For most cases, you are probably reading this post since you have already asked your parents for a pet, and they already said no. You tried coming up with your own ideas to solve this problem, but it didn’t work so far. So how do you go about accomplishing this impossible task?
In our ultimate guide, we will be covering varying factors that might be hindering you from getting a pet, and for each general case, we have created an entire chapter to deal with specific problems and also to present ideal solutions to each obstacle. Without further ado, let’s jump straight in!
Chapter 1: Parent-Friendly Fundamentals
I think this goes without being said, but are you in good standing with your parents? In other words, is there something that is hindering the relationship between you and your guardians? I’m not saying this just to dig into your private life, but I’m asking this question since this factor is quite important.
Having a Good Parent-to-Children Relationship
If you had a fight with your parents and never got it resolved, your relationship with your mom or dad is going to get worse each passing day since neither side is too stubborn to say, “I’m sorry.” If you constantly quarrel with your parents on a daily basis, you are already getting off on the wrong foot.
To make it easier for you to understand, you need to have your parents on your side as allies rather than being on the opposing side as “enemies”. If you are distancing away from your parents, their answer will almost always be negative since you are in bad standing with your mom or your dad.
Parent-Friendly Methods
If you want to have your parents on your side before even the question is asked, you need to be friendly to your parents first, which means having a conversation not just once or twice a month, but being conversational on a daily basis! Due to the digital age with the internet and phones, people might mistake online messaging as the trend, but the key foundation to every stable relationship is still face-to-face conversation.
- Be Respectful to Your Parents
- Don’t Cut Off a Conversation
- Try to Be Friendly Toward Your Parent
- Obey Your Parent’s Commands
I know that these actions are quite hard for us to do since we tend to reject the wishes of our parents because we think that we know better, which is not always the case. Even though it might be hard at first, you will begin to get the hang of it as you follow through with your actions over and over again. Try to be sincere when carrying out your tasks since our parents have an unsettling way of reading our minds through our body language and outward attitudes.
Asking for a Favor
After getting on the good side with your parents, now is the time to show off your devious skills. During the years that you have spent with your parents, you probably know which of your parents to ask first since either your mom or your dad understands the situation that you are going through, which can be of great help down the road.
After selecting your target, you need to spend time on how to phrase your question so that your parent will be more likely to say yes than no. If you need help with that process, try to write your question down, and ask your English teacher or a friend that is really advanced in grammar for further improvement. After doing some practice rounds with yourself in a mirror, look for the right timing to ask your question.
Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.
Arnold H. Glasow
Don’t ask your parents when they are in a hurry which might prevent them from hearing your question in the first place, and never ask your parents for a favor when they are in an angry or irritated mood. Try to ask your parent during a time when they are free, which means that they will have the time to listen to your question, think about your suggestion, and give you a thoughtful answer regarding your future pet.
If these steps work for you and your parents said yes, then you have no need to read this post any further. However, if you have asked your question and received a negative answer, then you probably need to read the upcoming chapters, which will cover a variety of areas that will help you when persuading your parents for a pet.
Chapter 2: Handling Responsibilities
You might be cringing on the inside when I mentioned the word “responsibilities,” but the first thing that you need to know is that growing a pet is a huge responsibility to undertake. Owning a puppy is very similar to raising a baby since you need to take care of the basic needs of your dog every single day.
Does Your Parent Think That You Are Ready?
As your parents, their primary job is to make sure that your basic needs (food, house to live in, clothes to put on, etc,) are met. Since your parents want what is best for you, they will probably send you to school, and maybe encourage you to take part in activities outside your school so that you can build your skillset and various hobbies.
During your growing years, your parents will have a good idea of your sense of responsibility. For example, if you say that you will do your chores but never do them, your parents will know that your words don’t have any value since you don’t keep your promises. Similarly, if you have consistently kept the promises that you have made with your parents, they will realize that you will do what you have said.
