Choosing a Dog

Welcome To Choosing a Dog

Everything you need to know about choosing youre perfect dog like choosing dog, choosing dog for family, interactive quiz for choosing a dog, choosing a dog questionnaire, choosing a dog for your lifestyle, choosing a dog breed, choosing a dog breed, choosing a breed dog, choosing a family dog,  choosing a dog tips, choosing a dog advice, choosing a big dog

Choosing a family dog

Breeds such as hunting or working dogs require more exercise than some smaller breeds and may crowd an apartment or small home. Do you have a fence to contain your new companion? What about grooming? Do keep in mind that all dogs shed their hair coat at least twice a year (Spring and Fall). Some kinds of dogs shed constantly and some breeds have to be professionally groomed. Consider your lifestyle and make sure you will have the proper amount of time to spend with a dog or puppy. You’ll need to seriously think about these and other factors when considering if a dog, or, which dog is right for you

Choosing a dog breed

Each breed of puppy was bred with a specific purpose in mind. Knowing as much as you can about that breed will help you in making the right selection. Your local library or the book department of your favorite pet specialty store has books on breeds of puppies. Investigate the breeds of puppies you are the most interested in to find out if this is the breed that will fit best into your family's lifestyle.

A good breeder will be extremely choosy in accepting prospective puppy buyers. A prospective owner should be equally choosy when selecting a breeder. A prospective owner can begin to evaluate a breeder's expertise by noting whether she ranks the puppies' mental well-being and physical health above their good looks. Assess several factors:

· whether your prospective puppy's parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and other relations live to a ripe old age

· whether the breeder's adult dogs are all people-friendly and well-trained

· whether your prospective pup is already well-socialized and well-trained, i.e., evaluate the breeder’s socialization and training program

Choosing a Dog Breed - Meet The Parents

Meet and test-drive as many of your prospective puppy's adult relatives as possible. Friendly dogs are self-apparent when you meet them. Friendly dogs are living proof of good socialization by a good breeder. 

Beware the breeder who is only willing to show you puppies.

A good breeder will take the time to see how you get along with adult dogs before letting you anywhere near the pups.

A good breeder wouldn't let you leave with a puppy if you didn't know how to handle an adult dog, which your puppy will be in just a few months. Make sure the breeder teaches you how to handle and train her adult dogs.

You want to evaluate as many adult dogs as possible from your prospective puppy's family and line before you let a litter of super-cute puppies steal your heart. If all the adult dogs are people-friendly, well behaved and well trained, it is a good bet that you have discovered an exceptional breeder with exceptional dogs.

When choosing the puppy, it is so important that all family members agree. You want to select the puppy you all like best, and you want to select a puppy that likes all of you. Sit down quietly as a family and see which puppies make contact first and which ones stay around the longest.

Choosing a Dog Tips

Always go and see a puppy with its mother and never buy a puppy from a shop or take up offers to bring the puppy to you. During early puppihood, puppies pick up on many of the traits of their mother. When meeting the mother, take note of any behaviours such nervousness or aggression. Be cautious of any breeder who does not allow you to meet the puppy's mother. The nature of breeding is such that meeting the father is often a little difficult, but if you cannot ask the question anyway.

 Selecting the most appropriate breed with the best possible parentage is only part of the challenge in creating the perfect puppy. The experiences in the first 12 weeks of a puppy's life often shape its behaviour right into adulthood. Since you will not be picking up the puppy until around 6-8 weeks, this places a huge responsibility on the breeder during the early weeks of development.

When you visit the puppies, consider the environment into which they have been born. The best start to life is in a busy household, where they will quickly become familiar with all of the sights and sounds of normal daily life. Do adults and children handle the puppies regularly? do they get to see other friendly dogs? Are they being taught to interact with toys?

Ask the breeder to see the pedigrees of both the mother and father. If you want a quite low maintenance dog, it is not necessarily a good thing if the father is a champion at sheepdog trials. Ask questions about the father and why he was chosen for breeding.

Be cautious of puppies that have been breed in kennels or on farms where the amount of early interaction and socialisation may be limited. Good rescue centres will take measure to ensure puppies are kept in places where they will get plenty of human contact and new experiences.

When should I take a puppy home?

The debate continues on when is the best time to take puppy home. Taking a puppy from its litter mates to early and they lose out on valuable socialisation time with other dogs. It is this socialisation time that builds their canine communication skills enabling them to cope better with encounters with other dogs. Take a puppy to late and you delay the start of the learning to live in the human world. Current thinking is that about six to eight weeks is about the right time to take a home.

You are finally ready for a companion or a family pet. You already made the decisions on whether you want a dog or cat, male or female, purebred or mixed breed. Now you are looking for just the right animal. Do you know what to look for in a healthy pet? What type of disposition will fit your lifestyle? Your final decision will probably be one of the heart, but we can give you some suggestions to guide you as far as health and temperament.

Age and disposition

The best age at which to buy a puppy is around eight weeks of age. They have become self-reliant, but are still impressionable. It is also a good time to establish some bonds of affection and begin training. The young puppy learns rules of behavior and how to relate to others from his littermates and his mother's reactions. The overly aggressive pup will probably be aggressive as an older dog; the withdrawn, inactive puppy will probably remain timid. Although care, feeding, and socialization of a pet after purchase are very important, you can determine much from their behavior at eight weeks of age. Pick a puppy that likes to play, is eager for attention, and reacts positively to affection.