Does Owning a Reptile Compare to a Dog?

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Owning a reptile like an iguana or snake has its own pros and cons, but when compared to owning a dog, what can you gain and what do you miss out on?

Owning a pet has its responsibilities; you need to clean up after them; you need to feed them; you need to wash them. Whether you own a dog or a pet reptile, this is always the case, but the benefits in this area are that a reptile requires less attention, usually creates less mess, and when it does it is usually contained in a set area. A dog requires constant attention, exercise and more.

The downside to having a reptile for a pet is that they aren’t very engaging. Just like how they don’t need or particularly want affection and attention, the chances are that they won’t provide you much in this way either.

In conclusion, if you want a low level of responsibility from your pet, a reptile could be best for you, but if you’re interested in having an engaging, loving relationship with another animal, a dog is undoubtedly the best option.

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Tips for Owners of Highly Aggressive Dogs

by Posted in Advice for Owners

Dealing with the issues which we discussed in our previous post can be tricky, with a lot of potential for dealing with it the wrong way. Your best option is really to hire a qualified professional dog trainer to give you some advice face to face, but learning about it online can help with the less serious cases.

The most important thing that you need to remember is to remain patient. Whenever you’re dealing with a pet dog, you just need to look at it in much the same way as when dealing with a young child; don’t lose your cool, reward them for good behaviour (with affection and treats) but set clear lines and boundaries and remember to say no when they try to cross those lines. For dogs, this means that when you see bad behaviour you don’t let it go unchallenged, but good behaviour is rewarded with a “good boy” or perhaps being treated to something tasty or a nice toy.

 

 

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Why There are Highly Aggressive Dogs

by Posted in Advice for Owners

One of the worst issues to deal with as a dog owner is with aggressive to highly aggressive dogs. Not only is a stressful and scary situation for anyone to deal with, but it is also very difficult to train out of them. There are a number of potential causes for aggressiveness in dogs, including lack of activity, poor training, and issues with dominance.

A lot of dogs are naturally dominant animals, and in order to deal with that situation an owner needs to be even more dominant. If the dog has a clear understanding of the hierarchy in the relationship they are going to behave better, but if they think they’re in charge they’ll do what they want and behave how they want. Sometimes with dominant dogs and submissive owners, it’s best to let the dog move to a different owner who is able to control the animal.

If they are acting aggressive because they don’t have an outlet through exercise, then this can enter a bit of a feedback loop: Because the dog is aggressive, you don’t want to risk exposing the dog to the public, which means that they don’t have their issues resolved and they continue to act aggressive.

The other potential cause we’ve mentioned is poor training. This often presents itself in the form of the owner not really understanding how to punish and reward there animal properly, which means that any bad behaviour of the pet dog could end up being reinforced by what they perceive to be a reward.