What to know when buying a dog?

I've rescued a couple of dogs, they're hit and miss. The English bulldog was amazing but the chocolate lab was retarded I'm pretty sure. I took a am staff from a buddy and he was a good dog till he got old and cranky, then he got a little bitey. My best dog to date is a malinois- pit mix I found on Craigslist after I had to put my bulldog down. I exercise my dogs daily for at least 30 minutes and it makes all the difference in the world.

 

First, sorry for your loss. I went through this with our family dog this past August. We have always been a two dog family which ends up being hard on the other animal as well. Waited a few months And ended up with another pup. Like others have said, reputable breeder, visit the breeder and check out living conditions and what not, spend time with the mother and father of the litter, bring your daughter so you can see how they react to her as well.

I ended up with a Brittany spaniel this time around. Were an active family and I wanted something a little smaller this time as it's easier for traveling And camping. I have always had labs but I keep losing them to cancer so I felt it was time to move on. Our Brittany has been awesome so far, very smart, good with my 4yr old and loads of fun.

Good luck with your dog search!

Here's my Brittany with my lab.

 

Most likely to bite I think is a lab. I wouldn't pay 2000.00 for something to crap in my living room. I had a beautiful black lab bought out of nickel ad for 100.00.
Also had boxers high maintenance but lovable. Now I have boxer/ german Shepherd. 300.00 bucks from human society, I still think sometimes I did them a favor. Smart like a Shepherd high strung as a boxer. He will test your patience so rember untill trained could be a bit of a nightmare. Unless your going to breed is it worth the high end money?

 

Sorry you had to put your pup down.
As others have said it could be a gamble. We have to purebred malteses. One has relatively no problems, the other is a mess, but we still love her.

If you want to get a "new" dog find a reputable breeder. Also said by others find out their living conditions.

Also maybe consider rescuing a dog. There are tons of lovable great dogs that need a home. Annie was a rescue and is the greatest.
Here she is at the shelter, and fresh out of the shelter.



And here she is now

 

I did a lot of research before I bought each of our dogs.

When the kids were young I bought a dog called a Havanese which is a very popular dog these days. The breed almost went extinct. They are Cuban dogs, but the breed was saved by an American. These are truly great small dogs for families. The are clowns and fun to play with. They do not shed and they are easy to train because they are very smart and aim to please. They have hair that feels like silk and they only grow to about 14 pounds. Here is a stock puppy pic followed by a picture of ours (The only pic I could easily find). Our Havanese is about 10 years old and still makes us laugh every day. We paid about $1800.


When our kids got a few years older I decided I wanted a second dog, so I bought a Golden-Doodle. Golden-Doodles are very popular and they are a a fantastic mix. They do not shed and the mix has a great personality. Since Goldens and Standard Poodles are very smart they are really smart, easy to train, and loving dogs. Ours came from a family breeder not a professional breeder so we only paid $900 for him, but I got first pick of the litter and I was able to meet the mother and father.

Our Doodle gets attention everywhere he goes and the weird thing is that people constantly want to take pictures or get selfies with him... Its the strangest thing. Our Doodle has hunter instincts, loves to run, chase balls, and swim. Our doodle has hair that is on the curly poodle side, but his personality is Golden.

Find a breeder that breeds dogs for families and NOT for show. The show dogs tend to be too inbred for certain traits. I'm wary of breeders, as I've had some less than great interactions with them. Here is a picture of our Doodle named Dozer at the park playing retrieve the ball.

 

If he wants a Golden, why the sales pitches on every other breed? It's like him saying he's decided to get a Tundra and then everyone tries to talk him out of it by pointing out the virtues of every other manufacturer.

 

Personally I was just sharing my rescue story and the potential problems with purebreds.

 

Found a breeder last night that I was able to talk with for about an hour. Its the dames second and last litter. First litter was two years ago. She sent me pictures of the OFA health certifications of both the dame and stud. The dame is still in the home but the father is owned by someone else. She gave me that persons contact info in case I wanted to speak with them.

They're all about answering my questions and bringing my daughter to meet the pups, which is important to me.

Pups are available to take home on May 1st. I think im going to ask for references from their last litter to find out about the temperament of the dogs. Anything else?

 

You can't go wrong with a Golden Retriever for a family dog that you can do a lot of things with. We currently have two, Gracie is 12.5 yrs old and Riley is just over 10 years old. My wife did a ton of research on breeders after our first golden passed at 9, and we have had very good fortune with both. They both have completely different personalities though. Riley is 3/4 English Cream and is very laid back. Gracie is loves to be outside, has always been very active, but her arthritis is slowing her down some now. I think we paid around $1500 for each from different breeders (one in Cali and one in NJ), without breeding rights. I hope you have many years of companionship and enjoyment with your new dog.

