Q: getting a new dog

Answered by Swoozie on 6/5/2006, 7:19 am

A: getting a new dog

Sonia, the only person who can answer the questions " Is it O.K. if i get a a puppy or not" is you, and your family. Some questions you need to ask yourself are, do you have the time to devote to training a puppy, do you have the finances to afford a puppy. Puppies don't come to a home "trained" and sadly enough, there's people out there who don't provide the necessary training and will deem a dog "stupid" if the dog doesn't learn to go outside to potty or they can't get it to stop jumping, etc. There's no such things as a stupid dog, just stupid people who don't know the proper way to train a dog and when the person fails, it's deemed the dogs fault then the dog is given away or sent to the SPCA.

Owning a puppy'dog can be costly. When you get a puppy, it needs to go to the vets to get all it's vaccines, spayed/neutered, you have to buy it food, toys, beds and if needed, pay for obeidence classes. Dogs can becomes sick, get injured, need emergency care, so do you and your family have the finances to be able to provide all the necessary medical care a dog or puppy needs?? A dog is a life long commitment, something that could be with you 17 years. If your parents tell you you can't get a dog, don't get mad at them, but understand they the reason they say no is, they don't feel they can provide all the necessary care a dog needs.

If your parents agree to getting a dog, where you purchase a dog from is extremely important. Do not buy a puppy from a pet store or a back yard breeder. Dogs that are sold in pet stores anf by back yard breeders are so over priced, inferiorly bred, plus more time than not grow up to be riddled with health problems.

You want to make sure to buy a puppy from a reputable breeder. A reputable breeder will make sure their breed of dog is suited for you and your family, they'll be extremely knowledgeable about their breed and be able to tell you all the good, the bad and the ugly about the breed. They show their dog in conformation rings, plus some will compete in agility and tracking, field/hunting trials. They're members of a breed club and may do rescue. A reputable breeder does genetic prebreed testing on a sire and dame before breeding them to help ensure the puppies they produce will be free from any health problems and a puppy bought from a reputable breeder will come with a health guarantee. A reputable breeder will not breed two dogs unless they have the right conformation, temperament and are free from genetic health problems that run in the breed. What a person pays for a puppy from a back yard breeder or pet store, in most cases, for that same amount of money, you can buy a show quality puppy from a reputable breeder that's also going to be healthly ;-)

Here's a site that compares a reputable breeder to a back yard breeder.

How to recongnize a "reputable breeder" :

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Fair/1901/chart.html


I strongly suggest you print this out and show it to your parents in the event they say it's okay for you to get a puppy. Something else you may want to consider too is, to go to your local SPCA and adopt a dog or a puppy. Not only will you be helping with the pet over population in the world, you'll be saving a life ;-)

If you or your family have anymore questions, please ask.






> I dont know when Im getting a dog. Im going to this breeder
> place where they sell dogs tomorrow. My dad said Im just
> looking for ideas to see if i should get a puppy in the
> future. I will try to persuade him to get a puppy though. I
> only have 3 birds in my house and im 12 years old. My
> brother is 13. I have some knoledge about a dog by reading
> books, a lot. Is it O.K. if i get a a puppy or not?
>