Different Ways To Bond With Your Dog

STOWMARKET, U.K. - Jan. 9, 2016 - PRLog -- Unlike cats, who have their own peculiar agenda when it comes to relationships, dogs are highly sociable animals that demand a good deal of love, care and attention. If you want to bond with your dog and nurture a friend for life, then you’re going to need to invest some time and emotion to get there.

All dogs have their own personalities and foibles, just as humans do. That’s what makes them such great companions.

A Loving Home

A lot depends on the type of dog you have decided on giving a home to and there are a number of factors that inhibit or effect the bonding process between owner and your new best friend. First of all, if you’ve taken on a stray from a dog’s home there may be issues caused by the previous owner that will need to be overcome.

In certain circumstances this may involve either retraining or simply giving them a lot more love than normal to make sure that the animal feels wanted and isn’t threatened. Secondly, dogs, like most humans, pick up the vibes in a home. If it’s an unhappy place this can cause your pet to feel unwelcome and unloved. If your dog previously had no contact with children, then having kids running around causing mayhem can be difficult until they get used to things.

Touchy-feely

If your dog is a puppy then try to touch its ears, nose, mouth and as many areas as you can to get it use to you. This is also a good way to show the dog that you are showing it affection and that there is no harmful, intrusive or aggressive intent. This will build trust, and help it to cope with touchy feely people later in life, especially if they meet small children.

Walks and Attention

Dogs need plenty of exercise and going for walks is one way to bond closely with your pet. That doesn’t mean just a quick run round the block but at least half an hour in an area where they can, hopefully, run free. Dogs are fairly dependent on humans so if you want to bond personally, the more times you take them out for a walk, the more likely they are to form an attachment to you and be responsive to your commands.

Situations that inhibit effective bonding include being away from home too much or largely ignoring your dog except for walks and meal times. To bond successfully you have to put the time in and make sure you supply enough attention. This incudes talking to your dog, exchanging facial expressions and using different tones in your voice to highlight different things. This will stimulate your dog's senses and get it to react to you at different times.

Training your Dog

Most dogs have some behavioural glitches that you will want to iron out or change. This should be done as early on in the relationship as possible if you want to succeed. This is about changing behaviour through reward rather than punishment and requires a good deal of patience. Rewards can be food or treats, but even a rub on the head or a quick play with their favourite toy.

If you want to instil a particular behaviour, you have to be consistent in your approach and make sure your dog knows what is expected. For instance, if one minute you are telling them to get off the sofa and sit on their own bed it should be for a reason and one they can associate with and remember. You may want them to get off the sofa when you are eating or if you have guests but the reasons why you ask them to do this should follow a consistent path.

If you are not experienced in training a dog then there are plenty of groups or night classes that you can join to learn more.

Feeding and Bonding

Because you are providing the dog’s meals on a daily basis, you are likely to be your dog’s best friend. Make sure he or she is fed an appropriate food and gets all the proteins and nutrients needed to be healthy.

Try to avoid things like feeding off the table as this encourages bad behaviours and isn’t actually that good for the dog’s stomach. Have set feeding times so your dog knows when it’s time to eat and doesn’t get fretful for food at other times. In the early days of feeding put your finger in the bowl while it is eating to monitor any protective behaviour.

Bonding with your dog in the right way will help you to gain the most amazing friendship and will give your dog the best chance of enjoying a healthy and happy life that you can enjoy together.

snugglezzz offers a blog for dog owners and manufactures and supplies comfort products. Read an article on 10 ways to bond with your dog here http://snugglezzz.com/blogs/news/69610693-10-ways-to-bond...