Consider the Adopted Dogs' Temperaments

Video Transcript

"I’m Tracy Tenner with Better Behavior Dog Training at Extra Care Animal Hospital in Davie, Florida. I am here today on behalf of Expert Village.com at the Tri County Humane Society in Boca Raton, Florida, where I have volunteered as a trainer and a behaviorist. We are here today to help you learn how to pick the perfect pet for you and your family. So if you are ready, let’s get started. I would have to say that the single most important thing to consider when adopting a dog from a shelter or buying a dog for that matter is the overall temperament. Temperament is inherent in a dog. It is not something that you can change. Through training and obedience, we can look to control behaviors, but we cannot change overall temperament. If a dog simply does not like children, he or she is simply not going to like children. We are not going to change that. If the dog is overtly shy, he is going a shy dog. Does that make him a bad dog? Absolutely not. If you happen to be an older couple or you don’t have an awful lot of traffic in your house, a shy dog can be absolutely wonderful. They will give you unlimited love and affection. But a shy dog is not going to be the best choice for a family with many many people in and out constantly with a swinging front door. That will be too much stress for this particular dog. Also we know how to look at the dog’s aggression level. If you have people in and out of the house, once again you don’t need to have an aggressive dog. In fact an aggressive dog may actually become a liability. On the other hand, if you want a little bit of protection and a little bit of security, then a dog with a little bit of natural aggression can be okay thing as long as you consult a trainer or professional and are well able to handle that particular dog’s aggression. In short, every single dog is going to have his or her own temperament. We can judge a little bit what that temperament might be simply by breed specifics, situations and generalities but remember always that every dog is an individual with its own personality and its own temperament and you have to compare those things to the temperaments."