Whether you want an active dog, a doggie couch potato, or a dog that fits somewhere in between really depends on you.
Are you the type of person or family that spends a lot of time walking and hiking? If so, an active dog might be a great choice, rather than a dog couch potato. Popular breeds like Border Collies, Dalmatians, Jack Russells, and many Retrievers are well known to be high energy.
Depending on the breed dog training can be easier or harder. That said, lists of breeds that are easy to train, and hard to train are just generalizations, although they can be a helpful guide.
Above all, dogs, like people, are individuals. You may find stubborn individual dogs in a breed that is supposedly includes easy to train dogs, and wonderful, easy to train dogs in a breed that is supposedly difficult to train. Training dog breeds is not an exact science, and easy to train dogs come from every breed.
For the most part, the list below describes a dog as easy to train based on the ability to learn basic obedience training with a minimum or stubbornness or aggressiveness. However, for all breeds, dog training can sometimes be a challenge – even breeds that are supposedly contain easy to train dogs. For every breed dog training can have challenges.
Ahhh… the old controversy – which is better? A boy or a girl dog?
Many first-time dog owners want a female dog, because they think they’re less trouble. Others like a male dog because there’s no danger of being stuck with puppies.
An individual dog can always be much different than generalizations suggest. I’ve seen many male dogs that were completely docile sweethearts, and females that were aggressive and wanted to wander. Overall, deciding to get a female or male dog is just preference.
If you plan to spay or neuter your dog, then it probably won’t make a big difference if you get a male or female dog.
In the United States, and most other countries, there are laws that prevent cruelty to animals. Given these laws, why do puppy mills still exist? Sadly, its’ a question of lack of enforcement, and an overburdeneded system.
In the United States, Congress passed the Animal Welfare act nearly 35 years ago to, in part, ensure that animal breeders gave their animals humane treatment.
The Animal Welfare Act requires that animals have basic prevention of disease, adequate ventilation and sanitation, ample food and water, adequate housing, and reasonable handling.
What’s the difference between a puppy mill and a breeder?
Puppy mills exist solely to sell puppies for profit. To make a profit, puppy mill owners often subject puppies and breeding dogs to terrible conditions. Puppy mill owners scrimp on proper care, nutrition, and attention just to make more money. Puppy mills will sell puppies to anyone with enough cash.
Reputable breeders ensure that their puppies, and their puppies’ parents, are well looked after. They’ll spend money and time to get the best veterinary care, the most nutritious food, and they make sure their dogs are well socialized. Reputable breeders will only sell puppies to good homes. Reputable breeders do not sell their puppies to pet stores.
Genetic disorders, including disorders of the blood and lymphatic system, in dogs are well linked to specific breeds. If your dog is a purebred, it is relatively easy for your vet to determine if the dog is at risk of a specific genetic disorder.
In the past, owners of mixed breed dogs had had a harder time determining if their dog was at risk for an inherited genetic disorder. That’s changed now that mixed breed Dog DNA tests have come on the market. These tests can help you determine if your dog has a parent or grandparent that was a purebred. Understanding the purebred makeup of your mixed breed dog can help your vet determine if your dog is at risk of inheritied genetic disorders.
nherited eye disorders are common in many purebreds. Some disorders can be predicted with genetic testing, but others can only be diagnosed with health testing, which will tell you if the dog has the disorder at a specific point in time.
Knowing if your dog is at risk for genetic eye disorders is relatively easy for purebreds, since some diseases are well known to exist within certain breeds. However, it’s much harder to determine if a mixed breed dog is at risk of a genetic eye disorder, since most owners don’t know the exact breeds that make up their mixed breed dog.
Today, vets know with a great deal of certainty if a purebred dog is at risk of developing a genetic disorder. However, determining the risk to a mixed breed is much more difficult. Most of the time, owners of mixed breed dogs don’t know with any certainty if their dog has purebred parents or grandparents.
Mixed breed Dog DNA tests have changed all that. These tests can tell owners and their vets if a mixed breed dog has a parent or grandparent that was a purebred. By knowing a dog’s purebred ancestry, a vet can then help determine if the dog is at risk of developing genetic disorders.
Veterinarians today are armed with a great deal of knowledge about the genetic risks of disease for purebred dogs. Unfortunately, the risk of developing a genetic disorder for mixed breed dogs is much more difficult to determine. To know a dog’s risk of getting a genetic disorder, a vet must know the breeds of any of the dog’s purebred ancestors. In the past, this was almost impossible to determine.
Mixed breed Dog DNA tests now offer a relatively quick, at home method of determining if a mixed breed dog has a purebred parent of grandparent. Once this information is known, a vet can determine if a mixed breed is at risk of specific genetic disorders.