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BUYING A DOG - Part 1 |
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Before you buy a puppy, several factors must be taken into consideration. The size of your living quarters and the freedom that your dog will enjoy should be taken into account in selecting a breed. If you are a home owner and have a large back yard where your dog can have unlimited exercise, then the matter of breed presents no special problem. If you are confined to a small, city apartment, then it would be advisable to limit yourself to a breed of dog no larger than a Cocker Spaniel or a Fox Terrier. It is always wiser to select a purebred dog than a mongrel, because with a purebred you can have a specific idea of how your pet will look upon maturity, while, with a mongrel, you can never be sure. None the less, there are some people who have a special preference for mongrels and a disdain for the kind of snobbishness that often is associated with owning a purebred dog. If you are one of these persons, then it can only be suggested that you make it your business to find out all you can about the parenthood of the puppy because the little bundle of fluff you acquire might grow almost to the size of a small pony-much to your dismay. In the event that you can find out nothing of the puppy's heredity, look at the size of the paws. A puppy who will grow to be a large dog will invariably have very large paws, while those destined to be of small or moderate size will have proportionately smaller ones. If for any reason you are not sure, make it a point to show the animal to a veterinarian and allow him to solve your problem.
The next point to consider is whether to get a long-haired or a short-haired dog. The prospective owner of a long-haired dog must be prepared to spend the time and money needed for properly grooming and maintaining the appearance of such an animal. The expense of clipping and bathing will cost anywhere from $25 to $100 a year and more; further, the owner must not mind the discipline, and sometimes the sweat, of giving the dog a thorough daily combing and brushing. For people of limited means and leisure, the short-haired breeds are recommended because these require very little time and trouble, and the expense of maintaining their appearance can be kept to a minimum. Of course people still have their preferences. But with dogs, as with anything else, the discriminating use of common sense in what you buy will tend to lessen future hardships and annoyances. The selection of a particular sex usually presents no special problem. If a person is determined to raise a family of dogs, the choice must obviously fall on a female. But so far as personality is concerned, there are no consistent differences between male and female. It is commonly said that males are somewhat more rambunctious than females and that females tend to be more docile and obedient. But the plain fact of the matter is that the behavior of the individual animal will be determined more by the training that it receives than by any differences in natural disposition due to sex. It is true, however, that the female will come into heat a couple of times a year for periods of three weeks each, and that these heat periods may prove rather messy and troublesome to some owners. If the owner is the least bit squeamish in this regard, then the problem can be permanently eliminated by having the animal spayed. But even the female in heat will not be particularly annoying if the animal is obedience trained, and properly restrained by a leash while outside the confines of home. The male, on the other hand, will be on the prowl for females if permitted to run loose. So obedience training and leash restraint are just as necessary for the male as for the female. The selection of a dog according to sex, therefore, would not appear to be an especially crucial problem. |
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