Choosing the Right Dog Breed

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name's Pam Nichols. I'm with the Animal Care Center in Bountiful, Utah. I'd like to talk to you today about picking the right breed of dog for your family and for your lifestyle. This is a really important question to answer because so many dogs are left in shelters because of temperament and behavior problems. So one of the first things you can do to ensure that your dog's going to be with you for a good long time, is pick a dog that suits your lifestyle. So for example, I'd like you to ask yourself a question. Am I active or am I sedentary? Do I need a dog that is a lap dog or do I need one that will go out and run a marathon with me every weekend. That's the first question because there are dogs that are super active, little dogs and super mellow little dogs and there are very active large dogs and then there are super mellow large dogs and those are also questions that your veterinarian can help you narrow down the field. The other question I'd like you to ask yourself, is your lifestyle more conducive to having a large dog or a small dog, because that narrows things down very, very rapidly and also keeping in mind that small dogs tend to live longer than large dogs. So an average 80 to 120 pound dog might only live 7 years, where a 5 to 10 pound dog might live 15 to 17 years. Then the last question that I want you to ask yourself besides temperament and size, is do you prefer dogs that shed or dogs that don't shed because there is no such thing as a low shedding dog and all the designer dogs in the world, they'll say they're low shedding dogs. They truly are not. They either shed or they don't shed and you need to pick a breed of dog that fits not only your lifestyle, but the size of dog you prefer and the coat type you prefer."