There are many things to consider when choosing a puppy,
including which breed or type, and the optimal age of
acquisition. Obviously, you want to choose a dog that is best
suited to you and your
lifestyle. Rather than
listing my preferences, I
will discuss some of the
more important guidelines.
First, please do not kid
yourself that all you have
to do is select the "perfect"
breed and the "perfect"
individual puppy and he
will automatically grow up
into the "perfect" adult dog. Any puppy can become a
marvelous companion if appropriately socialized and trained.
And, no matter what his breed or breeding, any puppy can
become a doggy delinquent if not properly socialized and
trained. Please make an intelligent, researched choice when
selecting your puppy, but remember: appropriate
socialization and training is the single biggest factor
determining how closely the dog will approach your view of
perfection in adulthood.
Second, seek advice from the best sources. Common
mistakes are to take breed advice from veterinarians, health
advice from breeders, and all-important behavior and training
advice from veterinarians, breeders, and pet-store personnel.
The best plan is to seek training and behavior advice from
trainers and behavior counselors, health advice from
veterinarians, breed advice from breeders, and product advice from pet-store personnel. And if you really want to know what's
going on, check out a local puppy class and chat with the
owners; they'll give you the cold, hard facts regarding what it's
really like to live with a puppy.
Third, seek advice from several sources and evaluate all
advice carefully. Apply the common sense principle: does it
make sense to you? Is the advice relevant to your family and
your lifestyle? Whereas most advice is sound, some can be
irrelevant, hypocritical, preachy or questionable. And
occasionally, "advice" can be just downright bad.
Example 1: One breeder told a couple they could not buy a
puppy unless they had a fenced yard and one of them was home
all day. Yet the breeder herself had no fenced yard and her
twenty or so dogs lived in crates in a kennel a good forty yards
away from her house and any hope of human companionship.
Duh!??
Example 2: Many people are advised not to get a large dog if
they live in an apartment. On the contrary! As long as they
receive regular walks, large dogs make wonderful apartment
companions. Compared with smaller dogs, large dogs often
settle down better and bark less. Many little dogs exasperate
owners and neighbors by being active and noisy, and running
amuck. Smaller dogs make wonderful apartment companions,
however, so long as they are trained to settle down and shush.
Example 3: Many veterinarians advise that Golden Retrievers
and Labrador Retrievers are the best dogs with children. All
breeds of dog can make good companions for children,
provided that they have been trained how to act around
children, and provided that the children have been taught how
to act around dogs! Otherwise, dogs—including Goldens and
Labs—are likely to be frightened and irritated by children, or
excited and incited by their antics.
Remember, you are selecting a puppy to live with you for a
good long time. Choosing a puppy to share your life is a very
personal choice—your choice. You will save yourself a lot of
unnecessary problems and heartbreak if your choice is an
informed and educated one.
In reality, though, people seldom pay heed to wellmeaning
advice and usually end up choosing with their heart
instead of their head. Indeed, many people end up choosing a
dog along the same lines as they might choose a lifelong
human companion: based on coat color, conformation, and
cuteness. But regardless of the many reasons for selecting a
particular puppy—whether pedigree, conformation, cuteness,
or general health—the success of the endeavor ultimately
depends almost entirely on the pup's education regarding
appropriate behavior and training.
Mixed Breed or Pure Breed?
Again, this decision is a
personal choice that only
you can make. The most
obvious difference is that
pure breeds are more
predictable in terms of
looks and behavior,
whereas each mixed breed
is utterly unique—one of
a kind.
Regardless of your
personal preference for attractiveness, attentiveness, and
activity, you would do well to consider general health and life
expectancy. By and large, due to lack of inbreeding, mixed breeds are healthier genetic stock; they tend to live longer and
have fewer health problems. On the other hand, at a pure-breed
kennel, it is possible to check out the friendliness, basic
manners, general health, and life expectancy of several
generations of your prospective puppy's forebears.
Which Breed?
