You’ve finally decided to get your kids a dog. Or you’ve given in to your desire to have a pet of your own, a companion who offers unconditional love and years of companionship. Now what? Here’s how to find your new puppy.
Determine What Breed Is Best for Your Needs
While every dog has its own personality, every breed has a general set of characteristics. They tend to grow to a certain size and weight. If you have a small apartment, you don’t want to choose a puppy destined to grow too large for your unit, especially if there is a hard cutoff at 20 or 30 pounds.
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They may be bred to fill a given role. Don’t make the mistake of buying an active dog if you’re rather sedentary. Don’t get mad if a dog bred for herding sheep tries to herd your kids or your cat. Know that hunting dogs will chase small varmints endlessly, and they may bring it back to you expecting praise.
Once you choose a breed, you’ve dram atically narrowed down the field of potential prospects. The next question is determining where you’ll get the puppy.
Research Breeders
We recommend against picking animals up from the shelter. You don’t know if they were abused by a prior owner, and that can affect their personality. You can’t be sure that they’re purebred, and you don’t know if they’re the result of a raid from a disreputable breeder who inbred the puppy’s parents. That can increase the risk of birth defects and health problems.
That’s why you should use services that vet breeders while giving you a wide selection to choose from. Use tools such as this website when looking for and finding a puppy. You’ll have access to breeders, and you can get detailed information on the puppy’s parents. They also provide information on health tests the puppy should go through to make sure it is healthy.
And if you want to adopt a purebred animal but are concerned you won’t get a real one from a shelter or casual poster on a classified ads site, know that PuppyViewer works with purebred rescue operations to help re-hope purebred puppies the owners don’t want.
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Have the Puppy Inspected by a Vet
Breeders should have the puppy vetted by a veterinarian within its first weeks of life. They should then include the veterinary examination along with the contract for sale. On the other hand, some breeders will require annual physicals and vaccinations as a condition of the pet’s sale.
Either way, you’ll want to take the puppy to a vet. Then you can verify the animal’s state of health and learn from the vet what vaccinations, medications and care the animal requires. Then you’ll know what to do if the puppy suddenly gets ill or is hit by a car.
Once you buy the animal, your next pet visit should include microchipping. If you’re not going to be breeding the animal when grown, you’ll eventually need to arrange for spaying and neutering.
