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Before adding a new member to your family, take some time to seriously consider if you are prepared to be a responsible pet owner. Especially if you will be getting your first pet, research what you will be in for. Here are a few things to think about:

PET-PROOFING YOUR HOME: You will have to take certain measures to remove household items that could pose a threat to your pets health. For example, you cannot have chocolate lying on your coffee table if you have a dog, as chocolate is highly toxic for dogs. If you have a stack of DVDs on the floor next to your television, a puppy may want to chew on these. The puppy may even chew the cord of the television.

SPENDING TIME WITH YOUR PET: Pets require time, especially dogs. They need to be walked, exercised, and cleaned up after. Are you willing to spend 20 minutes or more in the morning and evening walking your dog?

SPENDING MONEY ON YOUR PET: Pets require health care and food. And if you travel, you will need to hire somebody to look after your pet. And if your pet came down with a serious illness, would you be prepared to pay for medical bills that could be hundreds of dollars?

Once you have decided to be prepared to deal with the basics, you need to consider what type of pet. Cats don't require the exercise that dogs do, but they still need to be fed and taken care of. If you get a dog, you need to decide if you want a small dog, or a large dog.

Of course, adopting a pet from an animal shelter is much better than buying a puppy from a breeder or pet store. If you adopt a cat or dog from a shelter, you will have a best friend who would otherwise be without a home. When you take a dog or cat home, by opening up a space in the shelter, you give another animal a chance of finding a forever home.

If you go the adoption route, do research on the breed you have in mind. It is a good idea to sleep on it overnight because you don't want to end up bringing the pet back to the shelter a few days later. You can look up a local rescue organization if you are looking for a particular breed.

An excellent resource for those seeking to adopt a shelter animal is www.petfinder.com, which features dogs all over the country. You can search for pets by animal type, breed, age, size, gender, and zip code. Almost all shelters are registered with Pet Finder. If you are looking for a certain type of dog, before you go out and buy a puppy in a pet store, check out Petfinder.com or type the name of the breed and the word "rescue" into your favorite internet search engine. You won't believe how many dogs are waiting for a forever home!

Learn more about this author, Caroline Atkins.
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