MISTAKE#1: GETTING THE WRONG DOG FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE
The first and easiest way to avoid this major Mistake is to get the right dog, right off the bat! Please avoid impulse shopping for your new dog partner. You don’t want just any dog that catches your eye or that has a cute face or that reminds you of a dog you used to have.
You really want a dog that is the perfect ft for your family and your lifestyle. If you get the wrong dog, you will wind up in a difficult, frustrating existence, and you’re going to doom your pet to being unhappy, misunderstood, and worse, you could even put them at risk losing their home and even their life.
Now remember, you wouldn’t take a new job without an interview, and you certainly wouldn’t marry someone without getting to know them. In the same respect, you shouldn’t bring a dog into your home without interviewing your prospective dog companion.
Determine in advance:
What lifestyle you actually live
How much time you are willing and able to dedicate to your new companion
How much training and skill you currently have and whether you need to learn more for the breed you are considering Also,
Do some research and talk with people who own the breeds you are interested in
If you decide on a dog of mixed breeding, remember that each of the breeds in their makeup contributes to their personality and potential challenges.
Write a ‘job description’ for the dog you’d like to have. Decide what you really want from a dog and do your best to match a dog to your wants. Then spend some quality time with a prospective dog before you bring it home. Paying close attention to what the ‘job description’ consists of and whether the prospective dog has what it takes to be successful in that job can make the difference between being reasonably sure that dog is a good match for you in the long term or not.
For instance:
Herding dogs aren’t a good match for city dwellers who tend to be couch potatoes. They have unique personalities, drives, needs and instincts that must be satisfied in order for them to feel happy.
Just like not all humans are cut out to be Olympic athletes, not all dogs have the ability, interest or the conformation to do agility, showing or obedience sports. Other dogs won’t be really happy unless they are performing.
High energy dogs, like Chinese Cresteds, don’t ft too well with people who like a peaceful and quiet existence.
Bulldogs are not a good match for athletic types who want their dogs to exercise with them.
People who really don’t like to do a lot of training probably aren’t going to do well with German Shepherds, larger dogs or other working breeds.
SPAYING AND NEUTERING:
What about spaying and neutering? Dogs who are not being bred truly do need to have this done. Hormonal rushes and instincts are difficult to manage and encourage bad habits like territorial marking and roaming. It also exposes them to unnecessary risks like cancer, urinary tract issues and pyometra (a disease of the uterus most commonly seen in dogs; similar to appendicitis in humans). Dogs that dart out the door and wander are often unaltered and are simply following their hormones and reproductive drives.
I recommend that dogs be altered between 6
and 12 months – but not sooner. The body has to develop to a certain point before having this major surgery or it simply doesn’t develop properly.
Altering after they are grown can certainly be done. Just remember that it can take as long as a year or more for the testosterone levels to go down for a male (or estrogen levels for a female), and that during that time, they are still feeling the effects of it and still smelling like an intact animal to other dogs.
