A dog called Brillo

A walk up Bromlow Callow in Shropshire as the sunset, blanket to sit on and something to drink. Along with the shadows and the last rays came a dog and a pup, a Brillo and a scamp. Long legged and long snouted, coming over for a back scratch and a happy sniff before running off to play on top of the hill in the golden hour grass.

6 Practical Life-Skills You Learn After Being a Dog Parent

While you spend hours training your dog, you probably never realised that your dog was actually training you. The daily challenges of keeping a dog healthy and happy indirectly teach dog parents to do a lot of things. Even though dogs don’t live as long as humans do, the little time they spend with us changes us as people and grants us skills we never had before. Without much ado, the following are 6 practical life-skills you learn after taking care of a dog. 

How to Browse the Internet to Find the Best Pet-Product Deals: 
Providing proper nutrition and creating a safe space for the dog are the two basic pillars of pet care. Achieving those can prove to be expensive. From buying pet beds to finding high-quality pet food, you need to constantly look for deals and discounts to save money on pet products. While you struggle at first, you slowly learn the trick of how to order discount pet items online. You become a pro at finding coupon codes and special offers online to find the best value for your buck. If that’s not a skill, what is. 

Cleaning Up Yucky Stuff Like a Pro: 
Someone who has never owned a pet before may find it impossible to clean up something really disgusting. Veteran pet parents, however, face no problem cleaning up nasty messes. Best of all, seasoned doggie parents are always prepared with poop bags and cleaning agents.

How to Multitask When Walking: 
Walking the dog takes a good 30 minutes every day. Now, if you are a busy person, finding that 30 minutes every single day often proves to be impossible. Working pet moms and dads, often bring along Bluetooth headsets so that they can take care of important phone calls while they are walking their dogs. 

Cooking Nutritious Meals Quickly: 
Buying expensive pet food is not something that everyone wants to do. A better alternative for many is to buy cheap yet healthy ingredients and then cooking them to make nutritious meals for their dogs. The home-made food is not only more nutritionally dense but also cheaper than buying expensive dog food products that offer the same nutritive value. Seasoned pet parents usually learn the skill to use few basic ingredients such as minced beef and veggies to quickly make meals for their dogs.

Reading Food Labels Like a Boss: 
As a pet parent, you are responsible for your dog’s diet. This means you need to be ever-vigilant when picking dog food and treats. One of the skills most pet parents are forced to learn is to read product labels. Instead of being swayed by the fancy marketing claims upfront, dog parents know that the best information is usually labelled in the back. 

 Administering Pills and Shots:
 Administering pills to dogs is a skill that takes a lot of effort to master. Even with special pet pill tools, you need steady hands to ensure the tablet is not spat out. You also need to calm your dog and secure it in position. This is a skill that comes in handy when administering tasteless tablets to any small animal.

*collaborative post