There is a dog breed to suit everyone.
How to choose a dog breed?
There are currently more than 500 dog breeds. Therefore, almost everyone can choose the right dog for them. You just have to formulate what you want and the breed will appear. To do this, you need to ask yourself a few questions and answer them very honestly.
1. Why do you need a dog? What exactly are you going to do with it
Obviously, if you plan to go to parties with a dog in your arms – a Rottweiler or a Doberman will not do (don’t panic). Again, for private home security, you should not choose a toy terrier or a Yorkshire terrier (of course they will try to protect you, but there won’t be many criminals who will be afraid of them). In general, each activity has its own group of dog breeds – decide what you want the dog for – the range of breeds will be very narrow.
2. Your physical capabilities
If you are a strong and powerful man – you can choose any dog, no matter how big or small. And if not? Besides, grown-up, strong men often don’t consider the physical strength of your family members (fragile women and young children).
Once a woman called the clinic and asked for a dog. A year old Irish Setter. The grand children of the woman were wonderful and managed to give their grandmother such a dog for her 80th birthday! “I can’t even keep my eyes on him!” – cried the owner. And don’t expect a dog to be educated by you – they are not born that way, they become it. And until your dog is trained, many different things can happen, including some quite dangerous ones. This does not apply to professional handlers – but they have no qualms about choosing a breed.
3. Size of the dog
Note that some small dogs take up much more space than large dogs. This is evidenced by an incident at a dog show where such a conversation took place between the owners of a spaniel and a Bullmastiff:
– We livewith my husband, plus a dog (an English cocker spaniel). We have four rooms, but we’re short on space. He seems to be in all places at the same time, turning, running, yapping If you try to sit on a chair, you sit on the dog. If you try to close the door, you’re bound to force it. I can imagine what an apartment would be like for a dog like yours!
– What do you have We have three children, plus a dog. A normal two-room apartment. And we don’t get bored at all – because Daira (the bullmastiff) stays under the table when we come back from a walk and only comes out when we need to eat. At home, the dog is almost invisible.
Please note that although small dogs eat less, they are more capricious. But of course, if you are less well-off, you are better off with a small or medium-sized dog.
4. Coat quality
If you want to spend more time on coat care (maybe you are a professional groomer) – choose long-haired breeds. The hair all over the apartment and long-haired and short-haired breeds are equally distributed, just collect small, short hairslimbs are more difficult than long ones. Only hairless dogs (but they need to be creamed and generally cared for) and rough-haired dogs (terriers, schnauzers) are hairless – but they need to be clipped every 2 to 3 months.
There is relatively little hair from poodles and other curly breeds (Cairngorm Terriers, Bedlingtons). I.e. they also brush, but everything that falls on the ground is just a neat little ball – you pick it up, throw it away and the house is clean again. They also need to be brushed and clipped regularly. Colour also matters – for example, you like a white dog. In our climate zone, such a pet is no longer white after the first walk – nobody shampoos the pavements, and you can’t really wash the dog after every walk (maybe I’m wrong), or ignore the fact that it’s not white anymore (then it’s better to just go for a different colour right away).
5. Temperament
Yours and the dog’s. It is really the last criterion, because you can’t talk about the temperament of ALL dogs of one breed. Every breed has good dogs and angry dogs, active dogs and calm dogs, dominant dogs and submissive dogs, dogs that are easy to train and dogs that are reluctant to obey. You can only speak of the majority of dogs of the same breed that tend to behave one way or the other, but there are exceptions in any breed, and there is no guarantee that you won’t be attacked by one.
Once you have answered all these questions, you will be left with 2 – 5 suitable dog breeds. Choosing a dog breed will be much easier than choosing from 500 breeds. Then go to a dog show and talk to the dog owners who have a dog of your chosen breed And finally decide which one is really yours!