How to Choose the Perfect Dog - Family - Pets

Dog is a person's best friend, though popular sayings might lead you to think otherwise. Men, women and children can all benefit from the loving companionship of a furry canine family member. However, how exactly can you go about choosing the perfect dog for you? You may be thinking a dog is simply a dog and how hard can it be to choose, you just take the one you think is cutest right? If that was your plan for finding a pet, you are probably not ready yet! Instead, you need to carefully consider the different breeds available and choose an animal that best fits in with your family life and personality.

Environment

The first thing you need to consider is the size of your home and yard. Large breeds like Doberman's, Mastiffs or German shepherd's will need quite a bit of room to stretch their long legs. As a general rule, these dogs are not suited to total indoor life or apartment dwelling. If you have little or no yard but still want a dog for company, you should consider a smaller breed like the Chihuahua, pug, or miniature poodle. Of course, you can split the difference with a medium size dog such as a basset hound, Welsh corgi or Samoyed.

Children

Do you have or plan to have children in the near future? Certain breeds are simply not ideal when it comes to interacting with small children. A Golden Retriever, Saint Bernard or Labrador are excellent choices for children of all ages. Of course, you can raise any dog to be tolerant of children with proper training of both the animal and the child, but this takes added time and there are breeds that just do not have as much patience as others. This is perhaps one of the biggest factors you should take into consideration before getting a new dog.

Pure Bred or Mutt

The animal shelters are overflowing with dogs of all ages that need a home. The problem for some people is these animals are generally mixed breeds and it can be difficult to determine character traits plus you can never really know how a dog has been raised which can also affect how they behave.

On the other side of the fence, there is the purebred dog. Most of the time you will have a good idea of the main characteristics based on their bloodline alone. The down side is many purebred dogs are very expensive and it seems like the purer the bloodlines get the more prone to inherited disease they are. The healthiest dog you will ever find is your garden-variety mutt.

Personality

Finally, when you are choosing the perfect dog for you and your family you have to take your personality and lifestyle into account. Are you an active person who loves to hike, play sports and generally stay on the move? Alternatively, are you more of a couch potato who likes to spend an afternoon with the television and game console? There are dogs that can fit into either of these two personality and lifestyle traits.