Tips for Choosing the Right Dog Breed for You
So, you’ve decided that you want a pet.
That pet will be a dog - a puppy to be more exact. Now it’s time for the bigger decision that
needs to be made. What breed of dog will
your puppy be?
The “breed” decision comes with many considerations. First of all, a potential dog owner needs to
think about their own personality as well as the personality of their new best
friend. Puppies and their owners should
be compatible.
If you are an active, outgoing person, you’ll want a puppy who is the same
way. Choosing a breed of dog that is,
for lack of a better word, lazy or likes to stay in the house would be an
incompatible decision. A few good choices
for an active person are breeds like Retrievers or Collies. These breeds of dog are loyal, like to run,
and are friendly around other people.
If your looking for a family friendly puppy, you may not want to start out
with a large breed puppy if you have small children. Large dogs can accidentally injure children
and the elderly during play. If the dog
is territorial, like an
Small breed puppies are more compatible with children and small living
spaces. They remain indoor dogs for the
most part and as long as they get lots of love, attention and exercise, these
smaller puppies do well. Choose a breed
like Bichon Frise, Boston Terrier, Beagle, or Pekingese. They love the attention they get from people
and are overall friendly companions.
Many people want a puppy companion, but don’t have the time or don’t
want a puppy that will shed a lot. If
you or someone in your house has allergies to pet dander a long haired dog is
probably out of the question as well. The
puppy for you will have short or smooth body hair that only sheds on occasion
which will leave your home cleaner. If
you want a long-haired breed of puppy, be prepared for vacuuming often, maybe
even every day in order to keep the hair under control. Breeds like Weimaraner, Greyhound, Great
Dane, Pug, and Dachshund have coats that are sleek and resist constant shedding
and are probably the best choice for someone who wants a short haired breed of
dog.
You’ll also want to determine the sex of your new puppy. While in most breeds, the male is more
aggressive, this is not true of all breeds.
Males are thought to be more protective of the home and females as well
as children, but both genders can have these characteristics. The gender of your puppy is a choice that is
up to you.
To get an idea of what breeds of puppy other owners have chosen, here is
a list that may come in handy. Some of the
most popular breeds on this list may be one or two that you have considered
already, yourself.
Ten of the most popular dog breeds:
- Labrador
Retriever
- German
Shepherd
- Golden
Retriever
- Beagle
-
- Poodle
- Yorkshire
Terrier
- Brittany
Spaniel
- Boxer
- Boston
Terrier
The puppy breed you choose is something you should think about awhile before jumping on the cutest breed or the biggest. Don’t make a hasty decision when it comes to choosing your new best friend. An incompatible pup could spell disaster for you and the puppy, so choose carefully.
Where to Get your Puppy
You know that you want to have a puppy for a companion. But, where do you get a puppy? There are a few places that will provide a
good variety and a few places that you should probably try to avoid.
Owners want a puppy that is happy and healthy. The health and temperament of your new puppy
depends in part on how well he has been cared for before you acquire him. Puppies that have been neglected or abused can
become problem cases down the road.
One place to consider purchasing your puppy from is a dog breeder. Reputable breeders make a point of giving
their dogs the utmost care. Confirm with
the breeder that vaccinations and other preventive care measures have been taken
and that puppy has papers. Papers
certify his breed as what the breeder claims him to be.
You can find breeders through referrals from friends and family. If they are happy with the puppy they have, many
will happily recommend their breeder to you.
The breeder may not carry the breed of puppy you are looking for, but
they, in turn, can recommend the appropriate puppy breeder or a purebred rescue
group looking for owners.
Many puppies are dropped off by owners at the humane society. The humane society has gotten a bad rap as a
place for unwell strays and difficult dogs.
This is not always so. Many puppies
end up at humane societies because their previous owner didn’t take their
decision to have a pet seriously. Many
times it’s something as simple as the previous owner got sick and could no
longer care for the animal properly, but otherwise the animal is healthy and
was well cared for and loved prior being taken to the humane society. There can be many other reasons a puppy may
end up in a humane society, so be sure to ask lots of questions about any puppy
you may be considering getting.
The humane society shelters puppies that are waiting for you to give
them a good home. You may even find a
purebred amongst the group. Still choose
carefully. Don’t choose a large breed
puppy because he gives you the “droopy eye” and later find out that he barks
all night to your neighbor’s dismay.
In your puppy search, steer clear of pet shops and puppy factories. Pet shops are usually supplied by puppy
factories. These breeders do it for the
money and only the money. In some cases,
they are ignorant of any knowledge about the dogs they breed.
This could spell doom for your puppy if he is predisposed to any
life-threatening diseases. Veterinarians
can perform preventive care on breeds that can suffer certain conditions. With pet shops or side-of-the-road breeders,
you may not know what you are getting and therefore can’t head off disaster for
your companion.
