When you first dream of getting a dog, it’s all sweetness and submissiveness. What you end up with may be a different story. No matter which dog you end up with, you now have to learn how to care for your pup.

Make sure your house is free of doggy danger. Before bringing your dog home for the first time, make sure that the entire area is completely safe. Medicine and cleaners should be stored, and indoor trash should be placed in a cabinet. Many common types of house plants can be toxic, so it pays to eliminate or move them.

While you can hug your dog, you should avoid kissing your dog. While getting kisses from your dog may seem cute, your dog’s mouth is extremely dirty. Dogs dig in trash cans, drink from toilet bowls and sniff and lick various body parts on themselves and other dogs. It’s an old wives’ tale that a dog has a very clean mouth. That tidbit of information is plain wrong.

Neuter or spay your dog. Research shows that taking this simple action can help your pet live a longer life, as it can reduce the risk of cancer. Not only that, but neutered and spayed dogs feel less need to wander away from home, so they are not as likely to be hit by a vehicle or become lost.

Keep your dog on leash any time he leaves your fenced yard, regardless of his gentle nature and good behavior. A feral animal might catch their attention, causing them to pursue them, or an unplanned incitement might lead to a bad situation with other pet owners. You are responsible for anything your dog does, as well as for his safety.

You need to trim your dog’s nails regularly. If they get too long, they may start to curl under and cause your dog pain. It is easy to purchase a pair of clippers and attend to these yourself. If you aren’t confident enough to do it yourself, take the dog to a local pet groomer.

Teach your dog the right way to walk with a leash. Your dog should learn to walk by the side of you, teach them to ‘heel’. Your dog will be safer in this position, and you’ll both enjoy your walks more this way. Even if you still use the loose leash walk at times, helping your dog to understand this command is a good idea.

You can always choose to foster a dog for a few weeks if you’re not sure about making the full commitment of dog ownership. A lot of shelters that take in homeless or abused animals have a way to let you adopt them for a while. You can foster one to help out the cause and find out if you want to keep one!

Listen to your vet when he tells you how to administer medication or care. He may want out of that cone immediately, but he needs to keep wearing it! Your vet makes recommendations that will help your dog be happy and healthy, so you should follow your vet’s advice.

If you are in the market for a pedigree pup, you just may find him at the pound. Unfortunately there are many people out there who simply cannot care for their dogs anymore and they end up at the local pound. You can contact the local dog shelter to see what breeds are there. It could mean you save a dog in the process!

Prove to your canine friend that your love for him is true. Owners tend to focus on the bad times, not the good. That could be real trouble with the dog. Try keeping track of how often you praise and scold your pet in a day. For every one negative thing, make sure you say five positive things as well. Your dog is much more likely to showcase the proper behavior if you do so.

There’s an abundance of advice in this article, and you should take full advantage of it. Use whatever you’ve learned and apply it and you should have the dog that you’ve always dreamed of owning. You will also find that there is no better friend than a dog that loves you.