Choosing a Puppy

 So you want a puppy.  The hardest question is always where to start looking, especially for first-time dog owners.  The biggest hurdle is trying to decide what breed you want.  I don’t think breed is that important on the whole, but you have to get a dog that works for you.  For instance, if you’re a person that likes to be indoors and you don’t like walking outside or getting a lot of exercise, a lab may not be the best dog for you.  While, if you like to hike in the middle of the summer in the south, a husky probably isn’t a good choice, either.  People tend to pick dogs based on what they think is pretty, not what is best for their lifestyle.  I try to combine them both.  I happen to love long-haired animals, but I’m not overtly active.  I’m mildly active with a small apartment and very little personal space.  I’m also gone a lot.  So I took all these things into consideration when I started looking for a dog.  I knew I wanted something small, kind of long haired, a dog that could take a three hour walk if they wanted – or could sleep on the couch all day, too.  I also wanted a good natured dog because I’m a huge animal person and I love animals.  I plan to foster shelter dogs at some point and thusly, it’s very important for me to have gotten a dog that likes other pets.
                After all this soul searching, I went to those little sites where you can (within reason) take a little “What dog is best for you” quiz and they tell you possible breeds from what is popular.  I – personally – have had a lot of experience with a lot of dogs, so even through the popular ones, it was easy for me to weed out what I didn’t want to have.  Like, I didn’t want a Yorkie, Maltese, Havanese, things like that.  I didn’t want a Labrador or a husky.  However, once I got the result of the quiz, I then went to www.akc.org and started looking at dogs that fit the description of what the quiz said about what I would like.  Then I went back again and did more research on each individual breed.  I tried to find blogs or personal sites of people with these dogs to get a real feel for what kind of breed as a whole each one was.  I also even tried to find people that had those types around my area.
                It was a lot of work, but you learn a lot about yourself and dogs in the process.
                By the way – through all of that, I have realized that my all time favorite breed of dog is the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Second: German Shepherd
Third: Great Dane
Honorable Mention:  Pomeranian/Spitz breeds.

Sources:
http://dogbreedinfo.com/searchcategories.htm (this site has a good dog-breed quiz)
www.akc.org (This lists all American recognized breeds – if you’re in America, I suggest definitely getting an American recognized breed)

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