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Companion Dog Training In-home training for family dogs

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05/12/2023

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Many areas of study have axioms called "the rule of 3". In dog training one is "never let a dog be unsuccessful in learning a task more than 3 times before doing something to help them be successful". But, I've got a new one! It has to do with a favorite topic in dog agility: WORDS. 😭😂

How many times have you heard people say things like: "maybe I need a verbal for that" or "is that really different enough to need a new verbal cue?".

Not counting obstacle names, over the years my dogs have had increasing numbers of verbal cues for dog agility:
- Mr. Peabody, Milo, and Meeker had about 3 verbal cues
- Flyer: ~6
- Snap!: ~10
- Spark: ~12
I know trainers who have considered/have even more

Here's my new rule of 3: "If you experience a situation 3 or more times where you couldn't handle it with your existing physical and verbal cues you MIGHT consider training a verbal for it". I'm proposing not going down the verbal cue "rabbit hole" until you find you actually NEED a verbal. I think this especially applies to more esoteric verbals.

e.g. do you you need separate bypass cues (take the non-obvious side) for tunnels and weaves? I've seen courses where a dog is presented with the weaves close to a tunnel and their path might require a discrimination between them. But, I don't think I've run one. For Snap! I use "check check" for jumps, tunnels, and weaves. For Spark I use "check check" for jumps and weaves, and "chute" for tunnels. Spark picks up verbals very quickly, but I'm not sure I've seen a true benefit for adding that verbal.

So maybe think about this rule of 3 the next time you find yourself in a "do I need a word for that" discussion 😀

05/12/2023

A student recently asked me the ways you could measure if your dog’s reactivity was improving. Here are the three criteria I, and all my of my students, use.

Firstly, number of reactions. This is the most obvious one. We’re looking to see if your dog is reacting less intensely to their triggers. Less barking at men, snarling at dogs, lunging at cyclists. Pretty self explanatory.

Secondly, it’s the recovery time. There will be times your dog, through no fault of your own, will have a big reaction. An easy way to measure their reslience is how quickly they can recover from it. Can they go back to ‘normal’ faster than before? Do they come ‘back in the room’ at a more rapid rate? This is the one that actually improves the fastest, in my opinion.

Thirdly, it’s the ability to do normal dog behaviour around the trigger. I don’t want any dog to be a robot - I want them to feel comfortable enough around their previous issues to do typical dog things. Sniffing and running and chasing and rolling in grass. Even weeing on everything (looking at you boys). Most dogs, when I start working with them, fixate, and are unable to behave naturally.

We actually need all three to be ‘on the road to recovery’. Do we want less reactions? Sure! But we need to know our dog can recover when things go wrong. Do we want our dogs to be less barky, snarly and lungy? 100%! But we need them to be able to just exist like dogs are meant to do.

In fact, I always know we’re on the right track with the dogs when we’re seeing so much of two and three. That’s where the magic happens.

I’m telling you this because we, as people, view success as black and white. A day without a reaction is good, a day with a reaction is bad. It isn’t as simple as that, though, because our dogs are complex beings.

Focus on your dog as a whole, rather than just a number of reactions. It’ll change how you view your success.

23/10/2023

Staying in heel position is a fundamental behavior in rally and obedience training. To ensure your dog maintains heel position throughout a course, building value and enthusiasm for being in that position is essential. In this blog post, we'll explor

16/10/2023

You may have seen this "belly wrap" strategy as a "hack" to stop pulling. However, I don't recommend this method, especially as a training technique.
This wrap relies on discomfort/pain of the leash, squeezing the soft, unprotected area of your dog's belly to slow them down. It doesn't do anything to enhance your training relationship or connection on leash walks (some dogs may even react with aggression at the sensation).
If you're struggling with leash pulling and need some relief, I can help! There are many ways to make walking and exercising your dog more pleasant that rely on creating good associations instead of icky ones.

15/09/2023

Last week I wrote a post about the arrogance of some professionals telling you your dog should only sniff when they have been given permission to because as their "leader" absolutely everything they do should be dictated by you.

