Choosing the right pet is a lifelong commitment that demands careful consideration. What if the secret to a harmonious life with your furry friend can be unlocked by understanding the breed's temperament and energy level? That's precisely what we dissect in this enriching episode of Dog Training Today. Will Bangura, our resident pet behavior expert, unveils the impact of selecting the right dog breed for your lifestyle. From breed research to lifestyle considerations, we take a deep dive into the art of choosing the ideal pet. Will also shares breed recommendations for families with young children and those desiring low-energy pets.
In this comprehensive guide, we move beyond breed selection and explore the intriguing world of canine temperament. We discuss how early exposure and socialization can help prevent potential behavioral issues and make your dog a perfect fit for your home. Will offers invaluable tips on assessing a puppy's demeanor and how to ensure your new pet is at ease in his new environment. The last but certainly not the least of our discussions touch on the long-term commitment of pet ownership. So, if you're pondering a new addition to the family, or simply want to understand your canine companion better, this episode is a must-listen.
If you need professional help please visit my Dog Behaviorist website.
Go here for Free Dog Training Articles
Choosing the right pet is a lifelong commitment that demands careful consideration. What if the secret to a harmonious life with your furry friend can be unlocked by understanding the breed's temperament and energy level? That's precisely what we dissect in this enriching episode of Dog Training Today. Will Bangura, our resident pet behavior expert, unveils the impact of selecting the right dog breed for your lifestyle. From breed research to lifestyle considerations, we take a deep dive into the art of choosing the ideal pet. Will also shares breed recommendations for families with young children and those desiring low-energy pets.
In this comprehensive guide, we move beyond breed selection and explore the intriguing world of canine temperament. We discuss how early exposure and socialization can help prevent potential behavioral issues and make your dog a perfect fit for your home. Will offers invaluable tips on assessing a puppy's demeanor and how to ensure your new pet is at ease in his new environment. The last but certainly not the least of our discussions touch on the long-term commitment of pet ownership. So, if you're pondering a new addition to the family, or simply want to understand your canine companion better, this episode is a must-listen.
If you need professional help please visit my Dog Behaviorist website.
Go here for Free Dog Training Articles
Raised by wolves with canine DNA and his blood. Having trained more than 24,000 vets helping you and your fur babies thrive, live in studio with Will Bangura answering your pet behavior and training questions. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host and favorite pet behavior expert, Will Bangura. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:Would you like to go on Walkies? Well, happy Thanksgiving Day weekend everybody. I'm Will Bangura. Hey, thanks for joining me for another episode of Dog Training Today. We used to be called Pet Talk today, but because we deal with dogs mostly, we're now dog training today. Hope you're having a fantastic Thanksgiving Day weekend. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Hopefully there were no mishaps. Hopefully none of the dogs got up on the counter and were taking turkeys down and running out the dog door with the turkey. I get a call like that every single year. I'm wondering how many dogs are bolting out the dog door in 2023 for Thanksgiving. We're going to find out when we check our messages.
Speaker 2:Okay, but today I wanted to talk about a couple things. Oh, by the way, if you did have problems with your dog on Thanksgiving, go look back at the Pet Talk Today audio podcast. I recently it was either the one before this, one or two episodes before where I did a I don't know. I think about a 20, 30 minute, maybe 40 minute podcast talking about how do you deal with a dog that you have problems with on Thanksgiving. Maybe they like to beg for food, maybe they like to get up on the counter and steal things. Okay, there's a lot of great information about how you can turn those problems into positive solutions and not have to deal with those next year. So check that out.
Speaker 2:Hey, if you haven't subscribed to the Dog Training Today podcast again I want to keep saying Pet Talk Today but if you, if you're not a subscriber, if you listen to the podcast but you're not subscribing, what are you waiting for? No, seriously, please hit that subscribe button. Okay, we've got a goal. I think we've got about 300 subscribers, but we've got thousands of listeners, thousands of listeners. We've had probably almost 90,000 downloads on our podcast. We're heard in over 100 countries. But what I need you to do is I need you to hit that subscribe button.
