{"id":1870,"date":"2015-05-06T09:14:53","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T09:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/?page_id=1870"},"modified":"2024-01-05T12:17:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T12:17:15","slug":"becoming-a-dog-owner","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/choosing-your-pet\/becoming-a-pet-owner\/becoming-a-dog-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a dog owner"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"category\">\n<p class=\"txt\"><strong>It\u2019s important to ask yourself the following questions and to answer honestly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Can you afford a dog?<\/strong>\u00a0Be honest, when you add up the pet bills, weekly food costs, kennelling, toys and treats, there\u2019s a lot of money that needs to go into owning a dog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do you have time to groom your dog regularly? Long-coated dogs in particular will need daily hair care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you already have a dog, cat, fish or guinea pig at home\u2026 How will they react to you bringing home a new dog?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"txt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1888 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/021.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"655\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/021.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/021-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is your family happy to get a dog and share the responsibility?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Are you prepared to walk your dog for at least 20 minutes a day?<\/strong> Every day. Rain, hail, shine, holidays. Every day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"txt\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1890 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/022.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"655\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/022.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/022-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you able to make sure your dog isn\u2019t left alone for more than 4 hours at a time? (This could mean having lunch at home or having a neighbour drop by to take them for a walk.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does anyone in your household have an allergy to dogs?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"txt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1894 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/003-63.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"655\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/003-63.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/003-63-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Is your home suitable for a dog?<\/strong> Access to a garden or park, renting agreements and appropriate fencing all need to be considered before bringing a dog home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"txt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1896 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/005-29.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"655\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/005-29.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/005-29-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"txt\">Take a good look at these questions, perhaps even go through them with household members to determine whether you are <em>all <\/em>ready to take on the commitment of owning a dog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"category\">\n<p class=\"txt\">If you find that you are prepared to take on the challenge and ready to bring a cute canine into your life, then it\u2019s time to discover <a title=\"Choosing a dog breed\" href=\"\/choosing-your-pet\/buying-a-pet\/choosing-a-dog-breed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>which dog breed is right for you<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s important to ask yourself the following questions and to answer honestly. Can you afford a dog?\u00a0Be honest, when you add up the pet bills, weekly food costs, kennelling, toys and treats, there\u2019s a lot of money that needs to go into owning a dog. &nbsp; Do you have time to groom your dog regularly? &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/choosing-your-pet\/becoming-a-pet-owner\/becoming-a-dog-owner\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Becoming a dog owner&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1871,"parent":1547,"menu_order":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sub-sub-details-page.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1870"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4430,"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1870\/revisions\/4430"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zookie.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}