- Many Broken Promises and Failed Actions = Low or Even No Trust
- Consistent Actions with Kept Promises = High Trust
Why is your parent’s trust so important when getting a pet? That is because there will be increasing amounts of responsibility that comes with owning a pet, and even if you promise them that you will do all the work that comes with owning a puppy, they will not believe a word of what you have said since your parents already know that you are all words and no action.
If your parents don’t trust you to do a simple task on time, they will not buy that puppy for you since they already know that all those responsibilities of owning that puppy will fall on their shoulders. If you can’t be responsible for simple chores, how will you be responsible for your pet (living animal) every single day for 10 to 12 years?
Winning Your Parent’s Trust
How do you win your parent’s trust? To be honest with you, you will have a really hard time earning that trust back if you have already lost it through your actions. I’m speaking through my own personal experience since I lost my parent’s trust through my own actions, and even as an adult, it was really hard to gain their trust since it was already lost so long time ago.
However, you are probably still at a young age, which means that you still have a really good chance of getting it back, but the journey that you will need to take will be quite hard. Starting now, try to be responsible for your words, and when making a promise, try to think twice regarding your promise and try your very best to keep your promise.
Trust is a fragile thing. Easy to break, easy to lose, and one of the hardest things to ever get back.
Unknown
You can also win your parent’s trust through your school work and your chores around the house. Try to keep your grades up by being academically responsible, which entails doing your homework, prepping for quizzes, and studying for tests and exams. If you are asked by your parents to do a task, don’t push it off till the last moment since there might be a chance that you might not do it at all.
In short, focus on the responsibilities that you already have, and if you are given additional responsibility, try to do those tasks on time. Also, being consistent with your actions will speak louder than just words, so show them what you can do through your actions rather than trying to persuade your parents with just words.
Chapter 3: Making Helpful Promises
If you have already mastered the stuff mentioned in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, now is the time to think through the promises that you will need to make. If your family does decide to get a dog for you, you will be the primary one who will be keeping watch over your pet. In short, you will be your dog’s “guardian.”
Lighter Load for Your Parents
Since this post is for children, I’m going to assume that probably most of you don’t have a job that pays full-time, and if you do, that’s good for you. However, in this case, I’m going to also assume that your parents will bear the financial responsibility (paying for the costs of dog food, toys, and essentials) of owning your pet.
Since your parents bear the financial responsibility, they will expect you to be one who is physically responsible for your pet. This basically entails filling up your dog bowl with food, daily changing out the water bowl, and doing daily physical exercise with your dog to keep your pet focused and occupied.
- Try to take over the physical responsibilities
- Do some background research before actually buying
- Take thoughtful consideration of your family’s situation first
In addition, you need to be the one doing detailed research on the breed that you would like to have. Don’t just always go for the ideal dog breeds such as the German Shepherd or Golden Labrador since they will require the most work (high maintenance) and also be on the expensive side when it comes to needed essentials.
Try to look for dog breeds that will fit well into your family’s lifestyle, and if you have any preferred traits that you want in your dog, try to look them up as well. Also, try to look up some beginner tips for dog owners since those guides will help you when you try to adjust to your new family addition.
Additional Ways to Lighten Your Parent’s Load
In addition to physical responsibilities and online research, you might be interested in other ways that might be of use when persuading your parents. Although it might not be much, you can try to lend a hand financially by earning bits of money from chore work or yard work that you can do for your neighbors or even for your parents.
Not only that, you can prevent your parents from spending money on unnecessary stuff by discerning which essentials are necessary for your house, and also, try to buy one good product at a fair price rather than buying similar cheap products many times. Last but not least, look at the customer reviews first to see if those products are worth their money.
If you are not the only child in your family, try to persuade your siblings to join your cause, since as the saying goes, “Many hands make light work.” If you have any siblings, try to split off responsibilities so that you don’t have to do all the work, but mind you, try to split those responsibilities as fair as possible since you need teamwork in order to make this pet enterprise possible.
