Look after a dog requires a certain commitment, but the benefits that the whole family can draw from coexistence with a pet are many and significant
For many children, especially for those who live in the city, Having a dog is a huge desire: Every time they cross one on the street, they look at him as if he were the most beautiful and desirable creature in the world.
The dog, on the other hand, can be an extraordinary company: with him you can talk, play, walk … Has the “superpower” to distract, to create a reason to do different things. In particular, in periods of poor socialization, like the one we have just lived, the dog is able to remove a child from television and video games, is capable of stimulating the ideation of different activities, and the fact that he needs to go out certainly pushes movement to the open air.
In fact, a dog must be brought out at least three times day, and one of these releases (better two) must include a walk, the game, a race, possibly in a park or in any case in a green area. This need of the animal is extremely positive even for those who accompany it, and in particular for the child: getting on the dog or playing with him with a ball are undoubtedly engaging, fun and healthy activities.
Let’s pretend that …
But the dog is not a plush, it needs constant care and many attention. It is a living being and as such has its needs and times, which must collide with the needs and rhythms of the family. Before indulging the request to take a dog, then, It is advisable to try to understand if the family will be able to integrate a new component. The first step is onecareful evaluation by parents. Then, if after the necessary considerations on the costs, logistics and organization the idea will still be a “good idea”, it will be worth facing a preparation path Even with children. A few days will be sufficient.
The proposal is very simple: We play to pretend to live with an animal and take care of him; Let’s test ourselves to understand if we are able to look after it even when commitments and life will change rhythm.
First of all, We explain our intention to the child and plan together: «I’ve been wanting a dog for a long time. We thought we could take it, but first we offer you a game: we pretend to have a dog. The game is used to understand if we will be able to take care of him. The dog we use will not be seriously alive, so we will prepare a bag that will contain cards and extract one every 20 minutes. Each note will correspond to a request from our dog. In addition, at least three times a day we will have to take him for a walk to allow him to move and pee and the poop, which will then be necessary to collect ».
The preparation phase of the game will be very important because we will have to document together on the needs of a dog. What does it need?
Prepare to welcome the dog
All the possible requests of a dog must be inserted in tickets: “Caress me”, “play with me”, “I can bite this?”, “Now bark because someone has passed!”, “I run away the pee and I do it here” (in this case it will therefore be necessary to pour a little water on the ground and clean), “I come to cry” … and many other needs and actions that you will invent with your child.
Pretending to have a dog is also important for being able to document the needs of the animal and to learn about its characteristicsbe it a mestizo or a race dog. With the help of the internet it is possible to answer all the doubts and all the questions that come to mind, from the simplest to the most particular ones: what the dog eats and how much he eats, which bike to choose, how to teach him to live at home, where he will pee and poop, how to find a trusted veterinarian, what vaccines are needed …
If after pretending to have a dog the family is still convinced to take it, The advantages of coexistence will be many.
The “emotional” benefits
Some studies have shown that When a child receives a dog tends to feel less alone: Learn how to “share” the time of the parents and the space, learn to respect another living being, to be kind and to love. The dog also teaches children on the responsibility And how difficult it is, but necessary, take care of someone else.
Furthermore, possessing a dog reduces tension and improves general mood. Since dogs are always happy to see their family, it is quite difficult for children not to smile and feel in a bad mood when they cross the house threshold: the dog, noticing their arrival, will have run towards the door to “make parties” and immediately ask for his dose of pampering and caresses.
The children will also have an example of unconditional love: the love of the dog for the family who welcomed him, in fact, is without reservations. And also the trust that, over time, will be established. Unconditional love and trust are two elements that will support and help the growth of childrenwhich will be able to build more aware relationships both with peers and with adults with supers they will come into contact.
The benefits for health
Children who live with dogs then tend to get less sick. The main study on the report between pets and children’s immune system was carried out by researchers from the University Hospital of Kuopio, Finland, and conducted by scholar Heidi Kaario for his doctoral thesis. The experiment involved 400 children divided into two groups: half of them lived with a pet, the other half did not. After a year, unequivocal results emerged: Children with pets had 30% less respiratory disorderswith a lower incidence of episodes of cough, rhinitis, hissing breath.
The necessary walks outside the home with the dog promote not only the movement, but also the social skills. When you go out with the dog, in fact, it happens very often that other people or other families involved in the same activity, with which therefore it becomes easy to enter into a relationship.
It is an experience that can help the most introverted children to be more sociable: The dog in this case is the pretext of the relationshipwhich represents an opportunity to develop social skills that will also “function” in other contexts, in the midst of other children.
The benefits for the development of language and thought
Then there are two other dog’s “superpowers”. The first is that pushes children to speak: In fact, they give him commands and “chat” with him during the games. The younger children, with some difficulties of language, could find in this relationship the motivation to repeat words or phrases, thus acquiring greater looseness.
The second superpower is that Having a dog helps the development of fast thoughtwhich leads to make quick decisions. It often happens that children are not able to decide something on two feet, and that they always seek confirmation from the reference adult. The dog, on the other hand, pushes them to decide “here and now”: suppose that, on the street, he runs to run after a butterfly, and arrive in an “prohibited” area, or enter the garden of another home. The child will have to decide quickly how to solve the problem, or risk happening to others!
Let’s take a dog!
Obviously, all the skills that the child will acquire by dealing with his four -legged friend can be transferred to the other areas of his life. Therefore, in light of the fact that The dog is a creature with multiple “superpowers”to the question: “Can we take a dog?” My answer is a convinced yes!
My little dog is called Moka and as soon as we enter the house he welcomes us with a wave of “canine emotions”.
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