Choosing a Right Dog for You

Dogs are a great company to keep. They bring joy and bliss in your life and leave no chance for you to stay gloomy or feel lonely.

However, for you to develop that great friendship with your dog, the dog has to be such that it compliments you and suits you the best. You must be aware that there are so many breeds of dogs that are available for you to purchase or adopt.

But, every breed has its own characteristics and so, you need to choose the one whose characteristics go hand in hand with your nature and personality. That is sole the reason you need to know how exactly can you chose a right dog for yourself.

Well, the purpose of this article is also the same. It is meant to educate you in the same sphere of light, so just read on and get to know how you can chose a prefect, four-legged bestie for you.

Make sure you can keep a dog in your home

You might be wanting to purchase a dog but your family might be in direct contradiction to this decision of you. They might have their own reasons, but remember, dog is such an animals that it loves to socialise. That is why, if it is disliked by your family and they don’t love it back just the way you would do, then it is bound to get all depressed and gloomy.

This will also affect its health adverly. Also, if you happen to buy or adopt a dog and take it home as a surprise, there are chances that you might face a great deal of backfire from them. So, before buying a dog, take your family’s consent; if they deny then convince them and then only, introduce a dog to your home.

Consider how much time and energy you can devote to a dog

 Dogs are very energetic and don’t prefer staying alone. Which is why they always demand a lot of time from you. But, if you cannot afford to give them much of your time or can’t manage to play with them due to your hectic work life then you must rethink your decision of adopting or buying a dog.

A dog will want you to love it, care for it, play and take it for a walk everyday and to be with it for quite some time. Additionally you will also be needed to vaccinate it regularly, pay attention on its medication, food and grooming. Only if you can manage all this then go ahead and purchase a dog.

Make sure you can afford a dog

After you realise that you can afford removing time for your dog, now think if you can afford buying and maintaining it. Remember, this is the tricky part. You have to carefully take your decision there because a dog costs quite a lot of pounds.

 Not just that, you are also required to shell out extra money for its toys, medications, vet visits, clothes, winter wear, food as well as for other grooming equipment such as dog clippers, dog combs and brushes, shampoo, towel, bath tub, grooming table, etc.

Make sure you have enough money for all these expenses and then only go ahead with your decision to buy or adopt a dog because if you can’t afford maintaining it, then you will end up ruining its health. Being a responsible human, this is the last thing that you would want to do, so take your decision carefully.

Research breed restrictions

 If you are entirely sure that you are ready to have a dog in your life then it’s time that you can finally proceed with doing a research about the various breeds of dogs available for you. Every breed is different in its own temperament, behaviour and characteristics which may or may not suit as well as be compatible to you.

So, you need to find that specific breed which is a perfectmatchto you and your behaviour. Also, there are certain areas where few specific breeds of dogs are banned, so find out if any specific breed of dog is not allowed in your locality; its best to remove those breeds out of your list to avoid any kind of trouble from the authorities.

Following are the various breeds of dogs from which you can choose.

·         Pit Bull Terriers

·         Staffordshire Terriers

·         Rottweilers

·         German Shepherds

·         Presa Canarios

·         Chows Chows

·         Doberman Pinschers

·         Akitas

·         Wolf-hybrids

·         Mastiffs

·         Cane Corsos

·         Great Danes

·         Alaskan Malamutes

·         Siberian Huskies

Decide what size of dog you want

 While you are researching about the breed, also decide what size of dog would suit you the best. You may want a big sized dog but then your home must be such that it fits into it and don’t suffocate it. Remember, never to buy a dog if your home is small, but if you reside in a huge bungalow then sky is no limit for you!

You also need to decide the size based on your physical capability. If you are not fit or strong enough to handle a big sized dog, never go ahead with buying it,or else you will have a difficult time to control it.

Consider breed temperaments

Every dog has its own behaviour and its temperament which efficiently reflects its personality. That is why, you need to find a dog of the right breed which is compatible to your personality and matches your family as well, so as to avoid future conflicts.

If, you cannot handle an aggressive dog then you better not indulge in buying one. Best thing to do in such situation is going for a dog which is little low on energy and needs less of your attention.

Research each breed’s health needs

You must be aware that every dog breed has its own, specific health needs. For example: Pugs are known to get frequent eye injuries and chronic irritation as well as feel pain on a frequent basis.

However, on the other hand, Great Dane’s immense size and deep chest often causes painful bloating and twisting in the stomach which always calls for immediate medical care.

So,ensure that you are easily able to cater to your dog’s health needs and can patiently deal with it, if you can’t, then you ought to rethink your decision.

Think about how much maintenance you can handle

Dogs need a lot of maintenance and you must have understood that by now. Apart from removing time for playing with them, you also need to buy some time out of your busy schedule for the sake of their grooming and ensuring their cleanliness.

If, you can’t handle much of cleaning and can’t afford to buy all their cleaning and grooming equipment's then look forward towards buying a dog of certain breed that doesn’t require much of grooming.

But, if you feel that you may enjoy grooming your dog and have the patients to do it on regular basis, then you can easily buy and maintain a dog with long, curly hair or with some other kind of specific body type.

Choose a dog of the right age

 The final factor to consider before buying a dog is, whether you want a puppy, an adult dog or an elderly dog; because there are various benefits and downsides of each type of dog.Talking about puppies, they are adorable and can grow together with kids to form memories and long-lasting friendships.

Also, you have to work a lot on them during their initial days and will also require you to give them careful training so as to make sure they're safe to stay around the house while they grow up. In addition while you train them, you will also have to deal with accidents and high energy, as if it is a human baby.

But when you buy or adopt an adult dog, it may get difficult for you to break off its old bad habits. That’s a disadvantage. However, they can also be pre-house trained which can be greatly beneficial for you. They are also calmer than puppies and doesn’t require as much of your supervision.

However, elderly dogs are likely to have health problems, but they can make wonderful, loving companions for elderly people for those with a sedentary lifestyle. Elder dogs are least likely to be adopted, so giving a home to such a dog would be a great service to an animal in need.

As we said, it’s great to have a dog in life, but only if it matches well to you and gels up nicely in the ambience of your home. That is the sole reason you need to go about this entire procedure before selecting a dog for you. Other than all of this, one last thing that you need to know is that, after you buy or adopt a dog, you really got to be by its side for its life.

There are many people who take up the responsibility of a dog and then after they get tired of it, they abandon it. Such a sight is very painful to see, because an abandoned dog is nothing but a creature roaming around with a broken heart, still waiting for its owner to come back and accept it.

So, if you feel that there are chances that you also might indulge in such a brutal and cruel act, then perhaps, you need to rethink your decision. Because, dogs are not toys, they are just like us, they are living beings too.