Dog Adoption

Dog Adoption

Article about Dog Adoption by Luucas Smith 

There are many situations nowadays when the dog owners must find somebody else to take care of their dog. Reasons are different Some people need to change location or a new location does not permit dogs or other animals. Some of the owners lost their job and are simply not able to afford to take care of a dog anymore. I have heard many stories throughout adopting community, unfortunately not all of them had a happy ending.

Think of that this way: when you adopt a dog you actually rescue two dogs - the one you take, and the one that shelter or rescue group take in instead.

Before you adopt a dog there are many things to consider. In this article I will try to point out all the things you should think of before you make this step.

1. Money

Adopting process is not free as some of you may think. If you adopt a dog from a shelter you must be prepared to pay about $65 ( municipal shelters) or up to $500 ( purebred rescue groups). Those costs cover veterinary care, food etc. that shelter had to provide during the time the dog was under their roof.

After you pay the shelter and take your new puppy home there are many more expenses that have to be considered. Dog license, food, veterinary care, identification tags, leash, grooming supplies, toys, dog collar, etc. As you can see list is almost endless. You have to be prepared that many costs are unexpected. For example your dog may suffer from a disease that needs to be taken care of immediately - veterinary costs are sometimes very high. Furthermore behavior of your dog could be something that you need to work on - you would have to hire a professional trainer, etc.

2. Time

Another BIG question before adopting a dog is - will you and your family have time for a puppy. Nowadays most people don't even have the time for themselves so this has to be decision thought through well. You would have to take your dog for a walk several times a day, must provide it with food and water two or more times per day.

If you get long-haired dog you would need to spend at least 15 minutes a day grooming. Grooming itself also needs some training so you need to be prepared for that. When adopting very young puppy or energetic dog you must be aware that you would have to play, socialize and exercise with a dog about an hour per day.

3. Your lifestyle

Is my place big enough for a dog?

Size of the place you live in must be suitable for a dog. Some breeds need to have more space to play and exercise on a daily basis, while some will do just fine in a small apartments 

Travels

If your occupation or a lifestyle requires a lot of traveling and absence than you need to ask yourself a question how do I take care of my dog while I am away. Some extra expenses like dog sitting or boarding must be added to you calculations

Dirt

What is your tolerance level for dirt? Especially during first couple of weeks when your new dog feels insecure and nervous "accidents" can and more likely will happen. 

BIG questions

Before you adopt a puppy you and your family need to answer all of the questions below. Remember that getting a dog should be decision of all your family and everybody should be participating in choosing and taking care of a dog.

1) What is the main reason you want to adopt a dog?

2) Do you need a dog to spend your free time more active or do you rather see your dog as a house toy for your children or maybe you need a guard dog for your protection?

3) Will you have patience to do a lot of grooming?

4) Will you have time for a larger breed of dog? It will need a lot more attention and time spent on general care

5) Do you have other animals in the house that may be dangerous to keep close to a dog?

Where to adopt a dog?

Dog Shelters are operated under government supervision or are non-profit organizations (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - ASPCA). Those facilities employ paid staff as well as use volunteers services. They take care of abandoned dogs as well as prepare puppies for an adoption process.

Rescue Groups is quite different institution from the above. It does not employ anybody - they rely on a network of volunteers who keep the dogs in their houses until adopted. Very often those groups simply take dogs from shelters with bad conditions and place the dogs with foster families till somebody adopts them for good. You can find rescue groups that only deal with certain breed ( for example: Groups for Labrador or Groups for German Sheppard).

Main difference between Rescue Group and Shelter is that dogs adopted from Rescue Groups live closer to their foster families while dogs from the Shelter live rather in an overcrowded place full of other dogs. That said you can be sure that by adopting a dog from Rescue Group you will get much more info from the foster home than from the Shelter staff. Relationship between a dog and the foster families are much more intimate and you can get a lot of information about a dog's health condition as well as any behavioral issues.

Adopting a dog from a rescue group is more expensive than the one from the shelter. That is because rescue groups rely solely on donations and adopting fees while shelters get some money also from the government.

Where do I start adopting process?

Go to http://www.petfinder.com or http://www.adoptapet.com to find a pet you wish to adopt in your area - you simply search by breed and type in your postcode. When you find a dog you are looking for go to the shelter's website to check what their procedures are as well as get contact information to ask any further questions.

Make sure you ask the questions below to the shelter staff
How old is a dog?
What is the Dog's History. Ask as many questions as possible about dog's temperament, food preferences etc.
How does the dog behave around children - crucial question when you have a child

Adopting a dog is a great adventure. Keep in mind that you give second chance to another animal being. Make sure though that your choice is thought through and followed with the steps described in this article. Good luck!

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Virtual Pets

Fun Virtual Pets

Article about Virtual Pets by Joel Bartel 

If you're looking for a new way to spend some time on the internet then fun virtual pets could be just for you! These are simply pets that live in the virtual world, but that still need love and care just like pets in real life. People of all ages play these virtual pet games every single day.

All you need to do to get started with your own virtual pet is to find a website that offers the service. There is huge choice in this area, so you might want to search around a little to find the kind of pet you want. Practically all virtual pet websites will have pets like dogs and cats, but you might even find less conventional pets like unicorns, dragons, donkeys and more!

