one if you do indeed want to expand the family.

Bringing the family together

Sometimes it takes a dog to bring the family together, if only just to deliberate over whose turn it is to feed them or take them out to go to the toilet.

The ideal scenario I have in mind, however, is that of the whole family (including the dog) out in the garden playing fetch with a frisbee or in the lounge rolling around with a dog treat toy dispenser.

The right pet could add to the security of your household

Again we’d perhaps be talking about dogs here and sometimes all it takes for potential threats to choose to move on from targeting your house is an alarm dog or a guard dog. I’ve heard of people keeping pet snakes and other exotic pets, but a dog would perhaps make sense if we’re talking pets which are suitable for the whole family to get involved in their maintenance.

In Good Taste

Kelly Tate
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