Do you keep dogs in your home? As a pet owner, it is your responsibility to ensure that your dog lives healthy and happy. This means that you need to handle all their essential needs, including food, shelter, and medication as required.  The things you’ll do to make a happy and healthy home go a long way to create a strong bond with the dog and motivate them.

While there are the standard canine needs, some breeds require more special care than others. This will mean that you need to understand the needs of your dog, depending on its breed, before jumping in to ensure you fulfill them as required. This article will discuss some of the responsibilities pet parents have in order to maintain a happy and healthy dog environment.  Let’s jump to the list.

Routine Care

A dog is not like a human being. It won’t tell you that it needs to go to the hospital or have its body checked. This means that you, as the dog owner, need to understand the its routine care and handle everything on time to avoid health issues.  Before conducting this regular care, you need to understand the breed to know how to go about it.

Different breeds will require different routine practices, with some requiring more special care than others.  As highlighted on this blog explaining the Goldador breed, this lab mix species, like other unique breeds, might require special routine maintenance as it emerges from two breeds – Labrador or Golden Retriever dog breeds. Therefore, if handling such kinds of species, you have to learn more about the measures you need to keep the dog healthy and happy.

Meet their Nutritional Needs

Like other living animals, dogs also require to feed on a balanced diet. You have to understand your dog’s nutritional needs and take care of them as needed, depending on the breed.  Getting a dog’s dietary requirements right can be challenging, as many resources and feeds contradict each other. However, one better way of satisfying a dog’s needs is by feeding them normally and adding supplementary feeds or switching to a better supplementary diet, depending on the breed.

While there are many brands of dog food in the market, with the list increasing, you need to conduct thorough research on dietary ingredients. Ensure that it’s approved and it’s of high quality to satisfy your dog’s nutritional needs.

Love and Affection

Like your other family members, your dog needs to feel the love and affection from you and other family members. This situation means that you have to do everything possible to make your dog feel loved at home and when you are traveling with it. By showing love and affection to your dog, there will be an increased bond that keeps your dog happy and healthy always. You will know if your dog is satisfied by looking at its eyes or checking its actions.

As a dog owner, this pet will be looking upon you for the much-needed bonding moment. Whether you will be cuddling it or leaving your duties to take it for a walk, the little things you’ll do to show affection goes a long way in making your dog stay happy.

Plenty of Exercises

Your dog requires regular exercising to keep fit and also keep off lifestyle diseases. Dogs’ exercises vary from some basic exercises to intense activities that help them burn some extra fat and keep their muscles fit. Some of these exercises you can do include walking your dog on pathways or in the park to the most vigorous activities such as agility training.

Besides this, your dog needs to be trained on other exercises, away from the regular routines at home. You can consider taking your dog to mountain hiking, playing fetch, park walking, playing with toys, and others more to keep it healthy. Also, depending on the breed, you can train your door indoors, especially in areas with harsh climatic conditions.

Stimulate your Dog’s Mind

Dogs are an interactive, instinctual type of creature that requires mind engagements.  It would help to find ways to stimulate your dog’s mind regularly. This means that you need to find mind-engaging ways to make your dog think or react.

You can start by introducing your dog to a new environment, new people, and other dogs to see their reactions. Also, you can introduce a fresh smell or attempt new tricks that will keep their minds engaged. Ensure to try something unique that will stimulate the dog’s mind regularly.

While there might be more ways and tricks of keeping your dog healthy and happy, the above ones are regularly used by dog experts and have worked well for all dog breeds. As discussed, it is essential to understand your dog’s breed well and go ahead to ensure their needs are fulfilled for them to remain healthy and happy in your home.