Speaker 2:And while you're doing that, if you love what we're doing, please take a minute just a minute, I know it's a hassle. Take a minute and give us a five star review. So, when you subscribe on the audio podcast, when you leave us a five star review, that boosts the rankings when people are searching for a dog training podcast, and what we want to do is get the message out to more people. Not everybody can afford dog training. This is my labor of love to be able to give back to the community and give back to you and to those folks that are out there that really need help but they don't know how to get it. Please, if you love what we do, give us a five star review. Please subscribe to the podcast. Now I'm going to shut up with the self promotion and get on with the topic.
Speaker 2:All right, so everybody around this time of year not everybody, but a lot of people they're looking to get a new dog. The Christmas puppies, the Christmas dogs they are all on the way. However, what criteria do you use, or what criteria did you use when selecting that dog or puppy, and was it a good fit, was it a good match? A for you, b for your lifestyle and C for anybody else that's in the home, whether that be people or other pets. So there's a lot to think about. You know, if you have a very sedentary lifestyle and you never get up off that couch having a boxer or having a greyhound or a Belgian Malinois or a Jack Russell terrorist any of those breeds that are really high drive, high energy they need to have a lot of exercise. They need a lot of room to run around, they need a job. You've got to keep them busy physically. You've got to keep them busy mentally all the time. I don't think a lot of people realize that One of the big things you need to do is research the breed you're thinking about. If you've got, like I said, if you've got, a sedentary lifestyle, you can't, it's not going to work to have a high energy, high drive dog. You're going to be running into problems. So I would say, hey, let's look for a breed that's very calm, let's look for a breed that's very quiet. Now, if you go back to the Pet Talk Today podcast, you've got to kind of scroll and search through the podcast.
Speaker 2:I do have one that I did on selecting the right breeds for your lifestyle. So, for example, if you've got young kids, the two breeds of dog that I'm always going to recommend if you have small children and you want a dog, are the King Charles Cavalier and then the other one is the Bichon. Both of those dogs typically are super, super friendly and great with kids. If I'm gonna have a baby and I want a dog, it's gonna be one of those two. It's either gonna be a Bichon or it's gonna be a King Charles Cavalier, spaniel for toddlers, for infants. Those are the dogs I recommend. What I'm not gonna recommend is Anakita or a.
Speaker 2:Well, I said Jack Russell, terry, before. You know they can get aggressive and I'm not gonna get a Border Collie. Why am I not gonna get a Border Collie if I've got young little kids? Because young little kids run around and the Border Collie wants to go herd them and goes crazy when it hears their little high-pitched voices and the kids get excited and the dog can't settle down. The dog goes from zero to a hundred and you don't know how to turn and dial that back. So maybe not the best breed.
Speaker 2:So the first thing we wanna do is look up the breed we're thinking we want, check to see does what I'm reading about the characteristics and the temperament and folks. That's what you need to be looking at. You need to be looking at temperament. It never fails Most of the time when I ask somebody so how did you end up on selecting this particular puppy? And one of the things that I'll hear most often I just really like the way it looked. Well, that's fantastic. You may have the most beautiful looking dog in the world. That's a psychopath. Okay, if the temperament isn't any good, what good are the looks? Right, you need to be selecting your dog on the right kind of breed that matches your lifestyle and also the right kind of temperament, because within any breed, we can have a whole host of temperaments.
Speaker 2:You know, we oftentimes think about the Labrador Retriever, the family dog, the calm, the relaxed, the happy, the gentle Labrador Retriever, or the Golden Retriever. Well, as a general rule, if you take a look at that breed and you're looking at a bell curve, the vast majority of Labrador Retrievers, the vast majority of Golden Retrievers, they're going to have a gentle temperament. Typically, we're not going to be seeing aggression out of those dogs as a general rule, but in every litter of Labrador Retriever you could have a great varying number of temperaments. You may have one puppy in that litter that is extremely social, extremely friendly, doesn't show any aggression at all. Then you might have a puppy in that litter that's kind of shy and timid and afraid and that one might end up being a fear-aggressive dog. So we can't just say, oh, this breed is going to be great for us, that breed is not going to be great for us. We do want to look at breed and say to ourselves is this the right breed for myself, my lifestyle, if there's anybody else that lives with me in the home but also know that within any breed, within any litter, you can have any kind of temperament.
