Considerations to make when adopting a dog

The 3 biggest considerations to take into account when adopting a new dog.

1. Personality
2. Energy Level
3. Breed

Personality

Personality is a huge thing to consider because just like in relationships, a big mismatch in personalities will cause more issues. If you have a submissive person with a more dominant dog there can be issues such as aggression, possessiveness (of food, space, toys), marking inside on furniture, and pulling on leash. A more dominant owner with a submissive dog is also a mismatch because the owner personality might be a little too much on the dog causing the dog to always be a bit more fearful because the dog is extremely sensitive.

All dogs are on this spectrum of submissive to dominant. It doesn't mean one is positive and one is negative or that one is better than the other, it just is what it is. Nature created this spectrum
*Something to note is that sometimes the environment changes how the dog acts so sometimes you'll see a dog doing dominant behaviors but isn't truly dominant

Dogs who are more on the submissive side will:

• Automatically give you space and respect
• Come in with head down and ears back
• When meeting other dogs roll over on their back and show how submissive they are to show they aren't a threat
• More likely to follow you around and not stray to far away from you
• Will follow the most confident leader of the pack whether its a dog or human
• Submissively pees when meeting someone new
• Plays better with other submissive dogs and happy go lucky dogs

Dogs who are more on the dominant  side will:

• Push more into your space
• Come in head up, tail up, and confident
• When meeting others dogs will stand tall and confident and show the other dogs whose in charge
• Correct dogs they feel they need to (over excited dogs, overly submissive dogs, other dominant dogs)
• Can fight with other dominant dogs to establish who is the leader
• More likely to stray off on their own and not always come when called
• Doesn't really play with other dogs and when they do they are on top and/or more controlling than playing.

Dogs who are more in the middle (Happy go lucky) will:

• Try to play with other dogs
• Come in playful and respectful but not as extreme as a submissive dog
• Keeps the peace with dominant and submissive dogs since their energy is usually a balancing one
• Less likely to fight than dominant dogs but moreso than submissive dogs
• Will listen sometimes and ignore sometimes
• More of an easier going doing because they don't have either of the extremes

Energy Level

Energy level is something that is easily over looked and a little tricky to assess since when we adopt. Getting a dog that has a similar energy level as you will make your relationship with your pup so much better. If you're an active hiker and want to take your dog with you, you don't want a super lazy English Bulldog. Just like if you work long hours you don't want to come home to a Boston Terrier tearing up the house like a race track and have to go exercise him whether its a 45min walk or 30 min biking. The hiker would rather have the Boston Terrier and the long hour worker would rather have the English Bulldog.

To best determine what energy level dog would be the best fit you should first see your energy level and the activities you want to do with your dog.

Dogs who are closer to a 1 will:

• Be lazier and want to stay in and relax more
• Only really need a 10-15 minute walk once or twice a day to stay balance
• Won't jump on guests since they are too lazy and will just be watching from their dog bed

Dogs who are closer to a 5/6 will:

• Be more energetic of a dog and want to do actives
• Will require more exercise (i.e. 30 minute walk twice a day, 15-30 minute bike ride, play fetch)
• Will have a bit more personality to them since they won't be always laying down and sleeping
• Develop behavior problems if not exercised and constantly pent up and frustrated

Dogs who are closer to 10 will:

• Require training
• Require a lot of exercise multiple times a day (intense and calm exercises)
• Develop serious behavior issues if not fulfilled daily
• Will have a lot of personality to them but not always in a positive way
• Not make a good pet dog

The only owners who really want a dog close to 10 are working homes, such as Schutzhund, Sheep Herding, Agility, Nosework, Search and Rescue, Police/Military K9s.

Breed

Breed is something to consider but not nearly as important as the previous 2. The reason being is within all breeds you will find all types of personalities and energy levels. You can have a dominant high energy Rottweiler just like you can have a calm overly submissive Rottweiler. The thing to keep in mind about breeds is that every breed has its generalities that are good to take into account.

For example, German Shepherds being a guarding breed are more likely to develop territorial or aggression issues while herding breeds such as Australian Shepherds are more likely to develop nipping behaviors or anxiety.

What this picture is mean't to show is called the bell curve. The basics of it is that the middle section makes up 68.2% of the population. This can be applied to anything, so if you look at Labradors, the breed generalizations of labs will for sure affect 68.2% of the population of Labradors. But as with anything there are outliers. So your AVERAGE Labrador will probably have those Labrador characteristics you want, but that doesn't mean you can't get a lab who is aggressive or the complete opposite of your typical lab. They are just rare because they make up the 4.6% of the population.