Once you've found the service you want to use you'll need to create your pet. This is great fun, as you can often choose between a number of different characteristics, as well as naming your pet and choosing its gender. Some pets might even come in a wide variety of colors, or let you give them clothes to wear!

Fun virtual pets all come with their own virtual world. It will be up to you to explore this virtual world with your pet, discovering what there is to learn, as well as finding food for your pet and giving it a good place to live. The more time you spend playing with your pet, the healthier it will grow up to be in the future.

Create some fun virtual pets at the author's virtual pets website: http://makeyourownvirtualpets.com.

Pet Shop

How to Start a Pet Shop Business

Article about Pet Shop by Dzmitry Rudakou 

Even in the period of the financial crisis Russians would rather scrimp on themselves than on dumb animals.

Since we become responsible, forever, for those we have tamed.

Pet shops are seemed to be one of few businesses which haven't suffered recession. Well-known trade-marks such as Pedigree, Chappy, Whiskas, KiteKat indefatigably encourage us from TV screens to buy food and toys for our pets.

The market of pet products is huge and full of prospects.

In this article we'll discuss how to open a pet shop.

It is very good if you have your own pets and you are a regular customer of a pet shop yourself. Then you have an idea on what you like in the currently available shops and what you can improve. Certainly, the perfect alternative is to have a veterinary education and wide knowledge about pets.

The most simple and low-cost way to start business in the pet products sphere is to set up a small shop where the choice will include food, grooming products and accessories.

License for such shop set up is not required; its floor space can start from 10 sq. m.

It is better to look for the room for such shop in a bedroom suburb. If there are no competitors nearby, you can safely open you own small pet shop. With proper assortment and comparable prices, such shop will always find its customer.

Assortment in a small shop should be formed of the most fast-moving items - these are goods for cats and dogs. Such small shops usually pay back within a year; however it is not worth expecting a big gain from a single shop.

Traditionally a pet shop owner, who has opened one store and has well-proved sale technology, sets up the next one.

An average retail margin in small pet shops amounts to 30%. As for the most demand goods (popular food and litters) the margin is less, for rarely sold items the margin can come up to 200%.

The second variant of a pet shop presupposes a large range of pet goods, starting from food and finishing with pets on sale. In this format there are absolutely different requirements to the floor space of the shop, its staff and product range selection. The sales area of the full-range store usually starts from 70 sq. m. You can find a shop room both in the center of the city or in a bedroom district. It will be profitable to set up a pet shop attached to veterinaries or not far from it. Payback of such store is 1-2 years.

The product range should be large; in the meanwhile it should include goods, which enjoy high demand. Exclusive and rarely purchased goods should be sold on request.

The assortment should include pets, birdcages and boxes, toys, there should be a section of veterinary preparations, vitamins and mineral supplements.

You can gain good profit selling pets, but take into account that animals can die at mismanagement.

Wide-range shop assistants should be well-qualified; they should perfectly know all the ins and outs about pets and products for sale.

Competent advice is a very important component of a pet shop success. If an assistant of the shop recognizes that a customer is inexperienced, he should query the client about his pet and help to make the right choice.

Sale of pet pharmaceutical products is subjected to licensing. In order to get a license there must be a veterinarian in the store staff, but the veterinarian is required not only to obtain all essential documents. If assistant veterinarian works in the pet shop, this fact causes customers' trust and pushes up sales.

The third variant of the pet shop is a specialized store. If you have experience and knowledge in one specific area, you can set up a high-specialized shop.

For example, aquariums grows in popularity and you can set up a store specialized exceptionally on toy fish.

Being engaged in toy fish business, you can sale a broad range of fish, aquariums, fish food, veterinarian preparations and books on toy fish. The shop assistant should be much aware of goods for sale. You can also gain an extra income from customs aquariums manufacture, its installation, designer aquarium décor and aquarium service.

If you have chosen a high level of specialization, you should offer you customers a full complex of services in the given field and provide clients with full information during sale. Then you can rely on the popularity of the store.

The retail margin in such shops is higher, than in the wide-range ones, but for the higher price your purchaser gets more qualitative consultations and an opportunity to buy unique goods, which are not available in full-range stores.

If you intend to set up a small store, it is more reasonable to start cooperation with only one supplier, who has a wide product range even if the prices are not the best. The larger a projected shop, the more quantity of suppliers it is efficiently to cooperate with in order to buy goods at the best price. You can ask the suppliers for recommendations on the primary assortment formation. In the beginning of the work mistakes in the product range are unavoidable, but in few months it will become clear what products are in demand, what products should be purchased additionally and what should be returned to the supplier (discuss this option in advance).

In any case forming the primary product range your should presume that the assortment should include food for cats, dogs, rodents, birds and dry food for fish, litters, grooming products and accessories.

If you will sell pets, configure a line of additional products which can be purchased along with these pets.

Give your preference to the goods of the well-known producers, which are actively advertised.

Don't try to earn big profits at once, it is better to advice a client more suitable product that more expensive one. The customer will appreciate it and will come next time in our shop.

Arrange degustation, distribute probes, let your purchasers know about newly-developed products, carry our promotion actions.

All the product range should be properly exhibited on display and grouped thematically, price tags should be large.

If products on request are sold in the shop, the correspondent information should be easily available for clients. Colorful catalogues and full information should be provided for such products.

There should be a good smell in the shop even if pets are sold there. See about good microclimate.

It is also very important to select the staff of people who really love pets and can give advice to every customer.

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