Speaker 2:So the Pit Bull, american Pit Bull Terrier, the Staffordshire Terrier it gets a really bad rap as an aggressive dog and, quite frankly, most pit bulls are some of the most affectionate, loving dogs of any breed that's out there and the vast majority of pit bulls are Fantastic dogs to have. Now they've got a lot of energy and you need to exercise them a lot. You need to stimulate them physically and mentally, keep them busy. But when I'm talking about temperament I'm talking about how friendly. Most pit bulls are extremely friendly and they've got lots of energy, all right, and they can make fun fun dogs. But we also know that there can be an aggressive dog in every litter and there's a big difference between the damage a pit bull can do if it's aggressive and a Chihuahua. If the Chihuahua is aggressive now I don't want to give the Chihuahua a pass on being aggressive and we often do that with small dogs. They get aggressive, they snarl, they growl and we snicker. We think, oh, he doesn't realize how small he is. Well, that's a problem. We need to be dealing with that aggression.
Speaker 2:But getting back to the topic we're talking about, how do you select the right kind of puppy or dog? Number one you're gonna be looking at breed. Is it the right kind of breed for my lifestyle? Number two stop looking and Selecting a dog just on its looks. You need to be looking at temperament. So how do we look at, how do we assess the temperament of a new dog and what are some things that we can do? Well, grab your pen, grab your laptop, grab your tablet or your smartphone, take notes, because here's the good information.
Speaker 2:So I want to talk about exposure. Oftentimes, when I talk about canine Socialization and I've done podcast on it, I've done articles I talk about the fact that the word Socialization should never have been in. There should be canine exposure, getting your puppies, getting your dogs exposed and Around as many different sites sounds, textures, locations, different kinds of people, different kinds of animals, different kinds of dogs Needing to get your dog around everything. Why do we want to do that? That's going to Desensitize the dog. We want the dog to not care About anything in its environment, not get excited, not get distracted, not be afraid, not be aggressive, but aloof. And the way that happens the more you expose your dog to everything in the world, the more your dog calms down. The more your dog is aloof, the more your dog is not having problems with impulse control and a low tolerance for frustration. We want your dog to be able to stay engaged with you no matter what's going on in the environment, and that takes work to teach engagement with a dog.
Speaker 2:But there are certain red flags that could come up when we're looking for a new puppy or a new dog. One of those is if you've got a puppy, that let's just talk about puppies for a second. Okay, we're talking eight, nine, 10 weeks, seven week old puppies, very young puppies. If you've got a puppy in that litter, or puppies in that litter that are kind of moving away from everybody and everything and kind of hiding in the corner, or you've got a puppy that's just a complete total couch potato. Chances are that puppy's gonna grow up to be a dog that has fears, anxiety, phobias. The dog probably will become fear, aggressive. It may have problems with sounds, touch, sensitivity, all kinds of problems. So I'm gonna stay clear of that puppy.
Speaker 2:Now, on the flip side, if in that same litter I've got a puppy that is just crazy rambunctious, comes running up to me and just barking at me and maybe even nipping at me, okay, the puppy that's the most rambunctious, I'm not gonna select that puppy. That puppy might grow up to be very, very difficult to work with because of its temperament and you can already see that when they're babies. You want middle of the road. I don't want the couch potato. I don't want the puppy hiding in the corner, but I also don't want the one that has all the energy, that is completely rambunctious and a lot of times one of those dogs will be the first dog or puppy I should say that runs up to the individual or a couple that are looking at puppies and they're like oh, he ran right up to us. It's made in heaven, it's meant to be. No, it's not. You just got yourself an incredibly difficult puppy that's gonna turn into an incredibly difficult dog, most likely, especially if you're a novice dog owner, if you're new to dogs, if you haven't had a lot of dogs. So I'm gonna stay away from both of the extremes. I'm gonna look for something in the middle.
Speaker 2:All right, now there's a few things. I need to make sure that, hey, if I crouch down and I'm clapping my hands, okay, if I'm clapping my hands and crouching down, the puppy should come up to me. If it's afraid to come up with me, that's a problem. But I'm standing 10, 20 feet away trying to coax the puppy to me and I've crouched down and I'm not threatening, and that puppy doesn't wanna come near me. Hey, red flag, I'm not gonna select that puppy. All right, now. The other thing I wanna do is I wanna interlock my fingers and come underneath the puppy's belly and I wanna lift that puppy up about a foot up off the ground and I'm gonna hold the puppy there for about 30 seconds. Now, if I've got a puppy that completely freezes for those 30 seconds, I'm not taking that puppy. If I have a puppy that is squirming and fighting and going absolutely crazy because I've lifted it up two inches up off the ground, I'm not gonna be taking that puppy Again.
