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What You Need to Know Before Taking That Puppy Home
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If you had to choose a roommate who was going to share your home (rent-free, I might add) for the next 10 years, would you choose the first cute face you saw? I daresay almost everyone would interview potential candidates. To make the best decision, the final choice would be based on multiple layers of compatibility – lifestyle, habits….even temperament. So why would you go into choosing a lifetime pet with any less forethought?
Having worked in various animal shelters, I know too well how often people make that mistake. A neighbor’s dog has puppies so you take one just because it’s free. Or you see a cute puppy in a pet store and have to buy it. Or you acquire a particular breed only because you’ve always liked the look of them. Or even worse yet, a friend or family member gives you a puppy as a gift (knowing less about your lifestyle and needs than you). Case in point, a good friend of mine who was renting a tiny studio apartment received a gift of a Rottweiler puppy from another friend. Within 2 years, she had to find another home for the 120lb ‘gift’ because she lacked both the time and space for her. Likewise, all too often, the end result of these impulsive decisions are sad and confused caged animals longing to be re-adopted by any one of the limited families searching the shelter for a pet. More often than not, they run out of time and have to be put down because of limited space. A tragic end that could have been simply avoided had the owner made a more informed decision going into pet ownership.
The point I’m trying to make is that there are a couple hundred different dog breeds out there and they were each bred for specific reasons or tasks which means that they tend to have specific breed traits, personalities, and quirks that need to be taken into consideration before adopting one. For instance, the hounds were bred for mostly for tracking, hunting, and retrieval. That means that they tend to be independent thinkers with strong instincts for tracking and chasing things. Terriers, on the other hand, are tenacious balls of energy bred to ferret out rodents so a sedentary apartment life can bore them quickly. Knowing what traits are inherent in the breed you’re seeking can go a long way towards strengthening a decision to acquire one because you’re less likely to be surprised or put-off by its behavior. The same principles apply to mixed-breeds as well. Knowing, when possible, what breed lines are prevalent in a mutt can give you an estimation of particular behavioral traits to expect. For instance, knowing that your potential choice has Pit Bull Terrier in her make-up can signal to you that she is likely to have issues with other dogs, be strong, and be loyal so if your situation is that you’re looking for a third dog to add to your fold and you have arthritic wrists, she isn’t the dog for you. Now every dog has its own distinct personality and no two dogs are completely alike, true, but that doesn’t mean that dogs in the same breed gene pool don’t share behavioral traits. For instance, I raised a couple of Cavalier King Charles’ Spaniels whose personalities were as different as night and day but true to their breed, they both loved to bark, loved cold weather, loved food, and were very affectionate.
Armed with such knowledge, you can choose a lifetime pet wisely and we can make a real difference in the shelter numbers out there. There will always be a need for shelters – unforeseen events like illness, loss, natural disasters, etc, can leave pets homeless - but if we can curtail the number of avoidable shelter ‘deposits’ that stem from purely hasty and uninformed purchases and adoptions, we can help relieve the stress and over-crowding that shelters routinely suffer and thereby increase the chance that a truly ill-fated pet can find a forever home. This said, I would love your help in writing about each of the different breeds out there so that potential owners get a good feel for them before choosing to add one to their families. Send me pictures, comments, stories, and advice based on your experience with particular breeds or mixes and I will do my best to incorporate them into my articles. My email address is canine.companion@yahoo.com.
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