Providing for Pets while Preparing for Class

By AMY LYUS

Caring for a pet while attending school or work fulltime can be very hard and often times unfair to the pet. Enumerated below are a few tips for students with pets that may help keep their animals entertained and comfortable at home alone.

In the morning, before class or work, be sure to take the dog out for a walk and allow him to take care of business to prevent accidents in the house. If the dog is well trained and can be trusted not to damage furniture, leaving the pet to roam around the house is acceptable, but often times pet trainers recommend purchasing a crate to leave pets in during the day.

If a student decides to leave their dog inside a crate most of the day, be sure to place a comfortable blanket, a bone that he can chew on and one of his favorite toys to keep him or her entertained in the crate.

Even if a student decides to leave their dog out of the crate during the day, leaving around a few toys and bones may be a great idea to distract him or her from getting into trouble in the house.

Be sure to leave out fresh water and lay down enough food in the morning before leaving for school or work and for dinnertime.

“Our dog has never destroyed any furniture, probably because he is so spoiled,” said Breese Buffington, senior. “He has a bunch of bones and toys to keep him entertained all day.” Leaving out toys around the house ensures that pets will keep busy most of the day, if they are not sleeping.

For students with some extra pocket change, there are day care centers around Boca that are great for dog entertainment. One great place is Club Bow Wow. This is a cage less daycare environment where dogs have the freedom to socialize with other dogs and even get groomed.

Although this might be a great treat for dogs of all shapes, ages and sizes, it can get pretty pricy to continuously do this. So do not forget to make sure the apartment or home the pet is raised in is as comfortable as possible and will make them feel at home.