Not only is this an archaic mindset, it is incredibly egotistical to take away your dogs autonomy like that with such a basic harmless activity of sniffing.

Further to this you are disrupting the dogs' communication channels, as dropping the head for a sniff is a matter of conversation in many ways. Here I snapped a picture of Ronnie who when faced with a group of dogs coming towards him dropped his head to the floor and sniffed about whilst keeping an eye on the group of dogs to make sure they were responding to his communication that he was feeling a bit unsure so go gentle.

The last thing any dog needs when walking on a lead towards another dog is the inability to use their natural language to convey a lack of threat. Especially given our typical way of walking straight towards one another is a threat in itself that very often needs mitigating by our dogs in other ways.

Two dogs eye balling each other with a raised head and stiff body moving in "heel" position is problematic. You can bet in those bodies of theirs the adrenaline is increasing and a reaction to each other is likely.

It's just not worth it. I have been asked in the past if I can train a dog to not sniff until they're off lead and in a particular area and I've said no. It could cause far more problems than it would fix. I understand the reasons. I have a very sniffy spaniel, of course as a busy human I can understand the reasons at times, but I just won't force my dog away from his own natural behaviours for my sake.

Sniffing is not just about enrichment and enjoyment, it's vital communication too 🐾💜

14/09/2023
14/09/2023

QUITTING SO MUCH SITTING
How did we become so obsessed with making our dogs sit for everything?

Maybe because we believe that a dog that sits on cue is obedient, well mannered, calm, has self-control and that sitting is incompatible with unwanted behaviour. Maybe because it makes us look good as strong, respected leaders or disciplinarians and allows us to feel in control.

But is it all really necessary or in the best interests of the dog, both physically and psychologically to expect them to sit so much?

Sometimes what we have always believed is not what’s best for our dogs.

“Sit” is usually one of the first thing puppies are taught. Just one session at a puppy school may include up to 20 or more “sits” - that’s a high intensity workout for a dog at any age, but puppies in the growing stage are particularly at risk. These sitting repetitions put excessive pressure on the developing skeletal system which may lead to damage or injury that may only become apparent at a later stage.

Senior dogs may find it really painful to sit down and then get back up. Sitting puts pressure on the lower back, hips and supporting muscles. Certain breeds are just not designed to repeatedly sit.

There is nothing wrong with teaching our dogs to sit and occasionally asking for sits in certain situations, but look at teaching more natural, alternative behaviours as well, that are just as effective.

Wait, stand, 4 paws on the floor, hand touches or chin rests are all some behaviours that can replace repetitive sitting.

02/09/2023
02/09/2023
02/09/2023
31/08/2023
26/08/2023

This is a great graphic. It highlights a few things that people need to think about when providing their dogs with physical exercise.

Chasing a ball, flying disk, bumpers, whatever, can be a great way to get your dog to blow off some excess energy, but there are things to consider:

1) The unintended consequences of lots of stimulating chase games is a high level of frustration and arousal.

2) De-conditioned dogs exerting themselves for prolonged periods of time can seriously injure themselves if not adequately physically prepared for strenuous exercise.

3) Repetitive use injuries associated with quick accelleration, sudden turns and stops can impact joints and soft tissue long-term

There's a right way and a wrong way to do this-

Thanks for the graphic, Heather!

25/08/2023

I've found that creating systems for myself allow me to consistently bring out the best in my dogs and protect their confidence. Today I share my 5C Pyramid which is a formula for success.

16/08/2023

When you have a young dog that’s loaded with natural ability, you have to constantly remind yourself not to push your dog too much. Because your dog is making so much progress and learning quickly, it’s easy to fall into the trap of training too much too soon.
Sometimes handlers mistake talent for maturity and continue to ask for improved performance when their young dog isn’t ready for it. This can include working too long, asking for too much pace, too much precision, extending outruns, driving too far, putting your dog in with testing sheep, pushing your dog off, etc.
While it may result in your dog being successful in the nursery, that same dog, because too much pressure was applied too soon, may not be competitive or sometimes even keen, when they’re 7, 8, 9 or 10 years old.
You have to respect your individual dogs maturity and mental fortitude, (irrespective of his ability), or risk ruining him. Being patient and making learning intuitive and fun when your dog is young leads to having a positive, enthusiastic sheepdog when he’s older.
—Patience prolongs performance—
You’ve got the rest of your dogs life to work on the finer points, you’ve got this moment, while he’s young, to foster his initial enthusiasm.
Getting a dog to work the way you’re asking isn’t remarkable. Getting a dog to WANT to work the way you're asking is the key.

