Choosing a new canine companion is fun, exciting, and a bit stressful. Over the years of being part of family and friends choosing new 4 (or 3-legged) friend, I have learned some things are very important to the “picking” process regardless of if you choose to purchase a puppy from a quality breeder or adopt a shelter dog.

Age
People often ask which is better to get, a puppy, a juvenile, an adult, or a senior. This depends completely on your schedule, the stage of life you are in, and what you are looking for in a companion dog.
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Puppies
Puppies are virtually a blank slate. Their bodies are not fully developed, their minds are growing, and everything in their environment that they encounter and are exposed to shapes who they will be as adult dogs. Fosters, shelter staff, and breeders should be exposing puppies in their care to as many sights, sounds, and experiences as possible until the day they go to their forever home. When bringing home a puppy, you should commit to 6 months of constant, daily training, and socialization. During this time, you will be setting the foundation for the rest of your 14+ years with this new companion. Envision your dream dog and train your puppy with that dream in mind.

Juveniles
These guys are canine middle schoolers. Their bodies are still developing but they now have some bladder control, their attention span is a bit longer, they can sleep through the night and their training often feels like it goes a bit faster at this stage because they are still soaking up everything they experience. This is also a great age to work through issues like fear, shyness, and separation anxiety because these are not yet deeply planted in who the dog is. Many dogs end up surrendered to rescues and shelters at this age because they are going through many developmental stages all at the same time. Juvenile dogs have more hormones in their body during this time than they have ever had and never will have them this high again in life. 

Adults
While adults will come with “baggage” from a previous home, you will be past the sleepless nights, chewing on things they should not, and short attention spans. Adults are still very trainable, are eager to learn new things, please their new humans, and go along for whatever adventure might be around the corner.

Seniors
Dogs are considered senior at different ages depending on their breed. Large breeds are seniors at 7, and small dogs at 9. These guys have lots of love to give, and still have the energy to enjoy walks and adventures but do not always need as much exercise as younger dogs. The adage that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is false. Senior dogs love learning new things, playing with puzzle toys, doing nose work, and going for walks.

Breed
Is choosing the breed important? Absolutely!
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I grew up with Dobermans, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and an Afghan hound. Grandparents had spaniel mixes, Pekinese, shepherds, and Rottweilers. I do not remember the brief time that we had a Dalmatian. My parents quickly learned that this dog was not a good fit for our family and found him a home with someone who had experience with the breed. A few years (and dogs) later when my mom was ready to add another dog to the family, she chose a dog from a local rescue. He was a solid pup with big feet. The lady said that the parents were Rottweiler/lab mixes. We brought the large bundle of fluff home. We were experienced with Rottweilers, so we felt prepared to bring another one home. While our family had been long-time dog owners, we soon learned that we were not equipped for the challenges we faced with this dog. We talked with our vet about the behavior challenges we were experiencing and assumed that these issues in such a young dog were due to neglect, and abuse before entering the rescue.

We struggled through puppyhood and teens, and as adulthood approached, we were hoping that he would grow out of these issues. He did not. We were certain we had a “bad egg”. He had an affinity for stealing sticky notes that belonged to my mother, was nearly impossible to confine to a crate when WE wanted him in it, and chewed up all toys given (including the ones labeled indestructible). Basic obedience was tossed out the window as the attempts to teach him to come, stay, and walk nicely on a leash seemed futile. He would sit and lie down on command… if he felt like it.

As Breed DNA testing became more affordable, I started looking into which brands were the best, talked to co-workers at the vet clinic, and chose one. Much to his displeasure, I collected the sample via a "simple" cheek swab, sent the kit off, and then we waited. We played silly games with friends, looking at pictures of him from puppy through adulthood and taking silly guesses at what his mix might be. When the results were in, we then started reading about the traits of each breed. What was in this guy’s DNA? He was indeed Rottweiler. But also, Lab and Keeshond. Those two breeds carried many of the traits we saw in our big boy, the good, the bad, and the extremely challenging. Suddenly, we were now very aware that the daily struggles that we thought were due to abuse in his early days, were simply normal traits for each of the breeds in his DNA. We just had no idea that’s what we were dealing with.

Over the years I have encountered many struggles between canines and humans that are simply struggling with not knowing what the breed needs and the ability to provide for those needs. Studies show that many dogs that are rehomed or placed in rescues, and shelters end up in this situation due to the original owners not knowing how big the dog would get, the health issues the breed was prone to, the energy requirements of the breed, the training needs, etc.

When talking with people interested in fostering dogs for rescues/shelters, or coaching people already fostering dogs, I have learned that the people who struggle the most, are those who have a breed they are unfamiliar with. A recent foster I worked with was familiar with labs and had taken in her first foster, a young German shepherd. Though she was able to make it work for the duration that the dog was in her care, it did bring unneeded stress to her dogs and her daily life as she was unfamiliar with the personality traits, training, and exercise needs of a working/herding type breed. The dog was adopted by a person who had previously had German shepherds and they said that they did not experience the struggles the foster reported.

I could share many similar stories of people who just have the wrong breed for their personality, lifestyle, and life stage. Sometimes the breed is right, but the age of the dog is wrong. I have talked to a couple of potential adopters that wanted to adopt a senior dog but had hopes of going on long hiking trips and training for triathlons. Matching seniors with puppies or juveniles is equally hazardous to both the person and the dog.

When I am talking with someone who is considering changing breeds from what they are familiar with or choosing a dog of an age that might not be compatible, I frequently recommend fostering a dog of that breed/age before adopting. This helps the person get hands-on experience in a “trial period” that reduces the chance of the dog ending up in a shelter or rescue if they are the wrong match.

You might be wondering what happened to that large boy that was such a challenge for our family. Sadly, we said goodbye to Tye at 14 1/2 years of age. Just knowing the mix of breeds that made up that 100-pound goof changed his life and ours. Putting all the information on the 3 most prominent breeds in his DNA together helped us see that the struggles we had were merely from not knowing what his needs were based on what those breeds were created to do. We were able to modify his training and energy burn to address the needs of each breed. Life drastically changed knowing what we had. He learned to channel the lab traits and learned to play fetch his last couple of years, he learned that he could use his inner keeshond and bark to let us know that he could see the neighbors out the window but that he needed to stop after we were aware and acknowledged him for a job well done. What we originally thought was fear of new things, was Rottweiler-sized confidence in his massiveness and knowing that he could use his size to refuse to do anything he did not want to do.
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When it is time for you to choose your next canine companion, do some research on the breed(s) of the dog you are considering bringing home. Are you thinking of sticking with the breed you know? Give yourself a little bit of a refresher course. Just because your last dog of the same breed was perfect it does not mean your next one will have those same amazing traits – let’s face it, even cloned dogs have different traits and personalities!