If you are thinking about buying a dog for the first time, you are faced with a number of questions. My many years of experience and study enable me to offer useful information. You will notice that I generally recommend on course of action and avoid suggesting alternatives. This practice grows out of my closed dealing with dogs from which I have learned that dogs demand authority. My clear-cut advice will also make life with a dog simpler for you.

Where Should You Buy a Dog?

Since the various members of a family often have quite different conceptions of the “ideal dog,” the purchase should be discussed at length and by everybody. Even when the time comes to pick up the dog, both the husband and the wife, as well as older children, should be involved. This is especially important if you are getting a grown dog from an animal shelter. Such a dog often forms a spontaneous attachment to the person who picks it up and may only reluctantly let other members of the family approach.

You can get a dog:
- At pet stores
- From a kennel
- From hobby breeders and dog owners
- From your local animal shelters.

A Puppy or a Grown Dog?

The younger the dog, the more it will become your dog and the more influence you will have on shaping its character. Young here means 10 to 12 weeks old. It is very important to pick up your dog yourself. This may be inconvenient, but the positive effects will last for the dog’s life. Being shipped-no matter by what method-means being isolated in container; this is such a shocking experience for a puppy that there is no telling how its psyche may be affected even much later.

A puppy requires a great deal of attention during the first six months, and you shouldn’t take a vacation from it during this period. Puppies are much like small children: They want to be part of everything; they want to know how they fit in; they want regular routine; and they want someone to do thing with. This last is very important. The more you teach a young puppy, the easier life together will be later on. Make the most of these early days, for a day in a puppy’s life is like a week or even a month in ours. Dogs live faster and consequently pack more experience into a brief period. They will never again be as eager to learn as they are when they are very young.

Getting a grown dog seems at first glance much less complicated.
- It is already housebroken.
- It is more or less trained and past the stage of youthful rambunctiousness.

So far so good. But remember: A grown dog comes with a fully formed personality, including good and bad traits. Now it has to learn to understand you, a totally unfamiliar human, and adjust to your ways. You have to help in this process. This takes lots of patience and understanding, especially if you have no “instruction manual” from the dog’s former owner. For this reason I recommend fully grown dogs only to older people with some experience in dealing with dogs.

Should You Buy Dogs from Pet Stores?

Yes, if you purchase the puppy from a reputable pet dealer or from the pet department of a large department store. The majorities of these puppies come from serious breeding establishments, are properly vaccinated, and have the necessary papers that are proof of their descent. No, if the above conditions are not met. Nor should you buy a dog from animal dealers (breeders) who, using the guise of a kennel name, sell dozens of breeds.

Getting a Dog from a Kennel

If you get a puppy from a properly run kennel you can pick out the exact animal you want. You can get to know its mother, and the kennel owner will also point out the father to you. You can see the world in which the puppy has been growing up, and the breeder can give you detailed background on the typical traits of the breed and the individual characteristics of your particular puppy. This gives you a better picture of how your dog will look and act later on. You can discuss if and how the puppy has been wormed and vaccinated. The breeder will also tell you how to handle the dog properly, and you can always later ask for advice. A conscientious kennel owner may even dissuade you from buying a dog there if the breed is not appropriate for you.

You will recognize a good kennel owner with good dogs instantly when you visit. The puppies don’t spend all their time in cages; instead they are brought up in the house, where they have contact with humans. This contact should be established during the first few weeks of life. A good kennel owner will deliver to you a physically and emotionally healthy dog with all the proper documents. Among these are: the vaccination record and the registration paper with the date of the litter’s birth and confirmation of entry into the breed’s register.

If you buy a puppy from a hobby breeder you can also see the environment it grew up in and who its parents are except, of course, if you choose a mongrel ; in that case you at least get to see the puppy’s mother.

Buying through the Mail?

Dogs young enough for events to leave an indelible mark and affect their future personality should not be shipped like merchandise. The shock of being shipped leave a psychic scar and can lead to behavioral problems later.

You don’t choose your car from a catalog, so you shouldn’t even consider this method of acquiring a companion that will be with you for ten years or so. It’s true that the immediate availability of dogs sold through the mail can be tempting. You order, and almost immediately you get a dog of the desired breed, when you might have to wait several months if you purchase a puppy from a kennel. But I can only warn you: Mail-order dogs almost always come from mass operations, the puppy mills, where dogs are bred and kept in cages like pigs. These operations are run not by breeders dedicated to a particular breed, but by entrepreneurs interested in profit.

It is typical for the mail-order trade in dogs that a number of popular breeds are offered for sale, among them currently fashionable ones, like Yorkshire terriers, as well as all-time favorites like cocker spaniels. These dogs are almost always sick and emotionally unstable, and if they survive at all you will end up spending on veterinarian ’s bills many times more than what you originally paid for the dog. Please do what you can – it’s in your own interest – to end this exploitive business by not buying your dog by mail order.

A Dog from an Animal Shelter?

This route can be recommended only with reservations, because it is always a bit of a gamble. You know nothing-or very little-about the dog’s previous life (unless the staff at the shelter can give you some information), and in the case of a mongrel puppy you never know how it will look and act when full grown. Don’t count on getting a well-behaved, reliably housebroken, unproblematic dog. You are safest if you pick a purebred puppy at the shelter.

On the other hand, every dog that is adopted from a shelter means a dog life saved. In shelters you find only unwanted dogs that are there as a result of a death or sickness in the family, divorce, or a move to rented quarters where pets are not allowed. Or they may be animals that were taken there or abandoned because their owners got tired of them. Older dogs are the most pitiful because hardly anyone wants them. These may be problem animals, but they can also turn out to be a perfect match.

Male or Female?

I can’t give you definite advice here, because a dog’s sex is a matter of personal preference. Forget all the generalizations you may have heard, such as: Female dogs are more affectionate, or: Male dogs get attached only to the man in the family. Every dog is different. But two things are beyond debate:

- Female dogs come into heat twice a year and can get pregnant at these times.
- Male dogs constantly display their amorousness when there is a female in heat in the neighborhood. They lift their legs more often than usual on walks to leave scent marks.

Here is my advice: Conduct an informal survey about how many male and female dogs live in your neighborhood, and then follow the example of the majority of dog owners. This will make your life easier.

Note: It is not true, by the way, that every female dog should be allowed to have puppies at least once.

Does it have to be a Purebred Dog?

Purebred dogs have specific, well-developed traits and talents. This is not the case with mongrels, which are mixtures of several breeds. At present, dogs are mixed breeds seem to be in favor with the public. It is often true that mutts are more intelligent and more stable than highly bred dogs produced to embody external perfection. On the other hand, the owner of a purebred dog has a fairly accurate idea of what to expect from the dog. Also, mongrels may often be smarter, healthier, and less neurotic than purebreds, but they are not necessarily so. In mixed breeding, too, much depends on parentage, which is often unknown. That is why getting a mongrel always involves an element of chance. You may hit the jackpot, but then again you may not.

-To be continued in next post-

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