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Living With Your New Dog |
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by Dr. Robert Tysen Martin, D.V.M. |
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Your family has made the decision to adopt a dog. You visit your neighborhood's pet adoption center and your heart is pounding with anticipation. You are ready for paradise unleashed, ready to add a canine companion into your family. This article is intended to help you make your dog a welcome addition. In preparation for this article we selected a member of the Simmerset community and followed her through the steps she took to train her new dog. Magdalena Groll who arrived in the community from Simmerville where she was a participant in the SimLook project. She graciously volunteered to demonstrate some good techniques for assimilating your new dog into family life. We followed her from her arrival at the Simmerset Pet Adoption Center through her initial trials of house-breaking and training. |
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The dog she selected was a female poodle. Magdalena named her new dog Kayla. Since she was the one adopting the dog, they began with a very good relationship. She very wisely chose to play with her new dog in order to develop the relationship further. Time spent with Kayla at the adoption center helped to cement their bond. The pet trainer was asked to give Kayla her first training session. Magdalena does not have a lot of simoleons, but she evidently thought it was important that Kayla receive her first lesson. During this time, she shopped for pet treats, and bought a pink collar at a nearby display counter. |
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| Dr. Martin greets Magdalena at the Pet Adoption Center |
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Bonding! |
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Basic Needs for your dog |
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Some basic items you must purchase for your dog are food and water bowls, a comfortable bed or dog house, and a dog bath, because you will need to give your dog a bath. They have no other way to clean themselves, except by licking. Licking does very little to improve your dog's hygiene! |
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Your new dog will also enjoy treats and toys, which can be purchased when you are out shopping from any pet display. |
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Magdalena gives Kayla a bath. |
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House-breaking your new dog |
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As soon as you arrive home with your new dog, it will want to relieve itself and where else but inside your house! Well the dog doesn't know any better, so it is up to you to teach it that he/she should go outside when nature calls. |
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Make sure you have quality time with your new dog. |
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There are ten steps in house-breaking. Every time you see a puddle on the floor the best thing to do is scold your dog. Dogs are very intelligent and after being scolded ten times, they will be completely house-broken. Scolding will have a negative impact on your relationship, so my advice is to do what Magdalena did, and spend time with your dog afterward petting and wrestling, or perhaps playing a game of "fetch." Magdalena chose to present Kayla with the pink pet collar she bought at the adoption center. Activities such as these help to rebuild the relationship after each scolding. |
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| Scolding your dog ten times will make her fully house-broken! |
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Don't be afraid to scold your dog for relieving in the house. It is the quickest way to achieve house-training for sim dogs. Just be sure you keep the relationship strong during this time. The good thing is that once your dog is house-trained, it will be for life, and you will never have to clean up those puddles from inside your home! |
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However, even a dog that is house-broken may relieve itself outside in undesirable locations such as on your patio near the barbeque grill or next to a prize bit of sculpture. If you don't want the doggy puddles in all the wrong places outdoors, you can tempt your pouch with a fire hydrant, The purchase of a fire hydrant will tempt your dog to potty next to the hydrant. Magdalena was happier after she got one for her dog. It also serves as an attraction for strays that may come onto your property to do their business there! It even attracts your dog before it is fully house-broken. |
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My brother George, with his dog, Derry. Derry is doing a high flip. With time and effort, your new dog will be capable of doing tricks like this! |
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| A fire hydrant will tempt your dog. |
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| Obedience and Trick training |
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One of the ways to enrich your relationship with your new dog is through obedience and trick training. Teach your dog obedience by using the sit/stay command. Tricks are learned one at a time from the simplest to most difficult. With a little time and effort your dog can learn obedience and several different tricks which will help develop your new dog into a sim's best friend. Magdalena is currently teaching obedience and tricks to Kayla. In time she may win a blue ribbon at our pet show! |
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This article is for sims and their dogs. No correlation is intended for humans and their pets. |
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