INFORMATION CENTER > Choosing Your Pet
DOG
When selecting a dog, choose one that is right for your situation. Important characteristics to focus on are:
- Behavior traits
- Gender
- Size
- Activity Needs
- Grooming Needs
The challenge of matching yourself with the right dog depends on determining your needs and finding the pup that most closely matches those needs. Many owners make the mistake of choosing a dog quickly and forget to anticipate the size, energy level, temperament, coat or grooming involved, veterinary expenses, general expenses, or consideration of their own lifestyle. Because of this, dogs are surrendered to animal shelters, rescue organizations, or other families due to conflict in one or more of these areas. Considering these facts, it is important to do research on various breeds and plan a budget for monthly pet expenses prior to choosing your dog. Also, when shopping for a pet, try to avoid impulse adoptions at all!
TEMPERAMENT
When choosing a puppy or an adult dog, it is important to note characteristics that may give you insight to the dogís temperament. Spending a little time with a group of puppies and being observant can usually help to isolate those with good, outgoing personalities. They will be in the midst of puppy play, being neither overly dominant nor submissive. If you crouch down, friendly pups will usually run to your feet. When picked up and supported well, they normally will not fight or struggle to get down. Ask yourself some obvious questions. Does the puppy seem to enjoy being with people? Is he overly afraid of stimuli such as sounds or sudden movement? Most of this is common sense, and can be done by anybody without any preconceived ideas. Anything is better than saying simply, "I want a brown one with lots of spots."
Some further things to keep in mind also, is that the environment in which the animal lives and matures will greatly affect his behavior and personality as an adult. This means that you will have an opportunity to affect the puppy after he is living with you. The more time you spend with your new friend, the better chance you have of him growing into the animal you want. Regardless of the test or selection method used, you cannot expect the animal to continue to develop without your guidance.
PUPPIES
Puppies should allow you to handle their paws without resistance, roll them on their back without nervousness or resistance, and allow you to pick them up and hold them without struggling. If available, it is always best to be able to view the parents of the puppy you are considering. This allows you to get a good perception on the petís future size and temperament. One other important factor to consider is the breed of puppy you are interested in adopting. There are seven categories of breeds recognized by the AKC. These categories include: hound, working, terrier, toy, sporting, non-sporting, and herding. Each of these breeds carry temperament traits that are fairly universal for each dog. For example, sporting breeds tend to be high energy, yet extremely loyal. These dogs would need large amounts of exercise and entertainment to keep them out of trouble and prevent them from being ìbored.î Overall, if you decide to bring home a puppy, be prepared to invest time for house training and behavioral training, as well as veterinary expenses for the first four to five months.
ADULT DOGS
Adult dogs may be an easier adoption because most of these will come ìas is.î It is easier to gauge an adult dogís temperament than that of a puppy because they have already grown to be what they are. There are some situations that would possibly contradict this though. Some animals may end up at the shelter that have come from abusive homes or that have been stray for most of their life. These dogs would probably lack socialization and be very timid. This behavior is easily noted after spending some time with them as well. Most shelters provide rehabilitation and behavioral training services before they will even consider adopting these pets out. Other pets may come from homes where the owner is no longer able to care for them or they are moving. These pets make excellent companions and it is always possible to teach an old dog new tricks!
