Get and own a dog - lessons learned

In April 2013, we became dog owners!

By then arrived a wonderful little knot, a puppy of the breed Shetland Sheepdog, who was then only eight weeks old.

Below follows a summary of our story of getting and owning a dog. Each section is summarized here, and has a link to the corresponding description. If you prefer to read the entire story, click here .

Our dog adventure begins with whre the idea came from, then evaluated and became true. The story inlcudes choice of breed, purchasing, handling and training the puppy, agility, diseases, risks, and issues of responsibility.

Tips from dog books we found useful or less useful are also at times discussed.

But above all, we want to share with you the great faithfulness, trust, joy and health that this little dog so willingly gives back to us.

We hope to continue this story throughout the life of our beloved doggy, to the inevitable end.

Getting a dog is a big decision. The dog will become a new family member, requiring a lot of time and care.

Before thinking about traits like breed and size, it is important to carefully evaluate the basic decision, namely if you are prepared to give the dog the attention and time it will need.

If you, after getting acquainted with what dog ownership requires, make the decision to get a dog, it's time to think about what kind of dog you want.

For those who are looking for a working dog - for hunting, guarding or some other purpose - you probably immediately have one notion of what kind of dog you are looking for. For the large group looking for a family dog is it not as obvious. There are lots of breeds and sizes to choose from.

How do you assess a puppy's mentality and characteristics?. We read good advice in dog books and online, but found they in practice were not easy to apply.

Now it's finally time to receive the new family member.

How to behave? Do you need to purchase something in advance? What preparations are needed before the puppy arrives?

The first puppy time is demanding, the puppy needs constant presence.

What does it mean in practice? And how long does it take before you can leave the puppy alone for a while?

One of the problems during puppy time is that the dog is not housetrained.

How hard is it? How long does it take before the dog becomes housetrained? Is it necessary to train the dog to do his needs outdoors? If so, how?

The dog is not always allowed to accompany us when we leave home, and may sometimes need to be left alone. This can become a severe trauma for the dog. But with purposeful training that starts early, this can to some extent be prevented.

Just as we humans are not born full-grown, dogs also need training.

You can do a lot yourself with common sense and by reading books and online. But a better and safer way can be to attend courses, where experienced teachers can give help with appropriate training methods.

The question is whether it is the dog or you who need training?

In addition to the dog's physical health, nothing is as important as the dog's attitude towards humans and other dogs.

Most people probably want a dog that is happy, kind and friendly when meeting people and other dogs. But not all dogs behave like that in adulthood. What can you do yourself to get a happy and kind dog?

Dog food is important not only for the dog's health and well-being, but also for that it is for many dogs long awaited and belongs to the joys of everyday life.

But what should you really give the dog, and how much? Should you settle for pellets, or cook the dog's food yourself, or maybe something in between? We have studied recommendations in dog books and found what work well for us.

As a dog owner, you also are responsible for the daily care of your dog. It essentially the same care that we ourselves need. We now also have to help our dog with similar routines.

What needs to be done, and how much time does it take?

Unfortunately, darker clouds can also color the dog owner's and dog's skies. These can contain of both accidents and illnesses that affect the dog, as well as that the dog causes injuries to others.

As a dog owner, your first priority is to protect your dog, including to prevent that the dog scares others or causes accidents or injuries. As a dog owner you are always fully responsible for the dog's health and well-being, as well as for every action from your dog.

In this section, I tell you about both what we ourselves have experienced, and what we have not experienced ourselves but still want to warn about. The risks are divided into three groups:

• Diseases
• Incidents and accidents
• the dog owner's responsibility

During the summer holidays of 2014, our sheltie suffered from stomach ailments. It has happened a couple of times before, though then passed by itself after a few days.

This time the course became more serious, and it felt necessary to contact a veterinarian.

A small but amusing happening at an evening walk.

Our dog of course appreciates walking, and expresses it is very fun if she can play with other dogs or people. Still, it feels like something is missing, namely that she also wants tasks she can perform.

Summons and other obedience tasks she normally likes a lot, but at the same time it feels as we wanted to offer something more. Our dog would surely love the herding tasks she once had, but for lack of it we were looking for another option.

We therefore signed up in June 2014 for a basic course in agility at Hundens Hus in Årsta. Our goal was not to start competing, but just to find a fun activity for us together with the dog.

The basic agility course provided training tips and a first acquaintance with most obstacles used in agility competitions.

But in the same way as with dance courses, anything we learned would disappear quickly if we did not continue to practice.

To get the opportunity to train agility, we therefore planned to build a small agility course at our summer place on Tynningö directly after the course.

On facebook there is a group for sheltie activities in the Stockholm area, which I got tips about via the Swedish Shetland Sheepdog Club. After some hesitation, I crawled to the cross and joined facebook, something I're been trying to avoid for a long time.

Via the group, there have been occasional invitations to meetings, which, however, clashed with others activities. But then came an invitation to a sheltie meeting at Kevlinge Golf, which is located next to Mörby center.

This time it did not collide with any other activities. We have lacked activities we can carry out together with other dogs, and therefore gratefully accepted this invitation.

Update: 25/1 there was another meeting at the same place. This time it was cuddly snow that the dogs got to pulse in!

Health is silent, it is said.

It's already been more than three years since we received our little cute puppy, and Lava is now a full grown sheltie in her best years.

No significant incidents have occurred in recent times, and instead the association with Lava is largely characterized by walks.

I have already hiked for several thousand kilometers of walking with Lava, and here is a small summary.

Lava is now nearly eight years old. Thus, she likely has already begun the second half of her life.

When thinking back on it, everything from her curious examination of the apartment at eight weeks of age and after that everything we have experienced together until today, one can with sadness feel that the dog years go way too fast.