What is the best dog for me ?
According to pet experts and veterinarians, the first, and most important, question you must ask yourself is what purpose your new canine companion will hopefully serve in your life. Will it be for companionship? Security? Will it be around children? Maybe you want a hunting dog. You have to figure this stuff out first.
If you have limited space, small dogs make sense.
Larger breeds require more outdoor time for exercise. Even though you may really want a larger dog, ask yourself “can I honestly give this dog the care it deserves?”
If your personal schedule dictates that you are not home with your dog for long hours during the day, you might consider a smaller dog that will be more self-sufficient.
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How to find my dog
Where to find a dog is a really complicated question because you go to the shelter and try to asses if this dog is going to work for you, knowing none of its history, and they can turn out to be a perfect match for your life.
I have clients who call me on the phone and say, “I got her at the pet store,” and they feel horrible about it. Of course, we don’t want to promote the puppy mail situation, however there are great dogs sometimes available there. Certainly that needs to stop and it’s wrong, but there are dogs that are still in the need of homes and you are perpetuating that situation by buying that dog there.
However, because people have already bought the dog and they come to me as a trainer, those dogs sometimes turn out to be great and sometimes they turn out to be heartbreakers because they have behavioral problems or physical problems.
If you’re set on a breed, there are breed organizations for every single breed, even the most esoteric breed of dog. I’m a smooth collie person and there’s the smooth collie rescue organization of the world. They’re all out there, so if you have your mind set on a certain breed, certainly you can find a place that is going to accommodate you.
It’s a hard question to answer. It becomes the dog who you fall in love with and if you are going to try to rescue the dog, what I really recommend is that you try to have an adoption situation with the dog. This means that you take the dog for a few days, see if it really does match your lifestyle, and give yourself a chance to fall in love.
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