I am strongly opposed to suggesting breeds for people.
Recommending specific breeds may sound like helpful and
harmless advice, but it is insidiously dangerous and not in the
best interests of dogs or of dog-owning families. Advice either
for or against specific breeds often leads owners to believe that
training is either unnecessary or impossible. Thus many poor
dogs grow up without an education.
Breed recommendations often lead unsuspecting owners to
believe that once they have selected the right breed, there is
nothing more to do. Thinking they have the best possible breed,
many owners suffer the misconception that training is
unnecessary and so don't bother. This, of course, is when things
start to go downhill.
Even more disturbing, when certain breeds are
recommended, other breeds are automatically being advised
against. "Experts" often suggest that certain breeds are too big,
too small, too active, too lethargic, too fast, too slow, too smart,
or too dumb, and therefore too difficult to train. Well, we know
that regardless of helpful "advice," people are probably going to
pick the breed they wanted in the first place. But now they may
feel disinclined to train the puppy, feeling that the process is
going to be difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, owners
may rationalize their negligence by citing any one of the pack
of convenient excuses listed above.
Breed is a very personal choice. Choose the breed you like,
investigate breed-specific qualities and problems, and then
research the best way to raise and train your pup. If you select
what others consider an easy breed to raise and train, train your
pup so that he becomes the very best individual—an
ambassador—of that breed. And if you select a breed that some
people consider difficult to raise and train, train him, train him,
and train him, so that he becomes the very best example—an
ambassador—of that breed.
Regardless of your eventual choice, and certainly once you
have made it, success or failure is now entirely in your hands.
Your puppy's behavior and temperament now depend
completely on good husbandry and training.
When evaluating different breeds, the good points are
obvious. What you need to find out are the breed's bad points.
You need to investigate potential breed-specific (or linespecific)
problems and to know how to deal with them. If you
want to find out more about a specific breed, find at least six
adult dogs of the breed you have selected. Talk to their owners
at length, but most importantly, meet the dogs! Examine and
handle them; play with them and work them. See if the dogs
welcome being petted by a stranger—you. Will they sit? Do
they walk nicely on leash? Are they quiet or noisy? Are they
calm and collected, or are they hyperactive and rambunctious?
Can you examine their ears, eyes, and rear end? Can you open
their muzzle? Can you get them to roll over? Are the owners'
houses and gardens still in good condition? And most
important, do the dogs like people and other dogs?
Learn what to expect, because when your eight-week-old
puppy comes home, he will grow up with frightening speed. In
just four month’s time your pup will develop into a six-monthold
adolescent that has gained almost adult size, strength, and
speed, while at the same time retaining many puppy constraints
on learning. Your puppy has so much to learn before he collides
with impending adolescence.
In terms of personality, behavior, and temperament, please
be aware that dogs of the same breed may show considerable
variation. If you have siblings or more than one child you probably appreciate the incredible range of temperaments and
personalities of children from the same parents. Dogs are
similar. Indeed, there may be as much variation of behavior
among individuals of the same litter as there is among dogs of
different breeds.
Environmental influences (socialization and training) exert a
far greater impact on desired domestic behavior and
temperament than genetic heredity. For example, the
temperamental differences between a good (educated)
Malamute and a bad (uneducated) Malamute or between a good
Golden Retriever and a bad Golden Retriever are much greater
than temperamental differences between a Golden and a
Malamute with an equivalent experiential and educational
history. A dog's education is always the biggest factor
determining its future behavior and temperament.
Please make sure you fully understand the above
paragraph. I am not saying training necessarily has a greater
effect on dog behavior than genetic heredity. Rather, I am stating quite categorically that attaining a desired domestic
dog behavior is almost entirely dependent on socialization
and training. For example, dogs bark, bite, urine mark, and
wag their tails largely for genetic reasons—because they are
dogs. The frequency of their barks, however, the severity of
their bites, the location of their urine marks, and the
enthusiasm of their tail wags depends pretty much on the
nature of their socializatio