Dogs Are Not Handbags

When I moved away to college I decided that I wanted to get a dog. My father is allergic to pet hair and because of this I never owned a dog or a cat and the lack of having a pet I thought needed to be rectified immediately. Initially I fell into the trap that most uneducated people who know nothing about dogs do, I started looking at photos of dogs and I tried to decide which breed I thought would be the prettiest. Note that this is EXACTLY what my later research showed is the opposite of what you should do!

Once I learned that I was breaking one of the cardinal ‘choosing a dog’ rules I decided to not purchase a dog until I could successfully identify dogs, their temperaments, their behaviours, and I could choose a dog that I liked AND that would fit seamlessly into my lifestyle. Unfortunately for me I fell in love with the Weimaraner because he was so beautiful with his glossy grey coat and his beautiful blue eyes. So in my research I desperately tried to squeeze this square dog into my round life. See the photos and tell me you would not love them too!


http://www.fordogtrainers.com/ProductImages/dog-breeds-muzzles/Weimaraner-muzzle-Weimaraner.jpg


http://www.southernweims.com/Abby%27s%20Pictures/Abby%27s%20News%20Photos/News%20Abby%20Puppy%20Point.jpg

So the problem was not his size, or his beauty, or the fact that he would not be good with kids or not smart enough, the problem with this beautiful dog is that they need A LOT of exercise. And by a lot meaning that they need to be free to run, that they should be run for miles every single day and that if you skip one workout that dog will be a nightmare of anxious activity which would lead to a very unhappy dog and a super very unhappy me. I was glad that I was honest with myself about the fact that I would just not be able to do it. So I shut the door on this beautiful animal and looked to other breeds.

In the long run I ended up choosing a Rottweiler dog for my breed. Although they had a few things that I knew that I would need to be conscious of and work toward such as Rottweiler’s are a headstrong, dominate, can be aggressive if not handled properly in the pack mentality, I felt that these things I could do. I could be a dominate pack leader, I could make sure that my dog was trained right and acclimated to be a great dog and not nasty as some Rottweiler’s can be if not trained and handled properly. It ended up that I made the best choice because I ended up with the best dog ever!