GENERAL HISTORY OF DOGS
There is no incongruity in the idea that in the very earliest period of man's habitation of this world he made a friend and companion of some sort of aboriginal representative of our modern dog, and that in return for its aid in protecting him from wilder animals, and in guarding his sheep and goats, he gave it a share of his food, a corner in his dwelling, and grew to trust it and care for it. Probably the animal was originally little else than an unusually gentle jackal, or an ailing wolf driven by its companions from the wild marauding pack to seek shelter in alien surroundings. One can well conceive the possibility of the partnership beginning in the circumstance of some helpless whelps being brought home by the early hunters to be tended and reared by the women and children. Dogs introduced into the home as playthings for the children would grow to regard themselves, and be regarded, as members of the family
In nearly all parts of the world traces of an indigenous dog family are found, the only exceptions being the West Indian Islands, Madagascar, the eastern islands of the Malayan Archipelago, New Zealand, and the Polynesian Islands, where there is no sign that any dog, wolf, or fox has existed as a true aboriginal animal. In the ancient Oriental lands, and generally among the early Mongolians, the dog remained savage and neglected for centuries, prowling in packs, gaunt and wolf-like, as it prowls today through the streets and under the walls of every Eastern city. No attempt was made to allure it into human companionship or to improve it into docility. It is not until we come to examine the records of the higher civilisations of Assyria and Egypt that we discover any distinct varieties of canine form.
The dog was not greatly appreciated in Palestine, and in both the Old and New Testaments it is commonly spoken of with scorn and contempt as an "unclean beast." Even the familiar reference to the Sheepdog in the Book of Job "But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock" is not without a suggestion of contempt, and it is significant that the only biblical allusion to the dog as a recognised companion of man occurs in the apocryphal Book of Tobit (v. 16), "So they went forth both, and the young man's dog with them."
The great multitude of different breeds of the dog and the vast differences in their size, points, and general appearance are facts which make it difficult to believe that they could have had a common ancestry. One thinks of the difference between the Mastiff and the Japanese Spaniel, the Deerhound and the fashionable Pomeranian, the St. Bernard and the Miniature Black and Tan Terrier, and is perplexed in contemplating the possibility of their having descended from a common progenitor. Yet the disparity is no greater than that between the Shire horse and the Shetland pony, the Shorthorn and the Kerry cattle, or the Patagonian and the Pygmy; and all dog breeders know how easy it is to produce a variety in type and size by studied selection.
In order properly to understand this question it is necessary first to consider the identity of structure in the wolf and the dog. This identity of structure may best be studied in a comparison of the osseous system, or skeletons, of the two animals, which so closely resemble each other that their transposition would not easily be detected.
The spine of the dog consists of seven vertebrae in the neck, thirteen in the back, seven in the loins, three sacral vertebrae, and twenty to twenty-two in the tail. In both the dog and the wolf there are thirteen pairs of ribs, nine true and four false. Each has forty-two teeth. They both have five front and four hind toes, while outwardly the common wolf has so much the appearance of a large, bare-boned dog, that a popular description of the one would serve for the other.
Nor are their habits different. The wolf's natural voice is a loud howl, but when confined with dogs he will learn to bark. Although he is carnivorous, he will also eat vegetables, and when sickly he will nibble grass. In the chase, a pack of wolves will divide into parties, one following the trail of the quarry, the other endeavouring to intercept its retreat, exercising a considerable amount of strategy, a trait which is exhibited by many of our sporting dogs and terriers when hunting in teams.
A further important point of resemblance between the Canis lupus and the Canis familiaris lies in the fact that the period of gestation in both species is sixty-three days. There are from three to nine cubs in a wolf's litter, and these are blind for twenty-one days. They are suckled for two months, but at the end of that time they are able to eat half-digested flesh disgorged for them by their dam or even their sire.
The native dogs of all regions approximate closely in size, coloration, form, and habit to the native wolf of those regions. Of this most important circumstance there are far too many instances to allow of its being looked upon as a mere coincidence. Sir John Richardson, writing in 1829, observed that "the resemblance between the North American wolves and the domestic dog of the Indians is so great that the size and strength of the wolf seems to be the only difference.
It has been suggested that the one incontrovertible argument against the lupine relationship of the dog is the fact that all domestic dogs bark, while all wild Canidae express their feelings only by howls. But the difficulty here is not so great as it seems, since we know that jackals, wild dogs, and wolf pups reared by bitches readily acquire the habit. On the other hand, domestic dogs allowed to run wild forget how to bark, while there are some which have not yet learned so to express themselves.
The presence or absence of the habit of barking cannot, then, be regarded as an argument in deciding the question concerning the origin of the dog. This stumbling block consequently disappears, leaving us in the position of agreeing with Darwin, whose final hypothesis was that "it is highly probable that the domestic dogs of the world have descended from two good species of wolf (C. lupus and C. latrans), and from two or three other doubtful species of wolves namely, the European, Indian, and North African forms; from at least one or two South American canine species; from several races or species of jackal; and perhaps from one or more extinct species"; and that the blood of these, in some cases mingled together, flows in the veins of our domestic breeds.