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3 Essential Tips When Adopting a Large Breed Dog

Adopting any dog is a huge commitment. However, opening up your home to a large breed dog can take a bit of extra planning.

These large dogs need more of everything. They need more food, a more massive bed, more exercise, and often more training. They can bring a whole lot of love into your world, but you need to know what you’re getting into before adopting one.

Below, you’ll find three essential tips to consider when adopting a larger-than-average canine. Whether you live in an apartment or on a farm, these tips will help you prepare your home for your new furry friend.

1. Buy The Best Large Breed Dog Food

All dogs need a suitable, high-quality food to thrive. However, bigger dogs have a few critical nutritional needs that need to be met.

Firstly, they need to eat more food. Large dogs will be eating cups and cups (or cans and cans) of food a day. You need to take this into account when budgeting for a dog. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars a month feeding a big dog.

Secondly, large breed puppies need special diets. Not all puppy foods are designed for these dogs. They should eat a diet containing at least 30% protein. Fat is essential, as well, and should be in the higher range. If you’re adopting a puppy, you should ensure that you purchase a puppy food specifically designed for larger breeds.

This food is usually more high-quality than your average puppy food. You can expect to pay a little bit more for it.

2. Training is Essential

For some smaller dogs, you can usually get away with some bare minimum training. However, this is not the case with larger dogs. If they are not appropriately trained, they can accidentally injure someone.

You can train your dog at home by yourself. There are plenty of high-quality YouTube videos out there and inexpensive at-home classes you can use. If you want, you can also take your canine to local training classes.

 Whatever you decide to do, ensure that your canine is being appropriately trained from a young age. Early socialization and training are vital.

3. Bigger Dogs Need More Exercise

Large breed dogs typically need more exercise than small to medium dogs. In many cases, this is mostly just because they’re so big. One step for them is five steps for a smaller dog. To get the same amount of exercise, they need to travel further.

Furthermore, many bigger dogs were designed to work. Look at Siberian Huskies and Standard Poodles, for instance. Those breeds were designed for long days of work and have an exercise need that matches. On the other hand, only some small breeds were bred for work and therefore don’t need as much exercise.

A fenced-in yard is preferable, but daily walks are required as well. Plan on at least an hour of exercise a day when it comes to these massive dogs. 

 

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