Patricia Alasdair MacRae

22/07/2023

This right here 👏 🙌

Too many times people want to skip or rush to steps 4, 5 & 6

Enjoy the process and have fun training❗️

⬇️ Set your pup up for success ⬇️

🌐 www.DogsbyDoug.com
☎️ (203) 414-2932
📧 [email protected]

21/07/2023

It is not news that in the past ten years, participation in the sport of AKC obedience has dwindled. In spite of the addition of Rally and numerous additional obedience classes (ie graduate open, beginner novice , pre- novice, pre- open, pre- utillity etc.) over all entries have declined. The real r...

20/07/2023

Backchaining is one of the best ways to learn a behavior. When you backchain, you start with the end behavior and gradually add one more piece before it. That way you're always moving into the next behavior that is even more well-known, and well-reinforced! With a retrieve, the last part of the form...

17/07/2023
11/07/2023

Stress for dogs often comes from the teacher, not the task.
If your dog is telling you he’s uncomfortable, it’s important to recognize it and make the necessary adjustments.
Stress often manifests in avoidance of some kind or lack of enjoyment and in either case, your dog is telling you something is not right or he’s not ready for the next step.
Sometimes handlers associate this with the task, ‘my dog doesn’t like X” (ie driving, turbacks, shedding), when actually it’s the way it’s been taught that is the problem.

The issue may include your set up, the pressure from the sheep, your foundation training, his confidence (in himself or you) and/or your mindset.
For example, if you approach a new concept by making it difficult (even inadvertently),
have a set up that doesn’t ensure success, have expectations of how quickly your dog should learn, how proficient he should be or if you try to force behavior, it could be that you are creating the stress that your dog then associates with a specific task.

Just like people dogs can get bored when you do the same thing too often, frustrated when it’s too arduous or disheartened when too often being told ‘you’re wrong’.
He is constantly giving feedback with his body language and demeanor; if he’s not enjoying what he’s doing or showing signs of avoidance he may be telling you he needs you to change your approach.

Empowering your dog to reach his full potential includes practicing patience and having a teaching mindset. The cornerstone of a teaching mindset is an intuitive method. Intuitive training results in more understanding and less correction. More understanding and less correction yields higher confidence and increased confidence fosters enjoyment.
Once your dog is enjoying and anticipating what you’re training, try the next step and make adjustments based on his feedback. Your continuous effort to adjust to your dogs response will help him become the best sheepdog he can be—you can just train or you can partner.
macraeway.com

08/07/2023

Often training ‘problems’ with our dogs, are actually struggles with ourselves—against ego, expectation, impatience, frustration, the tendency to blame, the opinion of others, the fear of failure, etc.

True perspective I think, is afforded in retrospect. As I get older I realize these struggles, in a way, can actually be blessings, although very difficult to see in the moment.
The person that we become, in moving past life’s challenges, is often a better version of ourselves.

How you train and your success as a teacher is connected to your mindset—it shows in the quality of your work, your dogs attitude and his enthusiasm.
Being a good partner to your dog includes a lot of working on and improving of yourself—and it is absolutely worth it.


07/07/2023

A BRIEF HISTORY OF DOG TRAINING

People tend to think the way things are done now is how they were done forever. Not entirely so, especially in the arena of dog training.

A few key dates in the history of canine communication show that while operant conditioning is pretty old stuff, the mix of methods has changed and become better understood over time:
_ _ _ _ _ _ __

49 B.C.: Hostilius Saserna noted that “Whoever wishes to be followed by a dog should throw him a cooked frog."

1700s: Truffle hunters learn to give their dogs bread when they locate truffles, which turns out to be cheaper than using pigs which cannot be stopped from eating all the truffles they locate.

