Finding the Perfect Rescue Dog for Your Family

Phil Guida, founder of in-home dog training company Canine Dimensions, shares advice for finding the perfect rescue dog for your family.

Thousands of dogs are adopted from animal shelters every day and welcomed into loving homes. Walking through your local animal shelter can be an emotional experience when you see how many dogs with smiling faces and wagging tails are in need of a good home. If you have decided to adopt a pet dog from a local rescue organization or animal shelter, you are about to save a life! Many people feel that shelter dogs make the best pets.  Just ask anyone who owns one.

But like a happy marriage, a good match with the right dog takes some planning. Before heading out to the nearest animal shelter, take some time to gather the family together and ask everyone to name the characteristics that make up the perfect dog for them.  This can be a useful, and sometimes revealing, exercise.

You may find out that the description of the perfect dog looks something like this: playful but quiet, shaggy but short haired, big but small, male but female, young but not too young, older but not too old.  A dog your son can jog with, but who also enjoys sitting by the fire with your daughter.  A calm dog, but one who loves to play fetch. A smart dog, but not smart enough to figure out how to open up the trash can.

When trying to picture the perfect dog for everyone, the first step is to make a list of your priorities. Divide your “wish list” of traits into 2 categories: things that are negotiable, and things that are not. For example, you might decide that size and sex and not that important, but overall friendliness and playfulness are a must. Everyone will probably have to compromise on a couple of things, but starting out by identifying what the perfect dog looks like to your family is a valuable exercise, well worth the time.

Together with having a family meeting, another useful tool is the “breed selector quiz.” There are many breed selector quizzes online. Take one or two of them and you will get a good idea of  the breeds that best match your idea of the perfect dog. Answering the questions in a breed selector quiz will help everyone in the family agree on what type of dog is right for you – things like size, activity level, shedding and so on – are important to think about, and breed selector quizzes can help you do that.

Why take the time to research purebred dogs when many of the dogs in shelters are mixed breeds? First, some purebred dogs who enter shelters and are placed into foster care with breed-specific rescue organizations. So if your choice comes down to a certain breed, you can contact the local rescue group for that breed. Second, most shelters list the predominant breeds in their mixed breed dogs when posting them on their websites and at sites like Petango.com and Petfinder.com.

One last point – the perfect dog rarely starts out with perfect. Many dogs have training and/or health issues that will need to be worked on. Have realistic expectations about the time and money needed to budget for things like food, veterinary care, grooming, equipment and training.

Once everyone agrees what the “perfect” dog looks like, and you determine that your family has the time and money needed to properly care for your new best friend, then you are ready to begin your search for that dog. The perfect dog, like the perfect husband or wife, is hard to find but worth the time and effort.

Phil Guida is the founder of Canine Dimensions, an in-home dog training company with offices in the Denver Metropolitan Area and throughout the United States. He serves on the board of directors of animal shelters and dog rescues in his home state of New Jersey, and is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the International Association of Canine Professionals.  Visit www.CanineDimensions.com for more information. To reach the Colorado Trainers; contact audic@caninedimensions.com or call 303-456-1982.