Choosing a Dog for the Family
Bringing a dog into the family is a huge decision with long term consequences. The great thing about dogs is that they are almost always loveable and endearing in some way. However, different dogs have different needs, and you should take many factors about your unique family into consideration before choosing which dog would be best for you. To make an informed choice, it’s best to give yourself an idea of what is available out there, and what sort of special needs some dogs may have.
The first question you should answer is who in your home will shoulder the most accountability for the care of the dog. That person should be responsible, caring and home a reasonable amount of time. Dogs need to be fed, picked up after and loved in general. If you are in a house full of people who will spend most of the time away from home, then a dog may not be a good idea at all, unless you have a neighbor of friend who will agree beforehand to take on the responsibility.
If you are getting a dog for your child, and plan to have your child as the primary caregiver, make sure your child is fully aware of all that the responsibility entails. The child needs to understand the seriousness of a lifetime commitment. Make sure your child understands that owning a dog isn’t all fun and games.
If you plan to have an elderly person take care of the dog, you should first decide whether or not that person is up to the task physically. In such cases, little dogs or dogs that are decidedly “low maintenance” are preferable. Shelters will have a good mix of bigger and smaller dogs. There will be a lot of mixed-breed dogs at shelters as well. Talk to the people at the shelter to get a good idea of personality. Keep in mind that while dogs of specifics breeds are generally known to share common personality traits, dogs are still very much individuals.
If you are an active family and you enjoy the outdoors, you’ll want a dog that can keep up with you. As far as breeds go, the best outdoor pets are German Shepherds, Labradors, Golden Retrievers, or Border Collies. They love to run and can easily be trained to do all kinds of physically challenging activities; they are also great swimmers. They are very intelligent and extremely loyal companions.
Some smaller breeds are also suited to active families. Terriers can be extremely active and in fact Jack Russell terriers are considered hyperactive. They demand a lot of exercise to stay healthy. Chihuahuas are great pets for the elderly, they are small and short haired, and thus extremely low maintenance. A Chihuahua can spend a whole day in your lap or on a couch. They make great watchdogs though as they bark at strangers a lot, unfortunately this can make them rather annoying as well.
If a big dog is what you’d like though, you may want to consider a Malamute or an Akita. These are beautiful wolf-like dogs, they can be difficult to maintain though due to their long, thick coats. Great Danes and Saint Bernards are huge dogs; they require special orthopedic pet beds as their joints often suffer wear due to their size. They don’t like to exercise a lot, but will of course benefit from some exercise. If you want an active dog, these will not be the best breeds out there for you.
Apart from the fact that they often require professional grooming, poodles are great dogs for almost any handler and any lifestyle. They are extremely intelligent, very sociable, and there are hyperactive poodles as well as more docile ones.
Knowledge is power! When it comes to choosing the right breed for your family, there is no shortage of literature on virtually all breeds of dogs available on the internet. While conventional wisdom dictates that you are better off with a dog with a pedigree, pure blooded dogs are not always the best. They tend to be more high-maintenance, they tend to have more specific needs and they are prone to more illnesses and genetic diseases. They are also more expensive, both to buy and to care for. However, their traits are more predictable, and you can earn a bit of money on the side by doing some breeding of your own.
Nowadays a lot of alternative breeds are available too, they are 50-50 mixes of known breeds that are not quite as fragile as typical purebreds. There are Labradoodles (Labrador-Poodle crossbreeds), Puggles (Pug-Beagle crossbreeds) and even Jackshunds (Jack Russell Terrier, Dachshund crossbreeds). Such dogs are bred to mix desirable traits from both breeds. Whatever dog you choose, just remember that dogs can give you years of happiness and great companionship as long as you take care of them the way they deserve.