Choosing Your Most Compatible Puppy

So what do I mean when I say choosing your most compatible puppy? This simply means picking the puppy that best matches you, your personality and your lifestyle. Now it is well known and understood that the different dog breeds were bred to carry out different tasks and to that end they exhibit very different genetic or hereditary characteristics.

Thus taking the retriever dog breeds for example, as their name suggests they were bred for, among other things, to retrieve. This trait was honed and sharpened through selective breeding over time; this explains why dogs from this breed are ever so happy and willing to play catch.

Taking another dog breed group as an example, let us consider livestock herding dogs. As the name of the group obviously suggests, such dogs were selectively bred to herd livestock. In other words those individuals that excelled at herding livestock were bred amongst themselves (as well as outsiders to minimize the inherent problems with inbreeding) to accentuate the desired traits.

Thus it is not uncommon for such selectively bred herders in today’s urban environment to express their natural tendency to herd by rounding up the kids of their family in place of the livestock they were originally bred to herd. Right those are enough examples methinks.

Now back to the most compatible puppy issue. The thing that most people don’t take into account is that puppies from the same litter (just like kids from the same family) have widely different personalities and characters. And typically most people pick the puppy that rushes up to them first before its siblings under the presumption that it has chosen them and must be the one. Truth be told that puppy is simply the most boisterous, dominant and aggressive one. This may not be an issue when the puppy is small, but trust me, it will certainly blossom into one when the puppy matures (especially if it is from a large dog breed).

By Seven Weeks Old A Puppy Has Attained Its Adult Dog Personality & Character

But here’s the really great news. There’s a scientifically proven method to determine the personality and character of a puppy at just 7 weeks old. Yup! It is now well understood and accepted that by seven weeks old a puppy has already attained its adult dog character.

So in simple language what does this mean to you? Well it means that if you’re looking for a laidback dog from a particular breed you can choose that dog when it is still a puppy. I’m not going to go into details behind the procedure of puppy selection but suffice it to say it is very straightforward.

If you truly wish to learn all about this procedure and how to use it to select the puppy that most compliments you go ahead and download my free guide covering the topic and entitled: The Secret To Choosing The Perfect Puppy.

When Should You Pick Up Your Puppy?

Although you should pick out your puppy at seven weeks after carefully assessing the one that is most compatible with your personality a good breeder would recommend that you pick up your puppy when it is at least 8 weeks old. How come?

Well, the reason why a puppy should not be prematurely separated from its mother and litter mates is because before then it would not have learned sufficient social skills and language comprehension from both its mother and interaction with its litter mates that would allow it to function as a wholesome well rounded canine individual later on.

One of the consequences of premature separation from mum and litter mates is that when that puppy matures into a grown dog he/she will be incapable of playing with both humans and fellow dogs without inflicting damage! Why? Because as a puppy he/she never learned how to interact with his siblings in play where he would have mastered the skill of bite pressure and force restraint, thus preventing serious injury during play as an adult dog.

1. A well-trained dog is a delight to have and be around.

2. A well-trained dog is safe around people and other pets

3. A well-trained dog is safe off-leash!

4. A well-trained dog doesn’t soil the house

5. A well-trained dog heeds your commands

6. A well-trained dog spends more time with his family and thus is happier!

7. A dog that is trained will not be a financial drain on your pocket!

A Dog Without Training Is An Unhappy Dog!

Let’s be honest who wants to be around an untrained dog. At best you untrained dog is going to put his muddy paws all over your guests and mess up your home. At worst that untrained dog of yours is going to be the neighborhood menace!

Most dogs that are relegated to overdose on alone-time in their kennel are dogs that the owners do not want around. Such owners have thrown in the towel and find it far easier to keep their once-upon-a-time cute puppy and now big-bad-boisterous dog out-of-sight and out-of-mind rather than cope with the growing list of disasters associated with their pet. Such disasters may include:

• Fighting with other dogs when taken on walks
• Jumping on and soiling guests
• Making messes all over you house
• Chasing and biting the postman
• Dangerous behavior around children

Dogs are social creatures who need to be around and interact with their pack (in modern society that means their human family) if they are to remain mentally balanced and healthy.