1885: S.T. Hammond, a writer for Forest and Stream magazine advocates in his columns and in a book entitled Practical Training, that dogs should be praised and rewarded with meat when they do something right.

1880s: Montague Stevens trains his New Mexico bear dogs by rewarding them with pieces of bread instead of beating and kicking them as others of that era were generally doing. Stevens is a famous bear hunter and friend of Teddy Roosevelt and the sculptor Frederic Re*****on.

1886: Edward Thorndike develops a theory of learning based on stimulus and response. Thorndike shows that "practice makes perfect" and that if reinforced with positive rewards, animals can learn quickly.

1898: Nikola Tesla invents the first radio-controlled remote control.

1899: The first canine school for police dogs is started in Ghent, Belgium using Belgian Shepherds, which had recently been established as a breed.

1903: Ivan Pavlov publishes his experiments with dogs and digestion, noting that animals can be trained to have a physical response to stimuli. Pavlov called this learning process "conditioning," and in 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research.

1903: The Germans begin schutzhund work, a competition devoted to obedience, protection, tracking and attack work.

1907: Police begin patrolling New York City and South Orange, New Jersey with Belgian Shepherds and newly reconstructed Irish wolfhounds.

1915: Baltimore police begin using Airedales from England to patrol the streets. The police suspend use of Airedales in 1917 as the dogs had helped make no arrests. The police failed to notice that no robberies had occurred where the dogs were on patrol.

1915: Edwin Richardson trains dogs for the military during WWI using some positive reinforcement, and the dogs prove to be quick studies. Many dogs are used for communication and for guard duty.

1917: The Germans begin to formally use dogs to guide soldiers blinded in mustard gas attacks. The French soon follow suit.

1918: U.S. Army Corporal Lee Duncans find an abandoned war dog station in Lorraine, France which has five young puppies in a kennel. Duncan takes one of the pups and names it "Rin Tin Tin" after the finger dolls that French children were giving to the soldiers at the time. The dog travels to California, proves easily trainable, and is soon employed making movies that are so successful it saves Warner Brothers studio from bankruptcy. The dog dies in 1932 in neighbor Jean Harlowe's arms, and is buried in Paris, but its descendents work in the movies throughout the 1950s, inspiring many people to try to train their own dogs to do simple tricks.

1925: One of the very first German-trained guide dogs for the blind is given to Helen Keller.

1926: Propelled in large part by the popularity of Rin Tin Tin, the German Shepherd population in the U.S. explodes, and by 1926 it accounts for 36 percent of all the dogs in the AKC -- 21,659 animals. Due to rapid inbreeding and poor selection, however, the American German shepherd quickly degenerates and is soon deemed inferior.

1929: Dorothy Harrison Eustis establishes the Seeing Eye Foundation to train guide dogs for the blind. Eustis goes to Switzerland to get a better stock of German Shepherds than she can find in America. This same year the AKC tries to ban the importation of foreign purebred dogs in order to protect domestic dog breeders, but the plan fails.

1930: About 400 dogs are employed as actors in Hollywood, the majority of them mongrel terriers which prove to be small enough for indoor scenes, rugged enough for outdoor scenes, and exceedingly smart.

1938: B.F. Skinner begins research into operant conditioning as a scientifically-based learning model for animals and humans. His special focus is on teaching pigeons.

1939: The AKC begins obedience competitions designed by Helen Whitehouse Walker who wants to prove that her standard poodles can do something other than eat food.

1942: The U.S. military says it needs 125,000 dogs for the war, and asks people to donate their large breeds. The military manages to train only 19,000 dogs between 1942 and 1945. The Germans reportedly had 200,000 dogs in service.

1943: In 1943, Marion Breland and her husband Keller Breland form a company called Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) to teach animals for shows. The Brelands had been students of B.F. Skinner (see 1938) and began teaching animals to peform tricks for shows and for commercial clients such as dog-food maker General Mills. They pioneer the use of a "clicker" to teach animals at a distance and to improve timing for affirmations and delayed rewards. The Brelands were the first people in the world to train dolphins and birds using operant conditioning.

