Pets 101 How to pick a dog—puppy or adult?

Seamus has kept his new owner busy with retraining issues
but he's a charmer even if also a nonstop dynamo. Photo
by Charles Currie.

You’ve decided the time has come to get a dog. You have the time and room and resources and energy to invest in a pet, and a dog is what you want. What next?

A couple of decisions: puppy or adult? And a related decision, which you may have already made without even realizing it, whether to get a small, medium, or large dog.

Let’s start with the second question first. How big a dog do you want? Do you like tiny and cuddly? If you have not much room and/or no time to take a dog for long walks, small might be a good choice. If you’re thinking big, as in really big, consider the costs in need for exercise, the amount of space such a dog will take up just lying around (and resulting tripping hazards; see Pet-related falls part 1), and the cost of food for a carnivore the size of a small pony.

Our family decided to get a dog when the boys were 12 and 8, so our choice was for medium size—big enough to run and gently rough-house with but small enough that an 8-yr-old could safely take the leash and not fear being pulled over. Because we also decided we wanted a puppy and accepted that training would take time.

Plusses to a puppy: You truly become surrogate family for the dog, a strong bond indeed, on both sides. You know you aren’t needing to un-train the dog from a previous owner's bad training. And because young dog expects to get correction from older dogs, and thus you cane more easily start your relationship by establishing your older-and-most-powerful status.

Minuses with a puppy: housebreaking, chewing and general obedience training will all be yours to experience. Plus, some annoying personality traits (like barking) and genetic problems (hip, back, eye and heart troubles) may only show up as the dog reaches maturity, or even later. If you’re after a specific breed, find a breeder who will walk you through his/her breeding choices to explain how that kennel avoids breed-specific problems.

My own personal preference is the “pound puppy”—the shelter mutt. Even though only one of the dogs I’ve owned actually came to me from a shelter, all three have been unknown mixes, and the current one came to us as an adult. The trick to getting a good fit with a shelter dog is to know what you want going in, so you don’t fall prey to the first pair of beseeching eyes.

Don’t settle for the first cute dog—or even expect to find your dog on the first shelter visit. Remember your size criteria particularly … and perhaps ask for a vet’s confirmation of the dog’s age if you fall in love with a puppy. Rule of thumb: a dog’s weight at 3 months (12 weeks) is 30% its adult weight. We went to 3 different shelters in our quest for a suitable young puppy.

Look for indications of personality and temperament and match them with your expectations, for responsiveness, affectionate/independent, nature, obedience, apparent desire to please. And don’t skip the most important step in any dog adoption process: spend time with any animal you’re considering. Bring the whole family. If you’re single and living alone, bring a good friend along to give you a second point of view. But once you’ve defined your important criteria and screened the “candidates” accordingly, trust your heart. Pick the puppy or dog you know you can love.