But unfortunately most people don’t want to be around a dog that constitutes a nuisance so rather than cope with their “outta-control furry menace” they’d rather relegate it to prolonged periods in its kennel (before admitting complete defeat and abandoning the dog to a shelter).

Article on dog training written by Kayye Nynne

1. House Training: Unless you are partial to the aroma of dog poop and pee then it would certainly make sense to, at the very least, have your dog housetrained. Yup! There’s no way round it, but that cute bundle of fur otherwise known as a puppy, unless taught to the contrary will quickly and happily turn your pristine house not only into his playground but also into his personal toilet. And make no mistake, this is not a problem that is going to disappear with age; any dog that is not housetrained be it a puppy or adult will soil your residence until it is taught not to!

2. Socializing: An unsocialized dog is generally an unhappy dog because such an animal finds it extremely difficult to interact comfortably with strangers or other dogs (and animals). This type of dog is characteristically nervous and highly-strung, which condition manifest as a dog with a hair-trigger response to aggression at the slightest perceived provocation (usually more imaginary than real) or a dog that slinks around in a constant state of fear. It matters little which errant behavior is displayed, the fact is either existence will be detrimental to the dog’s well-being.

3. Bonding: A well trained dog is a happy dog. When you and your dog understand one another well your relationship is going to be that much richer for it.

The only way to achieve that level of harmony in your relationship with your dog is if you both work at understanding one another; and that will only be achieved through proper training. Besides dog training should be fun for you and your pooch, especially since it challenges and stimulates your dog’s mind. As frequently happens with human adolescents, a bored dog is going to be driven to destructive behavior; this is especially true in the smarter breed of dog.

Types of Dog Training

These days there are quite a number of different dog training techniques, enough to accommodate everybody dog owner out there. Some are very popular and come highly recommended whilst others seem to be a throwback to a more primitive time and age when we didn’t understand man’s best friend as we do now. The following lists some of the more commonly used methods of dog training:

1. Reward Training

Currently a big favorite in dog training circles, this technique employs the use of treats to reinforce good and desired behavior patterns executed by your dog. When used correctly this is a pretty effective training technique but its downside is that it is fairly easy to abuse the system and thus nullify its effectiveness by giving your dog treats at times other than during dog training sessions.

2. Clicker Training

Clicker training is a classic Pavlovian technique that utilizes conditional training through sensory association. As the name suggests the clicker, which is a plastic box with an inbuilt metal strip that makes the actual clicking sound, is used in conjunction with a treat or something your dog finds highly desirable to reinforce and encourage a particular behavior. In time the treat reward is removed yet the dog still associates a given behavior with the sound of the clicker and thus performs that behavior in the absence of the treat.

3. Whistle Training

Dogs have far better hearing than people and can hear frequencies that our ears cannot pick up. It is on the basis of this premise that the ultrasonic whistle functions which means that since you cannot hear it but your dog can (supposedly) it can be a little tricky getting to grips with its use.

4. Dog Whispering

Yeah sounds a bit corny doesn’t it and most likely the name of this method is an obvious offshoot reference from the 1998 Robert Redford movie (starring amongst others a young Scarlett Johansson) titled the Horse Whisperer themed around a man who had an uncanny ability to communicate with horses. Anyway these days Dog Whispering is now a broadly accepted term and its training technique is based on understanding a dog’ body language and the many unvocalized signals that are part and parcel of dog communication.

These four examples above are just a few of the dog training methods available and in fact there are a whole slew of collar based  training methods that have not been listed here partly because some of them are archaic and barbaric such as electric collar training or prong collars.

In summary, this article barely touches the tip of the iceberg as far as dog training is concerned but the thing to remember is that utilizing dog training in the everyday life of your pooch will greatly enrich the relationship the two of you share.

Article on dog training written by Kayye Nynne