Chapter 4: Planning Ahead
After thinking through all the promises that you need to make, the next step is to plan and prepare for the new addition to your family. I’m not saying that your parents will readily agree on getting you a dog, but if they do decide to get you a pet for some reason or another, you need to show your parents that you are ready.
Scheduling Your Time
The biggest factor in raising a puppy is your time. You need to sacrifice your time when caring for your dog, and exercise will be a big factor as you are raising your dog. In order to maintain a healthy body and also a healthy mindset, you need to exercise your dog regularly, and the exercise time will get longer as your dog starts to grow and mature.
If you are planning to raise breeds known for their intelligence such as German Shepherd or any shepherding dogs, you need to come up with daily training sessions to stimulate their brain and their mental activities. If you don’t have the time to train and to exercise your dog, you have two options that you can take.
- Option 1: Pay someone to do it for you
- Option 2: Get a less-intelligent dog
You might be thinking, “I can just buy any dog breed that I want, and if I don’t really have time to train him, I’ll just not do it.” If you do buy a dog breed that is known for its intelligence and fail to train him, studies have shown that your dog will either use his intellect for mischief or grow into a violent-tempered dog due to his increased mental frustration.
Please make sure that you have enough time in your schedule to spend on your dog, and if you don’t have the time, then getting a puppy might not be the right choice for you. In order to be responsible for a pet, you need to sacrifice time and effort, and if you don’t have any, don’t try to look for a pet.
Researching Bad Habits
I think this section is probably the one that I want to spend more time on. When I got my first puppy, I didn’t do any previous research, and I just decided to learn using my personal experience. However, this led me to many bad habits, which were really hard to break.
The first mistake that I made was allowing myself and my family to feed her the scraps from off the table. You might be thinking that this habit isn’t so bad, but for my puppy, she developed a nasty habit of not eating her dog food but rather relying on us to feed her the scraps of our food.
In some extreme cases, she began to ignore her dog food until it began to rot, which resulted in large amounts of quality dog food being thrown into the trash can. In addition to our bad habits, we really weren’t that consistent with training our dog since she was a cute Maltese from the very start.
- Feeding Pieces of Meat From Our Plates >> Ignoring Dogfood
- Not Being Strict With Training >> Toliet Messes Everywhere
Against the good wishes of our trainer, we let our puppy out from the pen where she was, which basically didn’t give her time to establish her boundary and to potty train her in the best way possible. This led to frequent mishaps inside our house, which led to countless arguments between my parents and my siblings.
In addition to my mistakes, try to look up the common mistakes that first-time dog owners tend to make since you need all the help that you can get. Try to let your family members know beforehand, and do your very best to avoid making the same mistakes that I did.
By following these little steps, you will eliminate many arguments that you might be having with your parents down the road, and by consistently implementing small techniques, your bond with your dog will grow even stronger as the days go by.
Chapter 5: Show Them the Pros & Cons
After showing them that you are ready to own a pet, the next step is to persuade them using your own words. For many of you that are out there, you probably have done this step and tried to persuade your parents about the benefits of owning a dog, and if you have already done so, skip down to the next step for further instructions!
Cons of Owning a Dog
I think the best persuasion method is to show your parents that you already know the negative side of owning a dog but also clearly communicate to your mom and your dad that the pros of owning a dog outweigh the cons. Also, don’t be surprised when your parents decide to ask you some questions regarding this potential pet ownership.
All right, so what are some of the side effects of owning a dog? First and foremost, your ability to move around will be restricted. Every time your family decides to go on a trip during vacation or on a holiday, you need to make the decision on whether or not you are going to take your dog along for the ride.
If you decide not to take your dog along for the trip, you need to find suitable living arrangements for your dog during the time that your family will be gone, and if you do decide to take your dog along, you need to make sure that places that you will be staying at are pet-friendly.
Since your puppy will look up to you as their foster “parent,” you need to take care of your little sibling since they need constant supervision. Even at a young age, puppies tend to be mischievous and highly curious about their surroundings, which can lead to troubles and possible mishaps.
