AYes, it is really worth having a dog with you. If you have already decided on that truly fateful step, this article may also help you. Within, I would particularly like to advise those who do want to obtain a dog but require assistance with choosing the breed and need to find out what is actually essential for breeding a dog.

Primarily, I need to say that the most important thing for a dog is not the space it dwells in. The most important thing is to always keep in touch with its master, its family and people, as well as with dogs in general. Even a big dog can easily live in a small apartment safe and sound - on condition its owner and friend cares for it and provides it with enough common walks and stimuli. Unfortunately, many people still retain a fixed opinion that the happiest dog is one that lives in a country, chained with a string to a kennel. That is a bad mistake. Such a dog is often tied up to the kennel all its long life without any exercise, and its only contact with people is a casserole with leftovers once a day. Literally, this case can be called nothing but torture. I must repeat again: If you really want to have a dog, you necessarily need enough time to devote to it and walk it. No less does this hold true even though your dog may stay in a garden outside a house. Namely, the dog’s nature includes a strong guarding instinct; therefore, your dog will regard the area as its guarded territory. The dog will guard it, but it will not evacuate there. The place will not represent a sufficient source of stimuli – that will be walks with you and meetings with other people and dogs.

Hereby, I will generally analyze two frequently discussed dilemmas: First, whether a dog or a bitch; second, which breed to choose. There is no unique answer to the former. The dog is usually more dominant, individual and less dependent on his master. He easily gets disconcerted by a bitch in season, but he is generally more stable psychically. Unlike him, the bitch is usually more pliable and formative, more dependent on her master and apt to caress. However, there are heavy-duty situations that the bitch cannot bear – unlike the dog. One must also count with the fact that she is in season twice a year, and in certain period of her season she chases down a dog. In generally, I should recommend a bitch either to people who either plan to run a breeding center and keep the bitch for reproduction, or to those who doubt they are can manage a dominant dog.

Progressing to the latter, let’s consider the breed. The first criterion may be the dog’s size – for any reason (the capacity of your house or apartment, etc.). But again I repeat that even a small flat is convenient for a bigger dog. Nevertheless, there is one thing we have to remember: should small children walk the dog, they must necessarily be capable of controlling it. In such cases, a dog in the Cocker-Spaniard size is a more appropriate choice than, for instance, the Alaskan malamute, who is constantly ready to pull and keep in tension. On the other hand, neither are such breeds as the Yorkshire Terrier suitable for small children - their corporal constitution is too fragile, and even a small child might easily cause serious injuries to them.

On the Earth, there are about 350 dog breeds. That is why you needn’t be afraid of insufficient range of choice. Nonetheless, it is necessary to keep in mind that each breed is different in size, temper and character. If you really intend to choose your doggie responsibly, it is worthwhile to consult an expert – perhaps HERE. What matters is not only the decision on the suitable breed but also selecting a good quality breeding station and taking up a healthy puppy. Unfortunately, nowadays that too many “wannabe-breeders” only try to make money to the detriment of quality I often meet puppies obviously ill, without dehelminthization, or otherwise neglected. Provided you want to avoid excessive health problems with your dog, the selection of a good quality individual is priceless. By all means, devoting time and seeking advice will pay off.

If you want to learn more about VETERINARY CARE, DOG’S NUTRITION and OTHER NECESSARY THINGS TO OBTAIN, you can also find these topics on this website. It is worth emphasizing that every dog (even of the smallest breed) must be brought up and provided with elementary training (I do not mean service training but a training focusing on achieving obedience and controllability, exercises in refusing food from strangers, and other practical skills convenient for safe lives of yours and your four-legged friend’s). To make your dog achieve these skills and to help it get used to the pack and run playing with its dog friends, let me invite you perhaps to our place – the FALCO DOG-TRAINING SCHOOL in Liberec, Czech Republic.

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Copyright (c) Viktor Dostál, FALCO DOG-TRAINING SCHOOL

The day “D” has come up and you are on your way to fetch the puppy. STOP – let’s get a couple days back.

You have chosen the breed, decided on the gender, and been lucky enough to find a breeding center that offers several puppies fitting. Their age also happens to fit, i.e. the 7th or 8th week, when they are still with their mother but can already see, hear and are agile. So on that day, you set out for the trip to see the breeder and choose the proper puppy for you.

Choosing the puppy also requires to keep some essentials. The puppy must be clean, without ophthalmorrhoea or blennotorrhoea, and it should be active, showing interest in the happenings around. A puppy hidden in the corner, avoiding its sibs or people, is very likely to be problematic in its future relation towards its surroundings. The testicles of male dogs should be obviously tangible (even though they may not be descended yet). The size of the doggie does not count yet, unless the puppy is evidently feeble and different from its sibs. What does count is its interest in the surroundings and endeavor to make right in the group of its sibs. This may let you know much as well as nothing – the puppies are really too small for some definite judgments. Therefore, you should also feel reserved to the breeder’s enthusiastic persuasions that “this very puppy” will certainly grow into a champion in exhibitions or competitions – no one can really tell in such a young age. It is a great advantage to be shown the doggie’s parents since the puppy is likely to resemble them when it becomes an adult. But beware if the breeder tergiversates and does not want to show the parents (even though the father is in a kennel round the corner) – you had better choose another breeding station.

Puppies are usually taken from the brood between the 7th and 8th weeks of age. Not earlier – the puppy still needs its mother’s nutrition and protective substances, and not later – it might bring some problems in the so-called “socializing period” in which the puppy creates the appropriate approach towards people and other dogs. The good and experienced breeder will want to hand in the puppy to you in that term, which is another hint to show you have made a good choice. Don’t get mistaken – your contact with the breeder should not finish at the moment of handing over the puppy and making the payment. You may still need him, as well as he may even need you.

On the day of handing over, the breeder should not feed the puppy. Problems during transport such as sickness, vomiting etc. can thus be reduced to minimum. It is suitable to transport your puppy on a coverlet spread on your knee, and if it is a longer journey, let it have a short walk and evacuate at least once in a place with the maximum probability of a clean and healthy environment in which there is no risk of canina distemper, parvovirosis or cynolyssa. The puppy does still retain certain level of immunity substances from its mother; however, it is insufficient in case of stronger infection.

By definition, the puppy you are taking to your home should be dehelminthized and provided with standard vaccination. At the very beginning this will do; further procedures will be taken at your vet’s, nearby your home. There is a point I would like to emphasize: In the interest of your puppy’s health, wait and never let it visit places where other dogs are walked before its vaccination is fully completed! You can only walk it on grounds proved harmless to health – remember that the risk of infection is too high and must not be underestimated!

When your puppy first arrives in its new home, let it have rest. It must sniff, smell and investigate all things around in peace without getting stressed by all the family (including Granny) dashing onto the puppy and passing it all around. Let it have a bowl of water (just water, never milk – dogs are not cats, and their ability to process milk lactose fades away soon) and put it together with a fistful of dry food (granules) in a place where it will always find food again. Being tired, the puppy will fall asleep soon, and when it wakes up, it will look for company. That will be you and your family. I hope there is no need to emphasize that an eight-week-old puppy does not belong in a kennel or a cote. You have taken it from its family and from the stimuli it was familiar with, but don’t worry: the dog is a conformist, and it will soon get accustomed to you and your lifestyle. The first night or even some more it will certainly miss its former home, so make its living transformation easier and don’t get angry with it for some mess and nibbled table legs. You will teach your puppy what it is allowed to do and what it is not, and if you do it patiently and thoroughly, you will get the results very soon.

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Copyright (c) Viktor Dostál, FALCO DOG-TRAINING SCHOOL