Chapter 6 - How To Know Which Dog to Choose

Once you've determined what kind of dog will be best for you then decided where to get your new best friend the final step in the process of getting a dog is to choose a specific puppy or dog which you will take home. When many people describe how they selected their dog, many they say something like "I just fell in love with him," or "I didn't choose him - he chose me." While this may be a wonderful romantic vision, falling in love with a puppy before you determine which animal is your best choice, or letting a dog choose you is a mistake. Do you really think a dog can match your needs to his? No, you must continue to think about your needs so you can select the right dog for your lifestyle - if the wrong dog selects you, you may have a really bad match. If that happens, then what do you do? This chapter, among other things, will teach you how to temperament test both a puppy and an adult dog so you can make the best choice possible.

Making Your Choice

How to Choose an Individual Puppy. Choosing a puppy, especially when an entire litter is present, can be challenging. At this age, the puppies probably look very much alike with perhaps only a slight variation in coat color the easiest way to tell them apart. The puppies may act alike too- playful and energetic, or lethargic if you catch them after a meal or at naptime. People select individual puppies based on all kinds of criteria, including coloring, activity levels, or the dogs' personality. Some of these criteria are more important than others when trying to choose the right dog. It's vital you learn to distinguish between the important criteria and the less significant aspects of your new puppy so you can make a good, long-term choice. For example, you don't necessarily want the most forward, playful puppy. Likewise, you might not want to select the sweet, shy dog that hangs back from the rest of his littermates. Learn to spot puppy behaviors and how they correlate with a dogs' personality to select your ideal canine companion. Where a Puppy is Raised Influences its Personality. How and where a puppy is raised plays a large role in its behavior and personality. Puppies that live in a cage and rarely have experiences with humans may not know how to behave around people and may be improperly socialized making him a poor choice to live in a typical home. Conversely, puppies that live indoors and are exposed to people and new household situations in a positive way will have started the important process of socialization and will likely adjust well to life as a pet. These dogs may also have a head-start on housetraining. Housetraining uses the dog's instinct of not wanting to soil the area where it sleeps. Dogs will avoid soiling their sleeping area as long as possible, which gives owners an opportunity to take the dogs outside. Dogs that are raised in cages have no choice but to eliminate where they sleep. As a result, they are no longer influenced by their inherent reluctance to soil their sleeping area. Since permanently caged dogs have no option but to eliminate in their sleeping quarters, it's much more difficult to convince these dogs to wait until you take them outdoors to do the deed. Housetraining these dogs requires different techniques and a great deal of patience.