- Your Ability to Travel is Restricted
- Constantly Be Looking Out for Your Dog
- Sacrifice in Time (BIG FACTOR)
Not only that, you need to constantly spend time with your dog to ensure that she receives enough care and attention, and when your dog starts to mature and grow, you need to spend additional time training your dog since you want your dog to behave and to be friendly toward your friends and family.
After you have thought that you have done enough, there are still more tasks ahead of you. You need to do your research on dog food to make sure that she gets the right amount of ingredients during her growing stage, and how to ration the amount of dog food so that she doesn’t get too lean or too fat.
Basically, you have too much to learn in a short period of time to make this whole thing work. If you are not ready to take on this responsibility, don’t ask your parent for a puppy since you will be the one to do it, whether you like it or not. If you want a pet, you need to be willing to bear the responsibility of owning a puppy.
Pros of Owning a Dog
Even though there are many cons to owning a pet, I still think that getting a puppy is still worth the cost. To be honest with you, one of the primary reasons that people look for a pet is for companionship. We want friends, and if I am the only sibling in my family, it can get quite lonely at times when my parents are not in the house.
Getting a puppy can provide you with the companionship that you need since they offer great emotional support due to their friendly nature. With their adoring eyes and wagging tails, you can release all the tensions and stress that you accumulated during the day because of your faithful companion.
If your family decides to get a breed of medium or large-sized dogs, your puppy will later grow into a security guard with unwavering loyalty. They will protect you from harm, and be alert against any threat that might come your way. If strangers try to approach your house, they will let you know of the threat and try to discourage strangers with their loud barkings.
- Your Sacrifice = Your Dog’s Unwavering Loyalty and Support
- During Sad Times and Discouraging Times, Your Dog Is There for You!
- Great Social Companion – Boosts Self-Confidence and Moral
- Increased Responsibility – Could Make You More Mature
I know that there are way more positive benefits that you might be thinking inside your head, but these are some of the positive aspects that I have experienced during my time as a dog owner. I learned many things along the way, but I want to share a few lessons that touched me the most.
During my time with my Maltese, I learned that you only need a couple of really good friends instead of a multitude of “average” friends since really good friends stay with you during good times and bad times. Even during my times of depression, my dog was always there for me to cheer me back up!
Last but not least, being a dog owner means that you are in charge of planning out the life of a living animal. Even though it can be stressful at times, the benefits of owning a pet greatly outshine the responsibility since you get so much out of your furry companion. If you are consistent with your responsibilities and keep your promises, you will be a great dog owner in the future!
Chapter 6: Making Compromises
Even though you might have done your best, sometimes your best might not be enough. Because of this unfortunate circumstance, let’s talk about some compromises that you might need to make not only during your childhood years but also as an adult.
Financial Circumstances
If your family is not financially stable, then you cannot get a dog even if your parents say yes. If your parents struggle to earn enough income for basic necessities, getting a pet will make your home an even unhappier place since growing a pet is really expensive. For some, they say that it is like having another child in the family.
If your family can’t afford to have a pet due to financial circumstances, don’t try to make their lives even harder with luxuries that you can’t afford. Either be patient with your family’s financial situation to get better or get out and earn the money needed to raise a pet.
Fur Allergies
If anyone that is living in your house has fur allergies, your prospect of getting a pet can’t really happen anytime soon. If your family member is allergic to fur, he or she will constantly be itching and sneezing since your dog will shed his fur all around the house. You might be thinking of ways to prevent this from happening, but there isn’t!
Regardless of breed, all dogs will shed fur, and even if you try to look for dogs that shed less, your family member will feel miserable just because of your family pet. Always put people over animals since, after all, they are your family!
Even though it will not come easy, be ready to make compromises along the way if you absolutely have to. Sometimes, the answer might not always be yes. Oftentimes, your parents will ask you to wait, and this doesn’t mean that the answer is no since your parents will be looking for the perfect timing that you can have your dream pet.
