Buying a new puppy can be a very exciting time, and you may be wondering which adorable, squirming fluffy body to get. In order to get the right puppy for you, perform a small personality test on him. You should already know what breed will work for by having done the research, but not all dogs of the same breed behave the same; variation always occurs. Puppies of any breed may not display the characteristics of that breed to a T. They can be dominant, submissive, confident, or clingy. The type of puppy you get will depend on your experience with training puppies and your personal preferences. How a puppy responds to the personality test will cue you into the one you want depending on what you’re looking for.
Here are a few things to help you evaluate puppies you’re interested in:
Dominance. You can restrain a puppy on his back to test for dominance. Gently roll the puppy onto his back and hold him there for 30 seconds. A dominant puppy will spend the entire 30 seconds fighting your hand, trying to right itself. A puppy that relaxes right away, looks away, and licks your hand is showing submission. Middle-of-the-road puppies will fight for a few seconds before relaxing, not displaying dominance or submission in great amounts.
Independence. While you have the puppies attention, walk away from him. Puppies that ignore you when you walk away, indicating that it doesn’t bother them, are likely strongly independent. A less secure puppy will follow you in a subdued manner, possibly with a drooping tail.
Prey drive. Use your hand or other object to tempt the puppy to perform this test. More your hand or the object along the ground in front of the puppy at an easy pace. If the puppy pounces on your hand his prey drive is fairly strong. A puppy that acts uninterested has a low prey drive.
Friendliness. Simple observation will tell you how friendly the puppy is toward other dogs and people. In ideal situations, the puppy will respond nicely to all the other dogs and people in the room. Behaviors that are not friendly would be showing his teeth, growling, and actively exerting dominance. Mouthing can be said to be unfriendly, but most puppies do it to some extent. It’s not necessarily a sign of an unfriendly puppy since it’s usually related to teething and being a puppy. With training, they usually grow out of the habit easily. An actively biting puppy however can cause damage as it gets older, especially depending on breed. If the dog doesn’t realize how strong his jaws are he can hurt someone.
When picking a puppy you may want to stay with a specific breed or give yourself more options, including mixed breeds. A better evaluation of the puppy’s personality is to observe its behavior around other dogs. Individual cues from the puppy are much more important that relying on breed stereotypes to pick your puppy.