1943: The movie "Lassie Comes Home" is filmed, featuring a purebred male collie playing the female staring role. Ironically, the U.S. military considered purebred (i.e., AKC ) collies so stupid that they were specifically excluded from military service in World War II, while herding farm collies were actively recruited.

1947: The Brelands (see 1943) begin using chickens as learning subjects with which to train other trainers, as they are cheap, readily available, and "you can't choke a chicken."

1953: Austrian animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz writes "Man Bites Dog" and "King Solomon's Ring," books which popularize animal behaviorism.

1954: Baltimore reestablishes its police dog program, and today it remains the oldest police K-9 program in the country.

1960s: During the early part of the 1960s, Marian and Keller Breland (see 1943) are hired by the U.S. Navy to teach other animal trainers how to train dolphins. The Navy is interested in using dolphins to patrol harbors, retrieve lost gear, and guide bombs (i.e. "su***de bomber" dolphins). During their work with the Navy, the Breland's meet Bob Bailey, the Navy's first director of animal training, and they began a partnership with him. Keller Breland dies in 1965, and in 1976 Marian and Bob Bailey are married.

1962: William Koehler publishes "The Koehler Method of Dog Training" which becomes a staple of AKC obedience competitors. Though often criticized today, Koehler's methods are the core of a lot of effective dog training systems still in use.

1968: Sensitronix, Tri-trinox and Jetco come out with electronic collars for hunters. These are not dog training tools, but high-powered shock collars designed to bust dogs off of "trash" chasing of unwanted game, cars, and bicycles. The collars have one switch, and voltage is adjusted by changing out the "cartridge," i.e. the capacitor inside the collar.

1970s: The U.S. Customs Service begins to use dogs to detect drugs, and they are subsequently employed to sniff out explosives and fire-starting chemicals.

1971-72: Richard Peck, a traveling salesman in Pennsylvania, develops a pet containment system which is a cigarette pack-sized receiver that fits on a collar with electronic prongs touching the animal's skin. The battery in the collar charges a capacitor which discharges when triggered by a radio signal coming from a perimeter wire. Manufactured by the Sta-Put Sales Co.

1972-73: The first electronic bark collars are marketed by Relco and Tri-tronics.

1976 - John Purtell purchases the patent for a radio collar pet containment system from Richard Peck and changes the name of the company to Invisible Fence, building the company up until he sells it in 1993 at about the same time as the patent expires.

1978: Barbara Woodhouse publishes "No Bad Dogs" one of the first popular books on basic dog training. It relies heavily on proper use of a choke chain, and says most "bad dogs" have inexperienced owners who are not training their dogs properly by being consistent, firm and clear.

1984: The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture begins to use beagles to patrol airports for contraband food and other perishable items.

1985: Dolphin trainer Karen Pryor publishes Don't Shoot the Dog: the New Art of Teaching and Training which focuses on timing, positive reinforcements and shaping behavior, and draws heavily on the work of Marian Breland Bailey and Robert Bailey (see 1943 and 1960s). Her book promotes "clicker training" of dogs to improve timing and to allow trainers to communicate and "reward" their dogs from a distance.

1995: The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture begins using Jack Russell Terriers to locate and kill invasive brown tree snakes on the island of Guam.

2000 and beyond: Various cable television shows feature various dog training and rehabilitation methods. The notion that there are "new" and "old" dog training methods obscures the fact that ALL dog training methods involve some form of operant conditioning which is, in fact, pretty old stuff (as old as dogs). None of the dog training shows actually explain the core principles of operant conditioning or their relative worth in different training situations.

2000 - Rapid improvements are made in the the world of e-collars which can now come with tone, vibration, and hundreds of variable levels of electrical stimulation, making them potentially less aversive than old-fashioned flat collars and leashes. The use of old and poorly made collars, combined with poor dog training skills by those who think e-collars are a "quick fix" for any and all problems slows their adoption, as does demonization by "dependency model" and trick-dog trainers.

