Choosing to own a dog is a very big decision, Choosing the right breed is an even more important one!
Think about your family life, your day to day activities. The time you have available to put into the training and proper care for the breed you choose.
Do you love walking and hiking or do you prefer a short trip to the pub on a Sunday and work long hours during the week? This should all come into play making your decision. Springer spaniel? Labrador? Husky? Gsd? Cockerpoo? Poodle? Jrt?
Can you afford day care (we will cover this topic at a later date) or a dog walker? Will the dog come to work with you?
Far to often I come across older clients who have had the same breed for many years without an issue and then all of a sudden they have a dog that is much harder to deal with. What many forget is that we gloss over the tough puppy/adolescent stages once we have a well behaved dog that we had the ability to train well. As we age, we become less capable of certain things, that could be the speed at which we can do things, the way we choose to communicate, our tolerance and patience levels, consistency etc all of which play a huge part in trying to train a boisterous puppy that needs a lots of guidance and attention.
Choose a breed that suits what you want from life going forward.
As most know, I am an avid Springer spaniel lover, but as I get older that may well change (although I do hope not as I plan to stay very active and focused on dog training for as long as I physically can)
