02-27-2003, 05:37 PM
Quote:If you really want a purebred, make sure you investigate the breeder before buying, because there are a bunch of bad ones out there.And stay away from pet shop puppies. Please, please, please. :disappointed:
These dogs come from horrid conditions, sub-human even. Everytime someone buys one they are supporting that industry. Alot of them are in-bred: father to daughter/son to mother/brother to sister....they may appear ok, but, in about three or so years they are suffering from some life threatening medical illness. I see it all the time. Also, because they live in small cages and run around all cute in the window of a pet shop they are harder to house-train. They are quite used to soiling where they sleep.
Quote:Also, don't put off training a dog, it will only become harder to train them as time goes on.Exactly. Alot of people get puppies and put off training until they are a year or so. That is the worse thing you can do, because there is a certain time period where pups are so vulnerable to what they are learning. We have a saying in my puppy K class I assist teaching in: "What a dog is learning to do...he is learning to DO" meaning the way he is coping with his experiences now he is going to be using the same coping mechanisms later in his life. People that let thier puppies jump on them...well, that's all well and good now, but, when he's older he's going to wonder what the Hell he did so wrong when he's being held in an animal shelter and then euthanised for jumping on that sweet little old lady, who is now suing you, because her hip is broken.
ok...I'm-a shut my yapper now.