Where can you get a dog from?
There are breeders, puppy mills and shelters, as anywhere in the world. It’s your choice whether you prefer personal sympathy than breeds, but if you want a purebred dog you must carefully avoid puppy mills. What are the suspicious signs?
- the pup is too cheap
- there are no documents of pedigree or vaccinations
- puppies are visibly infected with worms and/or fleas, they look scruffy
- you are not allowed to see the parents or the kennel
- pup is sold on the flea market (even on a digital one, like eBay) or from a car trunk. Fortunately there are no pet stores that selling dogs in Hungary yet.
- puppy is younger than 8 weeks
- “breeder” is not concerned about who you are and how will you hold the puppy at all
- there is no chip implanted
First things to do
Find a pet food shop, dog parks and a good vet in the neighborhood. For dry food and stuff you may go to Fressnapf, Alphazoo and there are several small merchants around the country, but if you want to BARF (or prey) feed your dog you may find your supplier and there are proper groups on Facebook too.
There are several dog parks in Budapest but only a few in other cities. Some parks are just tiny fenced areas with nothing in them, some are really nice ones. You may find them on this site, it’s in Hungarian only but with a map at least.
Health issues
You may find a vet in your area on this web site, though it is in Hungarian, you only have to click on the city or district you live in. The vet will take care about your dog’s vaccinations, some are mandatory: against rabies, parvovirus and canine disempter, leptospirisis and canine hepatitis.
It’s highly recommended to protect your dog against tapeworms, fleas, ticks and mosquitos. Pills, spot-on drops, collars and even ultrasound devices are available. Unfortunately the areas infected with Lyme, babesiosis or heartworm are growing bigger every year.
Insurance
There are two insurance companies offering such service, Aegon’s contract cannot be signed if the dog is older than 7 years, Groupama bond it together with a home insurance only however it covers the damages caused by the dog too.
Leash rules
You must keep your dog on leash everywhere by the law. There are dog parks you may unleash him and in some public parks nobody will say a word unless he misbehaves.
Take special care of your dog in the nature, because hunters may shoot him even if he’s not far from you (and they will state your dog chased a game even if he didn’t). Use a safety vest and never let him farther than 5-10 meters from you. According to regulations every forest and meadow or other natural reservation may be visited only with a leashed dog.
Travelling
On public transport the dogs are allowed with a valid ticket, on leash and muzzled. Small dogs may travel in a carrier, on InterCity trains only in a carrier (other trains take bigger dogs too, but they are slower of course).
If you travel by car, your dog is a luggage by the law, thus it may be transported fastened. This means you should use a carrier or a harness that can be fastened to the seat belt.
In both case take your dog’s passport or vet book with you.
Holidays
In case you would leave your pet at home, there are several boarding kennels nation-wide, you may find some here.
If you want to have some fun together, there are many dog-friendly restaurants, cafes, hotels and dog beaches (from 2016 even on lake Balaton in Zamárdi, Fonyód and in Tihany peninsula’s inner lake), about the latter you may find a map here.
Yellow dog project is hardly known in Hungary, people are unfamiliar with it’s meaning, but if your dog is unwell, shy or needs space for whatever reason it worth a try anyway.