There are over 150 types of dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) and hundreds more recognized by other clubs and even more unofficially. In addition, there are the mongrels. That's over a million kinds of combinations of dog breeds.
When dog owners are getting their first dog, all of us will ask ourselves this question, what dog do I want? But do all of us think the next question, why do I want "that" dog? The "that" I'm referring to, is the breed. I've had a student once, wonderful family, large house and the parents wanted to get the kids a dog as a pet. They went over to a local pet store (not that I agree on this, but not now), and wanted to get a beagle. Now, I myself am a beagle owner, and other than the howling and the constant smelling the ground, beagles are great with kids and families. What went wrong with this picture is that they got a Chow Chow instead. In general, Chow Chow are generally good guard dogs, but they are split to two types, the not-so-aggressive type and aggressive type. Unfortunately, the family got the latter. What happened after that? All family members had small bite marks on their hands, they couldn't get the choke collar off once they put it on the first time cause the dog bites every time the collar touches its ears, and overall, the dog does not respect any of the family members and think its the boss. The reason why they got it in the first place? "Oooooh, it's sooo cute....". Typical answer. I have no offense on puppies being cute, but if the family had understood the breed, they would be better prepared, or better, get the beagle instead. That could save a lot of trouble and better yet, save a dog from being on the streets or the pound.
There are many types of categorizations of dog breeds, but this round I'm going to use the functionality categorization. The AKC recognizes these breeds:
Herding Group - German Shepherd, Border Collie
Hound Group- Beagle, Blood Hound
Non-Sporting Group- Chow Chow, Shiba Inu
Sporting Group - Cocker Spaniel, Labrador
Terrier Group - Bull Terrier, Irish Terrier
Toy Group - Poodle, Chihuahua
Working Group - Akita, St Bernard, Boxer
Each group has their own function in life, their characters or personalities might not be the same, but the training method, what to train them for, how to train them, the amount of time and effort needed, is quite similar more often than not, the question remains whether you know your breed. And this does not stop here, how is your lifestyle, how much time you have for the dog, where do you live, how big is your house, how big is your garden, all these are to be taken into consideration as well.
I live in a single story house with a 10 feet by 10 feet garden, I don't have time nor the patience for grooming but I do have the time for bringing it for jogs or traiworksning. It's my first dog so I want to have one that I can handle more easily. I don't want a dog that has a big-ass appetite. I want a hyperactive dog, not one that lazes around. These factored in when I decided to get Rei - my Beagle girl.
After years of talking to dog owners, you'll be surprised how many owners get their dogs because of the "their cute" reason. Now I know for a fact that there are some pet stores that actually have experienced dog owners/trainers to explain how to have a dog (The owner of Pet's Safary in Ikano and a lady that either works there or co-owns it had impressed me so far), however, these are the only examples I've got so far. At least through this way, dog owners would know what they are getting into when they get the dog.
Hopefully this would shine some light on the issue and I will continue more on this topic on my next post.
Until then, Woof!