 

Since you have a new pup on the way check out this video series Wildrose Kennels is doing on puppy training.

http://uklabs.com/puppy_training_videos.php?no_redirect=true

 

I'm in that book on page 37.
I have Wildrose Sailor 14.5 (Angus x Meg), Wildrose Harken 7 (Rusty x Jay's Tess) and Wildrose Jax 4 (Widgeon x Roxi). If he was looking for a Lab I would have suggested the same thing.

 

Goldens are great, I really miss mine.
As others have said check with AKC for a reputable breeder, but that is probably less important as meeting the parents and seeing the home they come from. View the temperament of they parents are they sketchy? My Golden was a rescue and he had a few screws loose.
The first couple years they will be very active but as long as you work with them they will be great dogs. The more time you spend working him/her the better the pup will be. If you just ignore the pup it'll be crazy looking for attention and doing anything to get you to acknowledge it.
After you get the pup have it checked for health issues. Hip dyspepsia is common in the breed and there is a surgery you can do when they are a pup that will make their lives much better in the long run.

 

Great looking dog.

Go Noles!

 

Truthfully the best specimen might be a mutt.... If I were buying another ( I have a male cocker and a female olde english bulldog, crazy bitch takes 3 prozac a day..., ill never do either again) Id start by looking at what size I might want... if small, then what I want to avoid...shedding, hyperactivity etc... a dog that fits my lifestyle which is slow and doesnt need long walks...after that id make sure that if I lived in a place where lots of kids where present temperament was good. Last thing you want is a bitten child... My next dog will be a lab or a German Shepherd , I am like you, they are part of the family... good luck , post a pic of what you get.

 

I’m excited for you. So will you be able to go pick it out now? Usually that is how it works, there will be big and small puppies, you want a big one. They will provide you a clean bill of health from their vet upon receipt, but don’t be afraid to have your vet check it out as part of the deal, pretty common as well. I don’t care about money with my dogs, they are worth it.

 

I'm a 4th year vet student, will graduate with my DVM in August. If you go with a pure breed dog, on average they will have more medical and anatomical problems than a mixed breed. Can mixed breed dogs have terrible health problems? Absolutely. But pure breeds will have them more commonly. If you do go pure breed and get one from a breeder, make sure they know what they are talking about. Vaccinate your dog on an appropriate schedule, give it flea/tick and heartworm preventative monthly (even during the winter). And whatever you decide to do, don't feed them a raw diet. It'll make your dog have to constantly be fighting infections and can cause you and your family sick, especially if you have young kids. If you do want a pure breed and don't want to pay as much look at breed specific rescues.

 

Don't buy a dog. Thousands put to death every year. I've had many shelter dogs. All great. Save a life

 

We always do ground beef and rice for ours when sick. I thought I invented that....

 

Raw meat will overload their GI system with e coli mostly but they can get a few others. Some dogs can handle the bacteria but studies have shown that they all shed extremely high numbers of bacteria. Its bad for healthy adults much less immune compromised young kids and elderly or other immune compromised people.

Rice and cooked meat is good for upset gi systens. Chicken and rice is better than beef though

 

Predomesticated dogs didnt live to 15 years like the owner wants and he has a 15 month old daughter who I'm guessing will be around the dog a decent amount of time. You don't want a dog shedding excessive amounts of bacteria around an immune compromised human like the owner has.

 

Your daughter will absolutely love a puppy, and the idea of them growing up together is really awesome.

We got our Golden when our son was about 6 or 7. They have been good buds....

 

Weird.. all raw fed dogs i know (properly raw fed) have zero issues with inflammation or infections. In fact my now passed senior dog transitioned from high quality kibble to raw and his irritated belly skin went away and his activity shot way up.

I've raw fed my dog since he was 6 months old and hes now 5. Vitals are great every time ive brought him to the vet for a checkup. No stinky shits, no skin irritations, still the same high drive and energy level.

The key is safe food handling - same principles humans use (unless someone just eats out every day and doesn't cook anything).

When you say shed bacteria, could you clarify this? Does their feces have higher bacteria count vs kibble shits?

 

Pretty much .The dogs themselves can handle it (some, not all), but pretty much every dog fed a raw diet sheds (gives off bacteria to the environment) more bacteria and in extremely high amounts comparwd to dogs not. It will be in their feces a large amount so the yard will get contaminated, from their mouths, so their water bowl, if they lick anyone, if they chew on a you, etc, and they can shed from their respiratory system. But especially for a baby, the yard and if the dog licks the baby they'd be exposed needlessly

 

Interesting.. but based off the same premise it goes back to maintaining clean hands when handling human food and the baby. Theres mold spores and all kinds of bacteria in the air and on every surface, no matter how much cleaning happens - except for ORs. The licking aspect does bring up a good point though, but i was under the assumption dog saliva contains various enzymes that pretty much act as as bactericides. I have senior parents and they get plenty of love from my dog, havent gotten any GI issues or diseases.