Bringing home, a new dog is always an exciting time! Whether it be a puppy fresh from the breeder, or rescue pulled from your local shelter, you may be wondering what adventures you’ll get into with your new family member, who they’ll be, who you’ll grow into as your dog teaches you new lessons, and most importantly how will you meet your dog’s needs as they adapt into your family during this phase of pet ownership. What about the step before selecting your new family member? When selecting a new pet there is lots to consider, and that should start long before you and your new best friend are in a room together.
One of the most important parts of pet ownership is selecting the right candidate for your home. Genetics will play a large role in how well your dog blends into your house’s daily lives. An active family may want a dog that is up for the multi-weekly adventures, while a family who prefers weekend strolls to the park may want to select a dog who is comfortable with lower exercise requirements for those slower days during the week. Both families will also need to consider other aspects of their dog’s genetic makeup. Such as ease of training, grooming requirements, and sociability. A German Shepherd and Golden Retriever bred for pet homes, while both are generally easy to train there are some key differences between the two. Golden Retrievers are known more for being social towards people, other dogs, and smaller animals. Meanwhile German Shepherds are known to be more selective on the people they are close with, may have enough prey drive making cat ownership more difficult to balance, and may need slower introductions to new dogs coming into the household.
When looking into what breed may specifically work best for you and your lifestyle it’s important to understand who you are currently. Dogs can be physically conditioned to maintain an active lifestyle (barring any physical issues, i.e., hip dysplasia and etc.), so it’s important to select a dog who fits your current activity level. Many good intentioned owners start out wishing for a more active life and hope an energetic dog will help them reach their goal. With hopeful hearts, they set out to buy a dog who is high in energy. Once the newness of getting a new friend wears off, most owners find out that their original intent of being active isn’t quite as sustainable as originally thought. Leaving the dog frustrated at not getting their needs met, and a tired owner whose lifestyle ultimately struggles to accommodate their dog’s needs. Which is why I advocate for owners selecting a dog who fits current lifestyles rather than future ones.
Take Sophia for example, a Pomeranian, owned by a schoolteacher. Her owner was active in the evenings, enjoyed long hikes into the mountains on the weekends, and outback camping experiences. All the qualities that may make one think that a Pomeranian would be a poor choice for an adventure buddy. Why not a lab, or a husky? These dogs would have fit the description to a T but her owner knew before selecting Sophia’s breeder that she wanted a dog with lower upkeep. Both in grooming and in overall care. As a schoolteacher she knew that there would be times that she would work long days at school, then come home to grade papers. It was important to have a dog who could handle the lower activity days. However, Sophia’s owner conditioned her for those long hikes, often going 5-10 miles in rough terrain through continuous exercise and dedication to Sophia’s overall physical health. Sophia lived to 18 years old and only slowed down towards the end of her years.
Owning a dog is not all about being able to keep up with the physical exercise. Many dogs are bred for specific purposes. A border collie taken from a ranch and put into a pet home is more inclined to herd the children of the household than a Labrador who loves to bring their ball to you for a game of fetch. Both dogs are being driven by genetics, the difference is one is more desirable than the other. Regardless of your dog’s genetic makeup it will take training and understand of why your dog behaves the way they do. Keeping the border collie mentally active, and genetically fulfilled will be important in keeping problematic behaviors from escalating into dangerous habits. Walking a border collie 30 minutes a day isn’t going to cut it when it comes to making their lives fulfilled. Pick the right breed and understand the genetics your dog will be bringing with them will make your life much easier in the long run.
Selecting An Ethical Breeder or Rescue
Once you have decided what your ideal companion will look like, it’s time to figure out where you want to go to find them! For some people finding a good rescue to search for their next pet is where they start looking first. In today’s world where the slogan “adopt don’t shop” has been pushed by rescues, shelters, and your average owner alike it’s important to understand a few things. With a greater push to rescue dogs there are plenty of unethical rescues who are buying puppies or young dogs from puppy mills to turn a profit. One the largest reasons for dogs to be put into a shelter is due to puppy mills, and backyard breeders placing puppies in improper homes. With these unethical shelters purchasing dogs from mills it’s only compounding the problem that ethical rescues are trying to help solve. Be sure to research your options when looking into rescuing your next pet.
