5 Tips to Choose the Breed of Your First Dog

When you make the decision to have your very first dog, youcan feel as excited as you are lost.

What your dog will have experienced before living with you and what you will avoid him and allow him to live, count a lot (many, many, many!). Dogs are mostly shaped by what they live and especially what they live young. Each dog is unique and you may have already noticed that there are dramatic differences in behavior between dogs of the same breed.

1- Take a (small) history lesson

Rest assured, if it was the nightmare of your schooling, youwill be reconciled with the story.

You will soon welcome your first dog and you are off tofishing info! If this is not already the case, you will hear different soundsof the dog breed that you like, from your relatives, friends, neighbors, socialnetworks.

You will be confronted with a vast amount of informationthat everyone is free to interpret in their own way. Not to mention that interms of ideas received, you will take for your rank. Everywhere, dog breedsare described as dominant, stubborn, associable or sociable with other dogs,nice with children (this is not exactly the case, because everything doesnot depend on the genes).

At this stage of your fantastic project to have a dog, thereis sort to do. So start now, because in the next stage, you will be overwhelmedby a new wave of jarring news and even more prejudice.

What can help you not to believe everything you say, do notstop at appearances and sometimes trust yourself a little bit more, is to knowthe history of the dog breed (s) that you like. Its really the best way to understandingthe most important things to understand about the dog breed that attracts you,especially its use. Because of it depends a good part of what your dog and hisneeds (but not, not ALL either).

2- Do not choose a breed that has a lot of energy if you are not able to spend it on your dog

In some parts of the world where dogs are more likely thanothers to live under our roofs, we choose to go "to play sports" andfor some of us, it has even become a challenge to maintain a minimum physicalactivity. For dogs, its a need like eating and drinking and they can not waitfor the weekend or vacation to get in shape. To decide which breed might beyour first dog, his need for physical activity is a crucial aspect to consider.

By discovering the history of the breed, you already have abetter idea of the need for physical exercise of your future dog, when he hasfinished his growth. Other things tell you if a dog can be happy to walk on aleash 15 or rather 30 minutes three times a day (for example), if he can walkor needs to walk much more than you are considering, or if he needs to runbecause he has so much energy to release that leash rides will not tire himenough. Each dog is different but there are bases to know.

Its morphology should allow you to determine if your futuredog will be more or less energetic and how you can help him to spend his energybecause there are sacred differences in terms of endurance, speed, agility,etc. and it also depends on what your dog will do the rest of the time. Somedogs adapt much better than others to a moderately active life because of theirconstitution.

In any case, there are many potential problems that you can notout immediately delist if you ignore this need exercise and youre aware ofthat going to ask you to order the fill in everyday life (not only on Sunday!).

And if there are people who choose super athletic dogs withbig sports needs to let them vegetate all day long and who are surprised tohave horrible problems, there are also quite a few people who have dogs whoget tired too quickly for them!

All my tips for good thinking and preparing your project tohost a puppy or dog at home are in my book Why not a dog .

You will discover portraits of 120 dog breeds and findanswers to all your questions.

3- Remember that you will have to take on more or less responsibilities

You will have to learn some things from your dog, if onlycleanliness. For many, walking on a leash is a must. There are people who havedogs but only need to teach them to behave well with family and friends who cometo the house. These are dogs that are more moderately part of society.

They have land available and it is fenced. They come outonly to go to the vet (they are not unhappy not to be part of society!). Somany things are choices and not obligations. For example, people in this casehave the choice to learn walking on a leash or not. If they want to walk aroundhere and there with their dog, they will teach him and if they prefer to leavetheir dog at home when they go here and there, they do not need to teach him.

With a dog that is more part of society, who frequentspublic places, sees all kinds of people, meets other dogs, etc., there is moreto teach him but also more responsibilities to assume, towards others.Responsibilities, you always have, even in the countryside, for example,towards those who live with you if any, or even with respect to the factor

Lets say that more a dog is part of society and more haveresponsibilities to assume. From this point of view, races involve risks of notbeing able to assume certain responsibilities according to the place where onelives and the life one leads.

A simple example: You have taken care to calculate if youhave the necessary budget to feed your dog who will weigh 80 kg once an adult.Its good. Have you thought about what will "go out" (sorry!) Andwhich you will have to pick up if you live in town? If you do not pick up,youve missed a lot of what is life with a dog: to be responsible to his dogbut also to others or at least try his best!

There are dog breeds with which you will more easily assumeyour responsibilities and then others who may ask you to provide more effort.It depends on your ability to match your obligations with the characteristicsof a breed of dog- physical and other. It is not good to rely solely on thebreed of dog to choose your first dog, as it is not good to denigrate or ignoreall that a breed can imply.

You have thought a lot about your future dog. You havethought a lot about yourself. Do not forget to think about the big or smallworld your dog will be part of.

There are big dogs that live happily in town because theirowners take great care of them. But a big dog makes big dung. You have to pickthem up because you have responsibilities to others too, not to your dog.

4- Turn to more dog breeds in the "half-measure"

For your very first dog, you may be interested in breedsthat have a balanced set of characteristics, instead of breeds that have one ormore very pronounced traits. Its just an idea to ponder. It is possible thatyou are doing great with any dog !!

What can be very pronounced? Mainly:

an extra strong pursuit instinct
a flair of hell
great energy
a great physical force that makes some people
say that some breeds are "dangerous," but thats not a reason to
ignore a dogs physical abilities
a great determination (or perseverance) that
makes some say that some races are "stubborn" is inaccurate, but this
is not a reason to ignore the specificities of a race

These are not difficulties in themselves. Again, these arefeatures that sometimes become issues, because of the dogs environment.

Have you ever had a dog?

My book Why Not a Dogwill help you explore the world of the dog, get to know the incrediblemorphological diversity of this animal, avoid scams, make the right decisionsfor your future and that of your fellow hair, and to to better understand howdog training works and organizes itself!

Why not a dog

It also depends on where your puppy comes from.

Some puppies come from places where they have not beenprepared to live in our world and it is more difficult for you and for them.Some puppies come from good farms where you have been chewed on the job. For example, your puppy of a breed known tobe easily triggered by small mammals that move has had great experiences withsociable adult cats before coming to your home. If its not a guarantee, atleast he started to learn that cats are not "prey" (or threats). Thisis where you realize that everyone has advised you against the breed becauseyou have a cat, but your puppy learns quickly to leave him alone.

So, if you have the crush on a dog breed that is not in the"half-size" and thats your first dog, at least do not choose yourpuppy anywhere for "cheap And make sure you do not have too manyconstraints that will require you to learn more, and perhaps put so much effortinto taking on all your responsibilities that you will get fed up with it. ayear.

There are more versatile dogs than others and it is notuncommon for them to be good candidates for a first dog.

5- Talk to a maximum of dog owners

You want a Scottish terrier.

You only have eyes for the Scottish terrier of the neighboryou see every day in front of your window. This gentleman was kind enough toanswer your many questions. Now you are trying to find friends of friends offriends who have / have had a Scottish terrier. You have read all the sites andblogs and forums and professional publications about the Scottish terrier andyou have seen all the videos on Youtube. You have become unbeatable!!

If this is your very first dog, try to be interested in asmany dogs as possible, of different breeds.

They will tell you all that their dog is wonderful

But many of them, in answering your questions, will alsogive you a more precise idea of the best conditions to offer to your dog,according to certain specificities of the breeds. You will have a more globalvision of canine diversity and this will help you to lead your thinking.