If you want your kids to have a pet, the #1 thing to remember is that You must be prepared to be the person responsible for caring for it. You, not the kids. Don’t adopt a pet because you want to teach your child responsibility. Adopt a pet because of the values and lessons your children will learn from living with and helping to care for a pet. Teach a child responsibility by modeling and verbalizing how to care for a pet.

Pets need food, water, a place to sleep, play time, daily exercise, bathing and brushing, Potty Training and Obedience Training. They need to be taught manners to be part of the family. Does that sound like raising another child? This is too big a job for kids – and a lot of parents! If you don’t want to do it, don’t expect your kids to have these skills, to be able to read “How To” books to learn or to be able to seek out dog trainer professionals to teach them how to train their pet.

You can’t Train a dog by scolding or punishing him. If you aren’t familiar with  basic potty training or obedience training, research it or sign up for lessons BEFORE you get a pet. Visit pet stores when they’re having training classes and listen in. Pick up and read a couple books on pet care and dog training or borrow a couple dog training videos from the library. Check out YouTube for dog training videos. Be sure you have the time, the commitment, the resources and the knowledge before you adopt a pet.

You must be ready to take on the commitment of taking care of the pet. When You model and verbalize good care and training of your pet, your child will learn the respect and care techniques from you and will be anxious to help take care of the pet. Soon they will ask to help feed the pet or walk the dog. Growing up with a pet has so many advantages for children, it’s worth the effort!