Choosing A Dog That Is Right for You

How to choose a Dog for a companion that can become a friend. We had a wonderful Dog she was a Beagle, to our surprised she became one of the family. We had her for 15 years. My husband had different experiences with Dogs than me. I definitely did not want the Dogs that he grew up with. So I did some research and found a Dog that fit the criteria we needed for our family.

My first step was a library visit. We did not have, Google or Yahoo then, but now you can do a Google.com, Yahoo.com, or Wikipedia.org search. Researching the Dogs you are interested in, is your first step to a friendship that can last many years.

The second step is to research how to train a Dog but that is another article.

Here are a few questions to consider:

Do you want a puppy or an older Dog? What will be the purpose for this Dog?

Will it be a Dog just to keep you company? Will it be a working Dog?

Will it be for a pet? If so who will the Dog be for? Who will take care of this Dog?

Here are tips and things to consider:

You need to find out everything there is to know about the specific type of Dog or breed you are thinking about. Learn about its needs and purposes. Write down the pros and cons of each animal that you think you would be interested in. Talk to people that owned dogs before. Dogs are creatures that need your love and attention or they will revert to their wild nature. You could receive rewards of love, devotion, and protection for many years.

You should know there are certain breeds that are better with children than others. If you see a Dog in the movies, you must realize just because they are well behaved and cute, does not mean it is a good Dog for your children. Some Dogs breeds are easier to train than others. Dogs in the movies are very well trained and very controlled. You should also know many of the popular breeds have been so inbred over the years that now they are very hyper, nervous animals, no longer a good Dog for children. Sometimes a non purebred dog makes a better pet for children.

So unless you are interested in showing or raising purebred dogs consider a non-purebred dog. Read about different breeds. What they were breed for in history? When and why they were domesticated, will help you understand and choose a Dog that suite your life style. Ask yourself, will it be a Dog that you will be able to take care of properly? Will it meet your needs? Dogs can live 10 to 15 years.

Here are a few more things to consider in your journey of researching the Dog that is right for you.

A puppy is a lot of work. But an older dog may have been treated badly and will have adjustment issues.

The size of your home or apartment life style can help narrow down the size of Dog that would be a good choice.

Small Dogs, usually bark a lot, many are very fragile nervous animals. They were bread to be held a lot, requiring a lot more TLC care and attention. But they can make enough noise to scare off intruders.

Medium Dogs, generally if you live in town, a small to medium breed is easier to live with than a large one. There are a few exceptions, well trained medical dogs or police dogs.

Large Dogs, must have room to move about or be walked for exercise. They need to be able to get outdoors to exercise. You will have to make sure you really want to give time to this size of Dog, it is not right to put them in a pen and forget about them. This is easy to do in our busy life styles.

If you choose a large dog, you should know they also eat heartily and eliminate a lot! If you live in the country can they roam free? Will they be for working livestock? They are good as working Dogs, for herding sheep or cattle. They are great for handicapped people as a companion for their safety.

Dogs are very people oriented creatures. Dogs are like people in the sense that 'how' people treat them develops their personalities. Treat a dog well with the love and respect, that every creature deserves, they will be happy and so will you. If you stroke, pat, or pet the top of their head down the back of their neck in the direction that their hair grows. It is usually soothing to most of them. Some like to be scratched or rubbed behind their ears. Some like to be held.

In town you have neighbors to consider, so you do not want a loud dog that barks all the time whether you own or rent your home. Once, these things have been established. Then you are ready to start looking for your Dog.

Author P. Dennis, Boise, Idaho USA