Pippa Mattinson - Choosing the Perfect Puppy

Contents

About the Author

Pippa Mattinson is a zoologist and the founder of The Gundog Trust the UKs first gundog training and welfare charity. She is a keen supporter of modern, science-based dog training methods, and is passionate about helping people to enjoy their dogs. Visit her website for more information: www.pippamattinson.com

About the Book

Somewhere out there is the dog of your dreams!

With over 200 breeds to choose from, how do you know which would be right for you? In this book you will discover:

• How to compare pedigree with mixed breed puppies
• At-a-glance information on the most popular dog breeds in the world
• How to choose the best place to start searching
• How to choose the right puppy from a litter

MOST OF US accept that owning a dog will change our lives, but many of us are not aware of just how different things will be once a puppy arrives. Even the smallest and least demanding of dogs will alter your everyday routine in some respect, and some dogs will disrupt your life in ways you may never have imagined. Living with a dog should be fun. Things will change, but they should change for the better. This is much more likely to happen if your puppy is a good match for your family and your lifestyle: both in terms of his personality and in the physical impact he has on your home. It is also more likely to happen if your puppy grows into a healthy dog who is around for at least the next decade hopefully more. Not every type of dog is suited to every type of family; fortunately, there are many different breeds of dog to choose from.

Puppy perfection, but are you ready?

But we also need to consider that not every family will be at a place in their life where a dog will bring them joy. There are both good and bad times to get a puppy. For that reason, I dont think we can really get down to the important business of finding that perfect puppy until we are quite sure that right here, and right now, is a good time for you to bring a puppy into your life.

So, lets just spend a few minutes looking at what is involved in owning a dog generally, and at what a small puppy will need from you over the next few weeks and months if he is to grow into a well-adjusted and likeable adult dog.

How owning a dog will change your life

Puppies grow up very quickly, and youll soon have a fully grown dog to share your home and leisure time with. Well begin by looking at how life with an adult dog will be different from the life you have now. Then well look at the financial costs of raising a puppy, but keeping a dog doesnt just affect your bank balance. A dog eats into the hours in your day and burrows into your heart, and well look at the emotional cost and the demands on your time, too.

Well also consider the impact a dog can make on your home and garden. Some dogs take great pleasure in digging, and if yours is an excavator, you can end up with a yard that looks more like a lunar landscape than a pretty garden. There are ways around this, but they usually involve money, effort, or a combination of the two. There will be some changes indoors too. Like babies, dogs come with their own paraphernalia, and not everyone is comfortable with the hair, and mess, that comes as part of the package with some of the larger, shedding breeds.

The financial costs of keeping a dog

People often ask how much they will need to pay for a puppy of this breed or that breed. But the initial cost of buying a puppy is almost insignificant compared with the costs involved in looking after him in the long term. This is especially true of some of the less healthy breeds. Some routine costs you might want to consider are health insurance, boarding or pet-sitting fees and food.

Unless you have very deep pockets you will need to insure your dog against medical problems. Modern veterinary treatments are amazing, but they can be extremely expensive. An operation to repair cruciate ligament damage (knee injuries) in a Labrador, for example, could set you back by several thousand pounds/dollars. Buying a good pet health insurance policy can take the pain out of paying the vet if your dog gets sick, but it will make a dent in your monthly salary.

If you want to holiday without your dog, you will need to factor boarding kennel fees or pet-sitting into the cost of your annual vacation.

Good-quality dog food isnt cheap, and obviously a larger dog will cost rather more to feed than a small one.

Where costs can really mount up is for those who are raising a dog while holding down a full-time job. Most dogs simply cannot be left alone all day, every day. I am often asked questions by concerned dog owners about problems they are having with their dog while they are at work, and these are difficulties caused by long hours of isolation. In many cases, these are serious issues that the owner hadnt anticipated. Apart from the fact that the dog needs access to a toilet area, he also needs company, and many dogs will become very destructive or noisy if left alone for long periods of time. So if you work, you will probably need to pay for some form of doggy daycare.

A puppy changes your life in many different ways.

A major, initial cost for some families, when bringing home their first dog, is fencing. Many new dog owners do not realise that adult dog wont necessarily hang around the homestead in the absence of a boundary or supervision. You cant expect a puppy or even an older dog to respect invisible boundaries, or to have any understanding of traffic and the need to avoid it. If you havent done so already, you will probably need to secure your backyard or garden, or build some kind of secure outdoor run for your dog to use for bathroom purposes. Fencing contractors can be expensive, so if you are able to do this work yourself you will save a lot of money.