As Seen on Fosters.com
Your house is also your pet's home, and a pet unhappy with its surroundings can lead to all kinds of problems.
A cat disgruntled with its litter box may decide your prized Oriental rug is a more attractive place to relieve herself. Or your dog might run off every time a car whizzes by if he's not penned in the yard.
Or even worse, an inappropriately caged pet could pose danger to its owners like a recent incident in Oxford, Fla., where a Burmese python broke out of its too-small cage and strangled a two-year-old girl.
While options to house and care for your pet seem nearly limitless, remember that one size doesn't fit all. Your pet's temperament will determine what works best.
Sixty-two percent, or 71.4 million U.S. households own a pet, according to the American Pet Products Association, or APPA, and pet owners love to shower their animal companions with supplies. The trade group estimates pet owners will increase their pet spending 5 percent this year to $45.4 billion.
More households own a dog than any other pet, and keeping a canine friend in the yard is a safety precaution for all.
Many owners choose visible fences made of wood, chain link or heavy wire, to keep your dog in the yard. These are practical and durable. However, they can get costly. The least expensive are do-it-yourself wire fences (Benner's Gardens carries kits between $250 and $1,000 depending on size). Another bonus: they aren't as noticeable as other above ground fences and can be taken with you when you move.
Other options include a chain link fence or a wood fence. With installation, a 300-foot chain link fence costs between $2,500 and $3,500, whereas a wood fence of the same length runs between $5,000-$10,000.
A more affordable option is an underground electric fence, or an invisible fence. The price tag for these: $1,500-$2,000. But if you're a handyman, a do-it-yourself fence runs as much as $400.
The fence is actually a radio antenna that transmits a signal to the dog's collar, which then creates a shock like static electricity. That's usually enough to dissuade a dog from going any further. The learning curve takes about two weeks. Until the dog learns its boundaries, flags are set up along the fence as visual indicators.
Some breeds take more, or less, time to learn the boundaries.
"Golden retrievers are wimps," says Bob Vetere, president of APPA. "It took one time to train mine."
Now, that you've got your dog safely contained in the yard, where's it going to sleep? If it's strictly an outside dog, make sure to provide a dog house with appropriate insulation. Typically, insulation is built into the material of the dog house, so to keep the dog from chewing on it. And it the dog keep him cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
Houses range from easy-to-clean plastic ones to the tried-and-true cedar models. If you want something more elaborate, there are multileveled houses and ones with porches or sundecks. One company unveiled a three-room dog house at an APPA trade show. One room was for eating, one for sleeping and one for play. The catch: This monster dog house was intended for indoor use.
Want to travel with your canine? Consider buying a collapsible tent-like dog house for the road. Read more...
Read full article!
No comments:
Post a Comment