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One Comment on “dog breeds?”

1. watercurves
   July 10th, 2009 at 7:28 am

   Its great that you are looking into the breeds before you make your choice. I have worked at a vet clinic for many years and a a dog training school for many years and have encountered all of those breeds so these are my opinions of them. For the most part the dogs I have met do show the breeds’ temperaments and characteristics fairly well.

   Chow chows are one of the only dogs that I am extremely cautious of approaching. They are very wary of strangers. They often win people over because they are big fluffy dogs, but this can be a danger when the chow turns to attack. Being completely honest here, I have never met a nice one that is well enough socialized to be friendly with strangers. People who own them usually love them, but whatever dog you own you will love. If you plan on bringing your dog out to different places, different situations, meeting new people and new dogs all the time, I would not recommend a chow as it can sometimes be too much for them. I personally do not trust any chow or spitz-type breed which are smaller dogs with similar looks (basically ‘cute and fluffy’ as many would classify them) - the chow has a shorter snout, but in general I find these breeds hard to read and quick to attack.

   Dalmations are popular mostly because of 101 Dalmations. I remember as a kid wanting one, but the facts are that they are horrible family pets because they have very little if any tolerance for children. They do require lots of energy to keep them healthy and in shape. There are also many health problems with dalmations including as someone already said, blindness and deafness. I also find these dogs to be a little snappy since they don’t have too much patience.

   Dobermans are amazing dogs. They are very friendly, if brought up with and socialized with kids (under supervision of course) they are good with kids, they are usually good with other dogs as long as socialized as a puppy. They are very, very active and tend to jump up. One of the biggest challenges with them is teaching them not to jump up, but with training, consistency and age they usually learn that jumping is not allowed unless they are invited to. (By the way, the red ones are absolutely stunning!)

   Boxers are another active dog as you mentioned. I think they are also great dogs who are extremely loving. They always enjoy human companionship. I’ve never seen a boxer that didn’t like kids and wasn’t friendly with everyone it met. They can be goofs and they can be lazy (depends on the individual dog), but they are lots of fun. They, like the doberman, like to jump and need to be taught not to jump up on people.

   If you get a doberman or boxer, I would highly recommend finding a place where you can do some dog sports such as agility since they really excel in these sports. The dalmation would probably enjoy agility as well.

   No matter which puppy you choose, make sure you do sign up for puppy classes so that you can properly socialize your dog so that they will be well adjusted and welcomed by your community.

   Good luck and enjoy whichever breed you get!

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