Generating an Amiable Disposition in Your Pet

Have you ever noticed that people tend to look like their pets? Or rather pets tend to look like their people? However it goes, there is no denying that many times humans find their animal parallel in their pets. Pets also tend to pick up characteristics of their owners the longer they live with them. A pet of someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle is more likely to be overweight and overfed. On the other side, the pet of someone with a very active lifestyle is more likely to be a healthy and fit animal. While physical characteristics of people often transfer to their pets so do attitudes. A tense and angry household can cause a pet to be unsociable and inappropriately aggressive. So, to help you keep you mold your pet's disposition here are some tips you get you started.

1) Love 'em!
Give your pets plenty of positive attention. Animals understand tone of voice more than the actual words so even if you're simply speaking nonsense in a sweet cooing voice, your pet will understand that you are happy with them and love them. Part of love is making sure that they are well-fed (but not over-fed) and exercised. A healthy pet is a happy pet. For dogs, take them to a dog park or walk them around the neighborhood. Some favorites for cats include laser pointers and fake mice... and any tricky toy that contains catnip. For one last note, animals should never be struck or harmed in any way that inflicts serious pain, enduring or short-lived. Love shouldn't hurt.

2) Train them.
Even the greatest amount of love cannot make up for a poorly trained pet. This is not so much of an issue with cats, as they tend to train themselves and deign themselves much too dignified for some the antics of dogs. When training your pet you need to be firm but not abusive. Psychology has shown that the best way to train animals is to give inconsistent rewards for good behavior and consistent discipline for inappropriate behavior. (Counter-intuitive, but true) When disciplining an animal for inappropriate behavior (particularly with dogs) the discipline needs to be immediate, as they tend to have a short memory and will not understand what the discipline is for if it is not enacted immediately. So if when you get home from work you discover that Fido peed on the carpet instead of using the doggy door to go outside, now is not the time to discipline. Simply make a note that potty training needs some more work.

3) Pet them!
Pets, particularly young pets, need to petted and touched all over so they can become accustomed to human touch. Places like paws, tails, underbellies, and throats especially need attention. The faster they become accustomed to human hands the less likely they are to bite your hand or (more importantly) a well-meaning strangers hand.

While these tips should help you to mold your pets disposition, every animal and every pet will have a different personality. Some are very outgoing while others are more reserved. However, with the proper training and molding, you should be able to slightly restrain and overly outgoing animal and to encourage an overly timid one.