Faith-based pet family aspirations depend on wisdom and healthy hierarchy practiced by adults. Adult wisdom builds a healthy hierarchy of strategies in the home where adults, children, and pets are cherished, fostering longer term success and less extreme failure. Healthy hierarchy helps primary needs of family members be met more consistency, and starves most problems before they acutely undermine family stability.
Faith-based pet family aspirations may include:
Learn to apply the 10 Commandments.
Prayer daily and weekly in the home.
Community prayer and worship.
Observe yearly in church St. Francis of Assisi’s Blessing of the Animals.
Focus on character building and physical health.
Remembering that we are all sinners, try to:
Avoid unnecessary separation and divorce.
Avoid chronic unemployment and underemployment.
Avoid substance abuse.
Avoid fatherless families.
Avoid chronic sleep problems.
Non-Negotiable Family Needs Include:
Awake couple time, family sleep needs, financial health, parenting time, children’s needs, academic challenges, behavioral issues, medical conditions, aging parents.
Preferably before pet hosting, adoption, or purchase, reflect on your families priorities, resources, and non-negotiable needs. If there is a problem, recognize it instead of ignoring the problem. The needs of pets depend on pet owner wisdom and healthy hierarchy in the home. Receiving help for human problems improve pet family functioning, reducing the amount of rehousing of pets influenced by acute family breakdown.
Family Resources: Researching a Breed of Dog or Cat Prospective pet families research a breed of dog or cat thru breeders, trainers, behaviorists, veterinarians, and written material. Individual breed characteristics include trainability, grooming, food, exercise, rescue versus non-rescue, life span, sociability, etc. More pet success occurs when the prospective family asks “What are our resources and what pet would we be a good family for?” This reflection on resources differs from over focusing on feelings and breeds a family may have owned previously.
Robert Berkelhammer is the Author of Pet Care Givers & Families: Getting the Most From Dog Playgroups, Pet Sitters, and Walkers. Also, see our MULTI-USE FAMILY PET CARE CONTRACT, a must-have organizing tool for you, your family, pet care professionals, and most importantly your pets! www.robertberkelhammer.com
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