Speaker 2:We've got extremes there. What I wanna do is be able to pick up a puppy, interlace my fingers come underneath the puppy's belly, lift the puppy up about two inches and hold it there for 30 seconds. That puppy should squirm a little bit, be a little bit uncomfortable, but then I'm looking for the puppy to settle down. That's gonna tell me a lot about the puppy's temperament, about the puppy's demeanor. Okay, then what I wanna do is I wanna have a big pan or pot in a metal pan or pot and I want a big metal spoon and I'm gonna bang on that metal pot with that metal spoon and make a loud, sharp noise two or three times. Now it's normal for an animal to startle, but what's not normal is for them to freak out and to hold onto that fear and not recover from it. Most animals they startle. Oh, that was a loud noise, not a big deal. They recover.
Speaker 2:I'm looking for the puppy that if I hit that pot with the spoon, I set it down, they may startle a little bit, but then they're a little bit curious what was that? Again, if they go running off, hiding or they look scared and they stay scared, that's not the puppy I want. I'm gonna have a puppy with fears, anxiety, phobias. It's gonna be a struggle, but the other end I don't want the puppy. When I do that and set the pot and the spoon down, it comes and starts barking at it and wanting to bite at it. I'm not gonna be taking that puppy either.
Speaker 2:All right, so I wanna check out sound sensitivity. What is that like for the puppies that I'm looking at? All right, another one. I'm going to take an umbrella and I'm going to pop it open and then I'm going to set it on the ground and walk away. Now I'm watching the puppies. I want to see what they're going to do.
Speaker 2:Again, if I get a puppy that's scared to death and goes and hides, I don't want that one. That's going to be a puppy that's afraid of everything that's new that we bring in the house, we go for a walk. It's going to be freaking out at every visual trigger that's out there in the world. That's not the one that I want. Okay, again, I want middle of the road. That's what I'm looking for. So, for example, maybe it startles a puppy to begin with, but then the puppy shows curiosity, interest, might slowly walk up to the umbrella, sniff it. But if I set the umbrella down I get a puppy running up to it, barking and biting at it. You see what I'm talking about. We're starting to see a pattern here. But I want to make sure is the dog friendly and social? Will it come to me when I crouch down and clap my hands? If it doesn't come to me, and it's fearful, big red flag. If it comes running to me and starts just flailing all over me with just crazy excitement, that's a red flag for me. I don't want that. If a puppy comes running up to me, shows interest, you know, wants to be social, maybe it licks my face or my hand, but it's not overly crazy. Hey, that's a good one that I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:We talked about sound sensitivity and taking a big metal pot, a big metal spoon, hitting it, making a loud noise, two or three bang, bang, bangs. What are the puppies doing? Are they running and hiding? I don't. And staying hidden? I don't want those. They're going to have problems with sound issues. Do I want the one again that goes crazy and freaks out as far as becoming aggressive and barking at the pot and the spoon and maybe biting at it. No, I don't want that. That's a big red flag as well. So, sound sensitivity Okay, you could do the same thing if you wanted, if you had a recorded sound of, say, let thunderstorm or fireworks.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm going to do that for play that for a brief second at loud volume. What are the dogs doing? What are the puppies doing? Now I'll do these same things with an adult dog that I might want to rescue or get. I'm going to do the same thing that I've been talking about. So hopefully you're writing these things down Now.
Speaker 2:In addition to it being social and wanting to come up to me, in addition to it being having stable nerves when it comes to sounds and having stable nerves when it comes to surprise visual triggers like the umbrella, I'm looking for a dog that's middle of the road for all of those things. When I pick the dog up a little bit off the ground, again, I'm looking for middle of the road. Remember, I don't want the puppy or dog that just freezes completely and I don't want the one that just flailing like crazy and never stops Looking for the one that squirms a little bit, a little bit uncomfortable, but then settles down. Okay, we've talked about the sound test. We talked about the visual test. We talked about socialization whether it comes to you or not. We've talked about lifting it up slightly.
