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Raising Children with Pets in the Home

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of IAMS Proactive Health Puppy Formula. The opinions and text are all mine.

By the time we had our first child, we already had two fur-babies at home. One of our dogs has been with me since my college years and is nearing 14 years of age and our yorkie is now 5 years old. These dogs are spoiled. They are used to getting a lot of attention, love, and lap-time since they are both little dogs.

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Raising pets and raising children have many similarities. Puppies require a lot of attention and training. I think that by raising pets first, we learned a lot about responsibility and caring for another living thing. When the dogs were puppies, we would have to guess their needs, much like that of a child. It is cute now to watch the transition of how our daughter, now 3 years old, acts like a little mother to our dogs.

She helps us feed and give them water daily and even assists in letting them outside to use the bathroom. We allow her to give them their treats when they are good or perform tricks for her, such as sitting down or rolling over.

Dog

Another thing that she is learning about our pets is in regards to health. We don’t feed our animals from the table because it tends to make them sick. They live on a diet of dog food and what we feed to them is just as important to me as what we put into our bodies. I have drastically changed my eating habits this year to includes many more fruits and vegetables, along with quality proteins and carbohydrates. I have started using food as a means to fuel my body instead of simply “grabbing something to eat” because I am bored. Nutrition is very important to me and my actions don’t just stop at my human baby, they apply to my fur-babies as well.

Yorkie

Parallel to health, exercise is also just as important to pets as it is children. We go on walks with our pets and play with them a lot in our back yard. We like to get out the tennis balls and the
frisbees and our daughter and dogs have a really fun time playing together.

How do you keep your pet(s) happy and healthy?

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  4. I have 2 dogs, 4 cats and 2 sugar gliders. They stay happy and healthy by me taking them to the vet annually, feeding them high quality foods, and they all also get plenty of exercise daily. Even the sugar gliders exercise. They have a wheel in their cage they run on every night.

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    • They also stay happy with lots of individual attention, treats and toys. I forgot to say that in my previous comment. Thank you for the wonderful giveaway! 🙂

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  12. We have 2 indoor cats and we just give them attention every day, and show them that we love them. They are very spoiled.

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  15. I choose a good food and read the recommended amount. I use a measuring cup to portion the food so I don’t overfeed.

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  21. I keep my two dogs happy and healthy by feeding them quality food and giving them plenty of attention and exercise.

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  31. I keep my dog happy by taking him thru drive-thru at Mickey Dees. Mcdouble with extra cheese is his favorite.

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  35. We have great trails in the woods near our house that we run with our dogs on, They look forward to it and it helps keep us all healthy

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  41. I keep my pets happy and healthy with regular checkups, attention (lots of it), new toys, and just playing a lot.

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  45. I keep him happy by giving him, and receiving from him, love; I keep him healthy with good nutrition and excerise. 🙂 Thank you.

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  48. Our rat terrier gets lots of love – and she has her own padded “perch” to watch the squirells from when we are not home, and lots of exercise.

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