How did you choose your dog? Or was it the dog who chose you? Are you happy with your choice?

I wonder how you guys chose your doodle? Did you have a chance to see and choose from several puppies or dogs observing them when playing and interacting with them? What were the signs that indicated you that that one was yours? Or did you just choose one by picture and couldn't see any personality in him yet? Did the breeder guide you? Are you happy with your choice?

What is your opinion about PAT or Volhard test and other similar tests?

Choosing a puppy is as difficult as choosing a wife, isn't it? Or do I complicate things too much?

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Permalink Reply by Camus on June 30, 2011 at 1:43pm

What a story! You could write a book! Such a drama at the beginning and then a very happy end.

I am intrigued. What temperament were you looking for? Could you describe it?

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Permalink Reply by Heather & Jake on June 30, 2011 at 2:31pm

Sorry I guess I missed those questions in your original post! :) And to answer your question, I do not think you complicate things too much at all. For me choosing my puppy was a very complicated process! My boyfriend didn’t quite understand why I was such a stickler with personality until he started noticing the things I was looking out for… needles to say he’s happy we waited it out for our “perfect” first dog.

Besides an intelligent dog that would be easy to train, the temperament I was looking for was more on the submissive side, but not a little wuss. The reason I wanted a male is that my parents have two very dominant females who are dog aggressive, and I needed my pup to be able to get along with them. Those two fight all the time and I did not ever want to ever put another female in with them. Also after having many aggressive dogs my whole life, I wanted one that would not be aggressive in any sense.

For the Volhard tests I was looking for mostly scores of 4s as others have said. With Jake, I did do the test myself the first night of meeting him. He was already 9 weeks and I knew that it was a little past the ideal age to test (7 weeks) and couldn’t rely on the scores he got, but he’s been true to it. He is extremely friendly and the most submissive dog I’ve ever met to other dogs, he will always let them take charge and goes with the flow, very mellow and laid back. He is not overly submissive to people and is getting a little protective as he gets older, which is nice. I was worried for a bit he would be a compete pushover and that I wouldn’t feel safe if caught in a bad situation. He listens to anyone who gives him a command and loves to please (for the most part, but he still can be a mischievous puppy). Another thing that was important to me was getting along with children of all ages as I have a few rowdy nephews do plan on starting a family within the next 15 years! This is one instance where the pet store experience really helped socialize him to all people of different ages/sizes/colors. He has never met a kid he does not like, is very gentle with them and lets them bang him up without getting too excited and playing rough with them. He seems to understand they are little and is the same with small animals and younger puppies. It’s quite amazing to watch my jumping bean transform around little ones.