Upon selecting a rescue and you’ve filled out any paperwork required by the rescue to look at their dogs you will come to another hurdle in selecting your new best friend, temperament. Having a solid idea on what you’re looking for in a pet will come in handy here. Speak to the staff about the available history of the dog you’re looking at, ask them how their temperament testing went. Testing for temperament is important when selecting a family pet. All dogs are individuals even within the same breed or litter. A dog who tests for low handler awareness, and low food motivation will be harder to train than a dog who actively wants to engage with humans and is motivated by food or toys. Before you go it’s best to familiarize yourself with the rescues testing of their dogs so you can ask the appropriate questions to the staff. Meeting the dog in person can be difficult when they’re actively pulling on your heartstrings. Remember to keep your situation in mind through the whole process so you can maintain the highest chance of success for the dog coming into your home.
Rescuing a dog may not be viable for some situations. These reasons range from having smaller children in the home, wanting to ensure genetic stability, and etc. An ethical breeder would be the best choice for those wanting to fulfill specific requests that a rescue can not guarantee. Finding an ethical breeder has challenges, just the same as finding an ethical rescue. A pure-bred dog is not always a WELL bred dog.
In finding a breeder beware of puppy mills, and backyard breeders. Warning signs that your potential breeder is a puppy mill is the Hallmark sign of over breeding their female dogs or having lots of breeds available. Puppy mills will not be health testing appropriately. Often mills and back yard breeders say that their puppies, and adults will have health checkups. Health testing involves scoring hips, looking for genetic conditions in the parents before breeding. An ethical and responsible breeder will have the results listed on their breed’s parent club or in other available places. It all comes down to how firm is the breeder’s need to better their breed? Ethical breeders love their breed, and will want to breed specifically to better the breed in generations to come.
Ethical breeders will be testing and proving their breeds. A great example of proving his breed is Ivan Balabanov of Ot Vitosha Malinois. Ivan competes in ring sports, raises his dogs to be household members, breeds for overall health and stable temperament. If one were to contact him for a puppy he will take the time to get to know you, and to find out what you’re looking for in a puppy. He’ll help you select the right breeding pair, carefully watch their puppies to find the appropriate selection for you. A breeder who lets you select any puppy from their litter is a red flag, however there is a small exception. If temperament testing comes to a tie between two puppies who are good candidates for your goals an ethical breeder may opt to present both puppies to your so you can choose who you like best.
Should your breeder have their dogs AKC registered in order to be ethical? No, this is not a red flag since the American Kennel Club doesn’t require anything to be registered with them. It’s why looking into the health tests of your breeder, and what awards they have won with their breeding dogs/past litters is important. A breeder who boasts of their dogs being AKC registered but has nothing to show for proving their dogs are sound is a walking red flag and should be immediately disregarded.
Contracts are often overlooked when selecting a puppy from a breeder. An ethical breeder will have contracts on what is expected of you the new owner in regards to owning the puppy. Most breeders will mandate that you wait to spay/neuter your puppy at the appropriate time (around 2 years old) if you don’t intend to start your own breeding program. Other clauses should include a return policy in case of if you the owner can not keep the dog due to unforeseen circumstances. Ethical breeders will do whatever it takes to keep their puppies out of rescues, and in the proper hands.
Reputable breeders won’t be breeding for colors not naturally occurring in their chosen breed. Breeding for color or allowing off colors in the breeding line can make behavioral issues, or physical abnormalities appear. For example, Crème golden retrievers are more prone to anxiety/neurotic behavior, white Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, and German shepherds are prone to both aggression and deafness. Ethical breeders will be ensuring that these genetic issues are absent in their line while an irresponsible breeder will continue to willfully ignore these problems in order to make a profit off of unsuspecting owners. For more in depth information on how coat coloring can affect dogs you can read more about it with sources such as Merck Manual (Veterinary Manual). When looking at breeders, an easy way to spot a back yard breeder is that they’re charging more for a specific coat color that is off standard than the rest of the litter with a more standard coat. Regarding questions for what is standard for a certain breed you can look up the breed’s parent club to see what they have to say about what is and isn’t allowed to be recognized withing the breed.
Conclusion
Bringing home a new pet is an exciting time in any pet owner’s life. There’s much to consider before bringing them home, and it’s okay to not know where to begin. Sorting out what you’re wanting in a dog, researching breeds that meet those characteristics, and then finding reputable sources to find your new best friend is the diligence it will take to be successful.
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