Before You Get a Dog
ARE YOU READY FOR A DOG?
It may not feel like it with all of the cute dog photos saturating the internet but it’s okay if the answer to this question is no! It’s also okay if the answer is no to adding an additional dog to the dogs/other companion animals already in your home right now. Anyone who follows us knows we’re big advocates for adoption and fostering of pups in need but from a behavior perspective, we also know that not every home needs a dog or needs an additional dog. Maybe the time isn’t right. Maybe fostering or volunteering fit better with your lifestyle. That’s okay! If adding a dog isn’t right for you or your household at this time, there are other ways to get your pup fix and volunteering at your local shelter is a great one!
To help decide whether you’re ready, ask yourself a few questions:
How will the dog’s needs and daily routine fit into my daily routine? How will other members of my household be impacted by bringing home a new dog? Think through when feeding time, walks, bathroom breaks, and enrichment will happen. An adult dog will likely need a minimum of 3-4 bathroom breaks a day, at least one good daily exercise session, and regular access to enrichment.
Can I afford to pay for veterinary care, behavioral training, pet sitting, and daily life expenses including food and enrichment? Do I know how to access support if I’m struggling? Am I prepared to be there for my dog through unexpected medical or behavior needs? There are financial assistance programs available here in Austin to help with some of those things but factoring costs of care and looking into those support sources ahead of time is a good idea so you are prepared.
Do I know what’s normal when it comes to dog behavior and what’s best practice when it comes to training methods and responding to my dog’s behavior? A LOT of behavior struggles, returns, and unfortunate incidents stem simply from human misconceptions about what’s normal for dogs and how to respond to their dog’s behavior. Dogs do not come already knowing how to successfully navigate the human world or your personal lifestyle preferences and the behavior field is largely unregulated which means misinformation proliferates. Take some time to do a little learning before deciding to bring your new best friend home!
MAKING THE RIGHT MATCH
While it’s true that a lot of what makes a perfect match can’t be planned for and boils down to the connection between human/dog, it is also true that A LOT of training struggles and dog returns are the result of mismatches between dog and home. We cannot perfectly predict how a dog is going to behave in a given home - behavior is highly contextual and just doesn’t work like that. But we can do our best to start with an accurate baseline for making the right match.
Energy Level. This is not something training can change about your dog and an underexercised dog is not going to be a blast to live with because they are frustrated and their quality of life is suffering. A true couch potato dog or a dog with physical limitations like popular brachycephalic breeds is also less likely to be a successful running buddy or keep up on long hikes. Do your best to choose a dog whose exercise needs are going to fit with your lifestyle.
Personality and Enrichment Needs. Choosing a smartypants dog? A dog with high oral enrichment needs? A dog who prefers a lot of human affection/attention? Again, training can’t fundamentally change who a dog is so make sure you are up for meeting the personality and enrichment needs of the pup you’re bringing home. ALL dogs need enrichment but a highly intelligent, work oriented dog, for example, is going to need more mental enrichment than average just as a physically high energy dog is going to need more exercise than average.
Age. Puppies are adorable. They are also A LOT of work. And if you bring home a puppy, you are automatically committing to aaalll of the developmental stages of that dog’s life. Puppyhood is directly followed by adolescence and young adulthood. Are you up for that?
Typical for Breed Traits. My cattle dog is nipping our feet when we run around the yard! My corgi is herding the cats! My german shepherd doesn’t like it when visitors come in unannounced! My akita doesn’t do well at the dog park! My australian shepherd seems to want soooo much exercise and enrichment! Yes. Please, please read up and talk to the shelter, rescue, breeder, or behavior professional you are working with about typical for breed traits. While behavior, including typical for breed trait driven behavior, varies by individual and can be modified and directed in healthy ways to fit better with your lifestyle, no one is a good enough trainer to completely alter genetics and there’s no reason to set yourself and your new dog up for an uphill battle.
Living Situation. Are we asking a dog from a rural shelter/rescue to live in a downtown high rise? A fearful or shy dog to live in a busy apartment complex? It’s not that it’s impossible for a dog to adapt but sometimes when we create serious mismatches between dog and living situation, we set up a far more stressful than necessary situation for everyone.
Special Behavior Needs. Some of us genuinely are up for bringing home adult dogs with known special behavior needs. Several of the folks on our training team prefer it and will choose adopting big dogs with special behavior needs over those very cute puppies every time! But it’s not for everyone and not every behavior need is for everyone. If you think it might be for you, we hope very much that the shelter/rescue you are working with staffs and/or partners with qualified behavior professionals and is giving you good support and good information. But if you’re unsure, bring in a behavior professional before choosing your new dog. (PS. Remember, normal dog behaviors are not special behavior needs. Dogs are dogs and they behave like dogs.)
Resident Humans/Other Pets. The first question to ask is this: Do the other resident pets and humans in the home want a dog? If the answer is no for the pets, stop there. Your resident companion animals come first and if they do not like or cannot safely or happily live with additional animals, it is not fair to them or to the new dog to put them in that situation. Trainers get inquiries all the time that say resident dog who doesn’t like other dogs is attacking the new puppy and our first thought is going to be, why is there a new puppy in this home?
If we think the resident pet(s) may like to live with another dog but that a good fit is going to mean compatibility (hint: it pretty much always means that!) and an appropriate introduction (we repeat, hint: it pretty much always means that!) it’s important that we take preferences and needs into account and that we don’t rush our intros so we are setting everyone up for safety and success.
If it’s the humans or one of the humans, who and how negotiable is that? Is bringing home a dog to live with that human going to create a bad living situation for the household or for the new pet? Then don’t do it. It is important to account for the needs of everyone in the household and to make sure that we are not negatively impacting quality of life for the existing residents or the new one.
We’ll add one more compatibility issue to watch for here…are there young children in the home? If yes, here is how we’d frame the thinking on that.