Speaker 2:The other thing that I want to do, if I can, gently, I want to roll the puppy or the dog on its back. And again, if the puppy or dog completely freezes, chances are I'm going to have a dog with anxiety, fear as phobias to some degree. If I get a dog that I roll on their back and I'm kind of putting my hand on their chest and kind of holding them there gently, if they're flailing all over the place and they just cannot handle it, that's going to be another dog that I'm going to have issues with, or a puppy. I'm going to stay away from that. I want the puppy or dog to squirm a little bit when it's on its back but then settle down. That's really, really important. Okay, now the other thing that I need to check for do I have toddlers? If I do, I want them running around controlled. I'm watching what's going on.
Speaker 2:The dog is on a leash, if it's a puppy and just watching the puppies, what happens when my toddler is screaming and running around? What is the dog or the puppy do? Does it go crazy and start jumping on the toddler or wanting to go crazy? Does it become aggressive? Does it become fearful? These are things I need to know. What if I've got other pets in the family? What if I've got other dogs? I need to be able to bring my dog around.
Speaker 2:This dog or puppy that I'm thinking about getting, there should be curiosity, there should be interest, they should want to sniff, they should want to play. But if they're afraid to approach, I don't want that puppy. Or if they come running and barking and are really aggressive, I don't want that puppy or that dog either. And when it comes to trying to get an idea what the dog or puppy is going to be like around people, places and things, it's best if you can kind of do this three different times, you know, because one time you might do it, you get one reaction. Next time you do it, you might get a completely different reaction. So what we're looking for is what's the consistency? How does the dog respond to these triggers? Okay, now I can also use the sound of a vacuum. There's a lot of different things that we can do to check the dog's sound sensitivity.
Speaker 2:We are going to check the dog off property. We need to make sure. What is this dog or puppy like off property? What's it like if we have it on the sidewalk, that where there's a busy street and cars going by? Is it afraid? Does it want to run away? Does it want to bark and chase after those cars? These are things that I want to know. I want to set down a bowl of kibble and have that puppy or dog eat that, and I'm going to slowly approach and see if the dog freezes, stops eating, see if the dog becomes aggressive, see if the dog is content and continues to eat. Do you see how this is important? Yeah, extremely important.
Speaker 2:Toys Does the dog like toys? If I've got other dogs in the house that like toys, I want to know what is this dog like if there's a bone? What is this dog like if there's a ball? You know most dogs if they like toys, the ball is going to be the number one thing. Why? Because that's what we tend to use with our dogs or the rope toy, typically, or a squeaky toy. So get a rope toy, get a squeaky toy, get a tennis ball and you can check how your dog is.
Speaker 2:And what I recommend is, with the toys and with the food, the bones and things of that nature, have a barrier between your dogs and the dog you're thinking about getting, and that way there's safety, there's a barrier there, you know a fence between them and you can check what they're like with bones, what they're like with toys, what they're like with food. All right, and again, not just one time and not just in one location. Take this into different locations. And one of the things that I want you to check for how is the dog in the car, because we're going to have to go for a car ride sometimes, right, what's the reaction? Then?
Speaker 2:I want to know what's it like when I try to groom the dog. Can I pick up its paw and mess with its toes? Can I play with its ears and kind of put my finger in there just a little bit? Can I open its mouth and look at its teeth? How is the dog responding to this? How is the dog responding to being handled and being touched? These are things that we want to know, and wouldn't it be nice if we knew this ahead of time.
Speaker 2:So really, it's about thinking about what's the life going to be with this particular dog or puppy that I want to get, and what's the puppy like in all of these situations, or what is the older dog we're thinking about adopting in all of these situations. So those are the biggest things that I'm going to recommend, that I'm going to suggest so that if you choose to get a puppy, if you choose to get a dog, you can at least go into it with some knowledge and not just be picking a dog because, oh, I like the way it looks. Hey, hopefully the one you pick has a great temperament. Hopefully the one puppy or dog that you select not only has a great temperament but looks fantastic and is a great fit for your lifestyle as well. So take that information If you're looking for a new puppy. If you're looking for a dog, I guarantee it's worth its time. You want to get the right one if you're committed for years and years. Have a great weekend everybody. I'm out of here.