Chapter 7: Having a Good Mindset
Since you are already hyped about getting a dog for your pet, let me just remind you of some of the drawbacks of being a dog owner. Please read over this section carefully, and I really hope that this section will enable you to make the right decision down the road.
Physical Responsibilities
Since we love to either get a puppy or a kitten as our pet, I’m going to assume that you are trying to get either one of these pets as your current goal. If you do choose to buy a pet, you need to take into account the amount of maintenance your particular pet will need. If you are looking for a dog, please keep in mind that this task will require high amounts of maintenance.
At first, it will be really easy to take care of your puppy since you will be all hyped up and excited about taking care of this new addition to your family. Since your dog can’t take care of himself, you are responsible for changing out his water bowl, filling in his food bowl with dog food, taking care of his restroom needs, and walking your dog when it is necessary to do so.
Maturing as a Responsible Dog Owner
As you get used to your set of responsibilities, those tasks will slowly but surely begin to get larger as your pet starts to grow and mature into an adult. You might need to play with your dog for a longer period of time, the amount of dog food will begin to increase, and the swap-out rates will become to grow more frequently.
As your puppy starts to mature into an adult, he will begin to shed hair more, and you will need to take care of his grooming needs such as giving him a bath, cutting his hair, and trimming his nails. If you can’t handle the grooming process without hurting your dog, you can always book an appointment at a pet store for professional assistance.
- Fulfilling the Needs of Your Dog on Time
- Always Spending Quality Time With Your Dog Daily
The reason why I bolded the phrase “on Time” is that we all have a tendency to push off things when we really don’t want to carry out that task. If you don’t do it, you will probably force one of the parents to do it, which will throw a bad light on you since you promised that you will take care of every physical responsibility that comes with owning a pet. Don’t be lazy and just do it!
Sometimes, we tend to forget the important things in life when we are so busy caught up in our own schedule. Even during those times, spend a couple of minutes between your tasks to spend time with your dog since your pet needs companionship which gives him the steadfast assurance of being a member of your family’s “pack.”
Are You Really Ready?
Do you think that you can handle all this responsibility that comes with owning a pet? Don’t answer this question lightly since many dogs have become homeless because their owners couldn’t handle their responsibilities seriously. And you know what happens to homeless dogs? They are sent to the animal shelter and if no family claims them for a certain time period, they are put to death.
If your answer is no, you should not be asking this question to your parents, and even if you do get a dog, your pet will bring more misery to your family than happiness since the responsibilities of raising that pet will be an added burden to your parents who are already swamped with raising you from childhood. Even if your answer is yes, you should think twice before asking your parents for a dog since raising an animal requires much time and patience.
- Sacrifice in Time (Physical Tasks and Responsibilities)
- Restrictions when Travelling (Pet-Allowed Accommodations) << BIG FACTOR
If you are still adamant about getting a pup, then you also need to seriously consider the sacrifices that you and your family have to make. You need to make sure that your dog’s needs (food, water, going to the restroom, etc.) are cared for at all times. In addition, you probably need to spend more time researching for other products for your dog, exercising your dog, and spending quality time with your dog to bond with your pet.
Not only that, you are restricted when going off on holidays since some accommodations require additional fees to house your pet, and some facilities are really strict regarding pets. If you are in a situation that you can’t really leave your dog with someone else for a certain period of time, you are either stuck with your dog at your home or you need to pay a pet store to keep your dog for a certain period of time.
Conclusion: Should You Be Asking That Question?
After getting a quick overview of your responsibilities, do you really want to ask that question about getting a puppy to your parents? Now, you should be a little bit scared and quite a bit worried since owning a pet is a serious responsibility that you will have to carry for the rest of your pet’s life.
This was a big problem in my family since we didn’t really consider the responsibilities that will come from owning a pet because it was our first puppy. However, we quickly realized that this responsibility was too big to handle for us, which meant that our family was at constant quarrels with each other due to our puppy, which led to much unhappiness within our family. So don’t let that happen to your family either!