2035 - First robotic dog trainers appear. These machines are the size of an upright vacuum cleaner and are capable of teaching a dog basic obedience (sit, stay, come, heel, go out to place, etc.) as well as simple tricks (roll over, play dead, speak) . These simple robots are little more than BF Skinner teaching machines on wheels, providing diverse food awards and mild electrical stimulations, as well as tone, vibration, and visual cues. Powered by powerful internal batteries and artificial intelligence, they track the location and position of the dog, give human voice commands, and can be programmed to guide a dog through adaptive learning sequences. Infinitely patient, and with perfect timing and consistency, they revolutionize the world of dogs and lead to dramatic declines in canine euthanasia.

20/06/2023

Learn how to judge Belgian Tervuren dogs. Explore key factors like type, temperament, and movement for a comprehensive understanding.

16/06/2023

“What can I can do to get better as a trainer and handler?”
We were on a zoom call and that was the most popular question,,,
It has many valid answers and we asked the group what they thought would help.
They had lots of good ideas including improving:
Enthusiasm, Consistency, Proficiency, and the list went on.

All are important aspects for sure, but what if you added a single component to any of those, whether you’re a novice or an accomplished handler, and it made you better?

By teaching with intention, having a learning mindset, adjusting based on your dogs individual characteristics and following a method that is intuitive, you empower the differentiator:
Quality Training

Enthusiasm + Quality training can make you consistent
Consistency + Quality training can make you Proficient
Proficiency + Quality training can make you very good
Being Very good + Quality training is boundaryless
—You and your dog can accomplish your greatest dreams.

macraeway.com

13/06/2023

THE “RIGHT DOG” FROM A “GOOD BREEDER”

One of the reasons dogs are in such a mess is that consumers who buy dogs are almost completely uninformed when they start the process.

The advice given is always the same: "buy the right dog from a good breeder."

But what does that mean? The right dog? Right for what?

In fact, most people do not live lives very well-suited to dogs.

Unlike a bicycle or a shotgun, a dog cannot be tucked into a storage closet, and forgotten.

A dog requires attention several times a day, every day, rain or shine, vacation or not. Is your life really that stable? Is anyone’s these days?

And a good breeder? What’s that?

No one ever says.

So where to start? Consider these ten tips as a starting place for anyone looking to get “the right dog” from a “good breeder.”

▪️Remember that a dog is not a hat to be tried on and discarded.
A dog is a life-long commitment, and it must mesh well with your life as you live it, not as you wish it to be. In short, do not get a dog that needs a lot of daily exercise if you are a couch potato, and do not expect a dog to do well if it is crated eight hours a day while you are at work. Highly-motivated working dogs rarely make good pets, as few owners are able to give them the exercise, work and emotional release they need. If you are young, and your living arrangements and finances are unstable, skip a dog entirely and get a cat -- they won't mind long periods alone, and are much cheaper to care for.

▪️Get your priorities in order.
If your first inclination when purchasing a dog is to buy an all-breed book and begin flipping through the pages, you are already making a mistake. The goal of all-breed books is to fill your mind with a romantic ideal of a brand-name dog. The danger in doing this is that once you get this picture locked in your head, you have already "chosen your breed," which means you have rejected healthy non-pedigree dogs without even considering them. It also means you have probably chosen a canine registry. With breed and "registration papers" occupying the first and second slots in your priority list, gender and coat color typically fill slots three and four. That means health and temperament fall to level five and six. No wonder so many people end up with unhealthy dogs! Remember that all-breed books are the dog market equivalent of a sales brochure; they offer lovely pictures and descriptive puffery, but they are not Consumers Report or Which magazine. You would not buy a car based on a sales brochure. Why are you buying a dog this way?

▪️Kennel Club paper does not mean quality; it often means defect.
All-breed books are often full of nonsense, copied from one to another, and none tell you very much about health problems and temperament challenges. If you flip through an all-breed book, for example, you may fall in love with the Golden Retriever, but the book will not tell you that 40 to 60 percent of these dogs come down with cancer, or what it will cost to treat that cancer. If you insist on a pedigree dog, take the time to really study the diseases and genetic problems associated with each breed. Look at real longevity data, and ask a veterinarian what it will cost to fix a pair of wrecked hips, to treat chronic heart disease, or to remove a dog’s eye if it has a luxating lens.

