Four-legged playmates

Dogs are wonderful companions for children of all ages. If a child is born into a family with a dog, the parents should give the four-legged friend the opportunity to sniff the baby under their supervision so that he or she recognizes it as a family member. Instinctively, the dog perceives the helplessness of the infant and assumes the protector role. However, the helpless infant quickly becomes a confident toddler who feels at the same level with the dog. It projects its own intentions and abilities onto the animal and humanizes it, because it closes on the animal in each and every one of them. In this stage of the development of the child, the four-legged friend has to undergo some awkward and sometimes very rough treatment. But anyone who has ever seen the infinite patience of dogs listening to the youngest family member's ears will no longer doubt that animals have a consciousness. Nevertheless, toddlers should never be left alone with animals, because the respective supervisor must be able to intervene before it becomes painful for the quadruped. Even the most peaceful dog could catch in the first defense reflex. It is very important that parents guide the toddler to handle the animal properly.

Mutual education

At about four to five years, a child can recognize that the dog is lower in the family hierarchy and develops caring for the animal. The needs of the dog are important to the child: it wants to feed, maintain, but also already command. And that is the beginning of mutual education; The child realizes that his four-legged friend also has a life of his own and does not always want what he wants. The child has to learn to be considerate. Larger children and adolescents learn to bear responsibility when they gradually receive the care and care of the dog from their parents. You can take simple veterinary visits and maintain the animal under the guidance of the parents in case of illness. Adolescents learn to defer their own wishes in favor of another living being. They understand that love and friendship require understanding for each other, which in turn requires patience and tolerance. It is therefore understandable that children who grow up with dogs or other animals get along better with other people and are much more sociable. As children never tire of watching their four-legged friends, growing up with animals promotes their powers of observation, which also teaches other areas.

To see the course of a life

Due to the significantly shorter life expectancy of dogs compared to humans, children observe their whole fourteen-legged friend's life - from the juvenile to the adult and the old animal. Children thus learn to be positive about age. The respect that they now show the old animal and the consideration of age-related obstructions of the animal will show them later also in old people.

If it can not be a dog

Although dogs are wonderful companions, it is not possible for all families to keep a dog. But even Konrad Lorenz stated: "Whether a child has a dog, a cat or a canary - every animal teaches him that man is not the only living thing in the world, but responsible member of a large system."