Everyone in the family will get excited at the moment we plan to have the first dog. Everybody will engage with various types of events to welcome this new family's member. But have you ever wonder that, by deciding to add a new family member is actually a life time commitment where nobody remembers about it! All of the family members seem to get thrilled on how to welcome the new family member. Everyone will think, you can have your dog whenever you feel like. This is absolutely wrong! When you plan to have your first dog, you really need to sit down to discuss with your entire family members whether everyone is ready to welcome the new family member for a long period of time. Everybody is ready to welcome and responsible for the new family member in term of life time commitment.
If all of you are answering YES to the above question then you will need to take into account few basic things before getting your first puppy.
How much money you plan to spend on your puppy/dog? Plan to have a pure breed or cross breed puppy? Pure breed dog will be much more expensive compare to cross breed dog or you plan to adopt from local animal shelter. Do not forget to include the regular veterinary care in your budget. Puppy needs vaccination. Make sure you have budget on that. Besides that, you will need to consider the budget for veterinary assistance, medical treatment or test, grooming and high level of food maintenance. When you get your first puppy, you will need to buy the cage/sleeping cushion, collar and dog food/milk (puppy). Don¡¯t miss out all this minor stuff in your budget.
First of all, you need to consider size of the puppy. You are interested in small or big dog. Your living environment is suitable for small or big dog. Do consider the frame size of the dog when it becomes an adult. After deciding on the size, you must also think of the hair of the breed you choose. Long hair dog will need regular grooming while short hair dog will cut off the hassle. The size and hair of the dog will help you to decide the type of dog you wish to have and lastly you will need to consider the gender of the dog. A male and female dog will have different temperament and which suit you the best? For male dog you will have the headache of them marking territory anywhere in every corner. This can be trained! But for female dog, they will be having period twice a year. Do make some studies before deciding which size, hair and gender of dog you prefer. Do not decide based on your own assumptions. Study and choose based on the criteria that suit your lifestyle.
This is the most basic things you will need to decide before having you first dog and everybody will tend to forget about it.