▪️Realize that breed clubs are trade associations.
The main function of breed clubs is to create and rationalize an artificial market for show dogs bred in a closed registry system. The second function of a breed club is to serve as a marketing hub for puppies sold to a public who are told that breed club affiliation is the first sign of a “good” breeder. In fact, breed club membership is little more than an indication that a breeder has the patience to suffer through breed club politics. Most breed clubs require no health or performance testing of any kind, and offer up only weak ethical guidelines related to the age and frequency of mating. Many good breeders can be found in breed clubs, but breed club membership alone tells you nothing.

▪️Be prepared to wait, and be prepared to say no.
Go slow! Study up on breeds and types. Read with a very skeptical eye. Above all, steel your heart and your resolve before you set out to look at dogs in the flesh. If you cannot drive two hours into the countryside, walk into someone's living room to see a mass of wriggling puppies, have tea with them, and walk out without buying a dog, you are not emotionally ready to make a sensible purchase. You are a mark, not a serious consumer. If you must take your spouse and children with you to look at puppies, be sure to agree beforehand that you will drive away without making a purchase no matter what. You can change your mind and come back later, but only after everyone has sat down at a table and talked it all out. Remember that when you set off to buy a dog, you are not looking to make a new friend; you are looking to buy a healthy dog that will be with you for years to come.

▪️Accept that dog breeders often have a casual relationship with the truth.
If a breeder says the sire and dam of your prospective pup has been health-tested, ask to see those test scores and know what the results really mean. If they say the sire and dam have worked well in the field, ask for photographic evidence of that work. Remember that dog dealers are not more ethical than car dealers. Dog breeders hope the dog they sell you works out, but if it doesn't, that's your problem, not theirs!

▪️Look for danger signs.
If a breeder will not show you the kennels, walk away. If they will not show you the sire and dam (or at least provide contact information for the owner of the sire), go elsewhere. If you ask about health problems in the breed, and they seek to minimize them or say they have never tested their breeding stock because they have "never had a problem," hold on to your wallet and really think hard. If you are looking for a working dog, but the breeder does not work their own dogs, you are at the wrong kennel. If you examine a five-generation pedigree, and the same dog appears more than once, ask yourself if you really want an in**ed dog?

▪️Disenthrall yourself from puppies and consider dogs that have been "run on."
All breeders hold back a small percentage of their best prospects to see how they develop, with the eye to keeping them for breeding purposes themselves. These dogs, which have been "run on" for five or six months to see how they develop, are often available due to kennel crowding and the smallest of faults that have nothing to do with substance. There is often real gold to be found here, and it generally comes with several added bonuses: semi-adult dogs that have had all their shots, can control their bowels, and may have rudimentary training. And have no fear: if you acquire one of these dogs, they will learn a new name in a week or two!

▪️Value is not the same as price.
Some of the best dogs in the world can be had for a song at your local pound or shelter, while some of the most expensive and miserable genetic wrecks are sold for thousands of pounds by Kennel Club breeders. Caveat emptor! As a general rule, an "expensive breed" is one that is a genetic mess because it has a small heavily-in**ed gene pool, or else it is a conformation disaster with most pups born caesarian. Oddly enough, many of the dogs found at shelters are dogs that benefit from a certain amount of hybrid vigor -- a fact reflected in lower health insurance premiums for non-pedigree dogs.

▪️Money-back guarantees are virtually worthless.
If a dog dealer offers you a "money-back guarantee," be advised that such a guarantee is worthless unless you are willing to return the dog to be euthanized on the spot. No breeder will pay for a hip operation or double cruciate ligament repair on a two-year old dog that you insist on keeping.

The bottom line: purchasing any dog is a calculated risk, but if you use your head rather than your heart, you can reduce the risks and improve the odds of a happy match for owner and dog alike.

Select in haste, however, and there is a very good chance you will regret in leisure.

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