The Basics

Adopting a dog or puppy is a long term commitment! Dogs have an average lifespan of 10-12 years, but some dogs can live 15 years or more. Your commitment to being a responsible dog guardian for the duration of your dog’s life includes:

Providing good food, clean water, medical care, a safe and comfortable environment, appropriate exercise and training for your do.

Complying with state and local ordinances related to keeping a dog.

Providing a collar and ID tag with your name and phone number(s) for your dog to wear at all times, and registering his microchip with your contact information.

Addressing all behavior or health issues that may arise in a humane and timely manner.

There are a number of supplies you need you start your new dog off on the right foot. Make sure you have:

Collar, leash and ID tags for safety

Appropriately sized crate for confinement and housetraining

Training tool (gentle leader, martingale, easy-walk harness) for leash walking

Dog food

Soft treats for rewards and training

Bowls for food and water

Safe and durable toys for chew toy training and play. (Tennis balls should be used only for fetch, they can be damaging to teeth when chewed on for prolonged periods.)

Talk with your local pet store or veterinarian about high quality dog foods. You are what you eat, and so is your dog. Better dog foods lead to better health and greater life spans for dogs. The amount you feed your dog each day depends largely on the size of your dog, and on the type of food you feed. Most commercial dog foods have a feeding chart on the bag to help you determine the proper amount to feed each day. Break up your dog’s daily portion into two (or three, for young puppies) daily meals to help establish his housetraining routine. Free feeding makes it nearly impossible to predict when your dog needs to eliminate, and can also cause gastrointestinal difficulties with larger breeds of dogs.

Your new dog will rely on your for everything – food, supplies, grooming, boarding when you’re away, training, ongoing and preventative veterinary care. Fetch estimates the yearly cost of caring for a dog after the first year to be anywhere from $580-1200+.

An ID tag with owner Name, Address and Phone Number is also required by both City and County and can go a long way towards getting someone’s pet back home if it gets lost. Owners may obtain an ID tag from their local vet or the Humane Society and should keep it on their pet at all times.

Check in with your local town/municipality to ensure that your dog is appropriately licensed with the town/city.