ANSWERS TO TRIVIA QUESTIONS
While good
house-training practices should begin immediately, most puppies don’t physically develop the muscle control to "hold it" until 14 weeks. The period between 7 weeks and 14 weeks can be equated to the period of time that human babies wear diapers for the same reason. During this time frame, new dog owners should make an extra effort to exercise their puppies as often as possible. Crate training is especially useful during this time of the puppy’s life.
Dogs have been domesticated as the result of 14,000 years of selective breeding. Of course, the German Shepherd and Siberian Husky look more like the Wolf than a Poodle does, but wolves can be physically distinguished by their head size, jaw width, teeth size, and their leg alignment. Most importantly, the domestic dog has been selected over all of these years to behave its entire life like a wolf puppy. The domestic dog barks, plays, whines, and can chase without intent to kill -- these are not characteristics of an adult wolf -- they are traits humans have selectively bred.
Ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and testicular cancer can all be prevented by spaying or neutering your dog. Un-neutered males are much more likely to urinate in the house, display dominant behavior, fight with other dogs, and run away from home. (Remember that a male dog can smell a female in heat up to five miles away…even through a brick or stone house!) Un-spayed females may develop "object guarding" behavior as the result of a false pregnancy -- they chose objects from around the house to be their "puppies" and then won’t let anyone get near them. All of these behaviors occur under the strong influence of hormones. However, once they are learned behaviors, they may not disappear. Unless you plan to spend the large amount of time and money necessary to become a responsible breeder, spaying or neutering is the safe and sensible choice. One visit to the animal shelter should also convince you that there are already an over-abundance of puppies.
OFA stands for the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. OFA-certified means the dog’s hips have been x-rayed for hip dysplasia, a very common and debilitating genetic disease. Hip dysplasia means that the junction of the femur head (large bone in the leg) and the hip socket do not fit as they should. Hip dysplasia usually means there is not enough support in the junction and often, surgery is necessary to fix the problem. Operations to fix this problem are often $1050 / hip. Dogs with severe hip dysplasia have trouble walking and should never carry a litter of pups. Any responsible breeder should have records for both the bitch and sire dog’s hip x-rays if hip dysplasia is common in the breed. Ratings should be "excellent" or "good" for both parents.
Many people think Dalmatians were bred to be in the movies or to ride on fire engines. Dalmatians were originally bred to run under or along-side of horse-drawn carriages. Therefore, Dalmatians were selected to have an enormous amount of energy and stamina. They are dogs that like to work and do not sit still like their stuffed-animal replicas. Think very hard about whether you really want a Dalmatian, or any breed from television or the movies. Often what you see on the screen is not what you get in the dog.
Yes, actually, dogs are allowed to stay with their owners in many hotels! Comfort Inn, Red Roof Inn, and Days Inn are a few of the very dog-friendly hotel chains. Of course, you should always pick up after your dog when you are on the grounds of these Inns. Good citizenship will ensure that other dog owners may continue to enjoy the same privilege. In fact, there is a Canine Good Citizenship program, which can actually certify that your dog has basic manners, which can be a selling point if you are trying to stay somewhere else with your dog.
Breed Rescue" refers to the grass-roots movement by individuals to provide shelter, food, care and medicine to homeless pure-bred dogs. For instance, the "Australian Shepherd Rescue Organization" provides temporary shelter and care for Australian Shepherds and tries to find permanent homes for them. Essentially, these organizations are like personalized animal shelters that specialize in a particular breed. Most rescue societies are funded by donations and are run by volunteers. Many responsible breeders care so much about their breed that they are also active in breed rescue. Breed rescue is a good starting point for finding a responsible breeder because these folks are familiar with the best and the worst breeders in the local area.
Puppies should be "socialized to" (handled by and exposed to) humans by the age of 12 weeks. If a puppy has little or no contact with humans until after its twelfth week, it will probably not bond to humans later in life.
Puppies should not be removed from their litter until they are 7 weeks old. If they are removed too soon, they may have trouble relating to other dogs later in life.
Temperament testing has been shown to be effective in selecting out genetically shy or aggressive puppies. Shy or aggressive puppies are not the type of puppies to take home to the family; they are much more likely to grow up to be biting dogs than puppies that start out with an easy-going temperament.
Consider a Greyhound and a Bassett Hound. The Greyhound has very small paws, but grows to be almost three feet at the shoulders and 60-90 pounds. The Bassett Hound has very large paws, but ends up being 15 inches tall and weighs 40-55 pounds. Paw size is not a final size indicator! A better indicator of size in a mixed breed dog is to try to determine what the predominant breeds are. If the dog looks like a Labrador Retriever and also like a Beagle, count on the size of the Labrador just to be on the safe side. If size is a very important issue, choose an older dog. Female dogs stop growing at eighteen months and male dogs stop growing at about nine months.
Did you know that
chocolate is poisonous to dogs? Dogs can also be poisoned by aspirin, AdvilŪ, and TylenolŪ. Anti-freeze (often found on the floor of garages or in driveways and parking-lots) is extremely toxic and dangerous because, like chocolate, it tastes sweet to the dog. Less than one tablespoon of anti-freeze could be lethal to a 20-pound dog. The ingestion of azalea, oleander, mistletoe, sago palm, Easter lily, or yew plant material, by an animal, could be fatal. Please see this Pet Owner's Guide to Household Poisons from the American Veterinary Medical Association and make sure that these items, and other plants are safe out of reach of your dog. Bookmark the ASPCA'S National Animal Poison Control Center Web Page.A recent study showed that 96% of dogs surrendered to the shelters had never attended an obedience class with their owners. Poor communication between humans and dogs is the reason these relationships don’t work out. Unrealistic expectations on the part of the human play a large role in this trend as well.
Sign up for an
obedience class with your dog…it will help you and your dog to bond and to learn to communicate.
This page was last updated on 10/16/07.
The Choosing the Perfect Dog Web site is based upon a class designed by Michele Godlevski in 1994. This class was featured in the AKC Gazette in 1995.
Black & white drawings by Jane Finneran.
None of the images on this page may be used without permission.