[HelloToYou]

Hello, I am new here but I don't have a dog yet. Ever since the birth of my second (and last) child, I have been OBSESSED with dogs. I didn't think I really cared about them much or really wanted one. My husband had wanted one eventually, so I thought I'd have to figure out how to live with one and that it would be primarily his responsibility. Ever since the birth of my son though, I've put in a lot of research in regard to breed and training. I am finding myself really wanting a dog now. I've gone through a few phases with it too. I was heavily researching breeds and found a breeder I wanted to go with. I also have thought through various breed combos since the breeder breeds mixes. At this point, however, I think I will be searching for a puppy on petfinder or other non-breeder sources. I do want a puppy though. I would like to be able to raise the dog rather than getting it as an adult.

There are various issues I'd like to know more about. For example, would it be better to have an ovary sparing spay? Keep the dog intact for a number of years before a full spay? I definitely question desexing.

I'd also like to know more about feeding "real food" instead of strictly "dog food."

I also watch a lot of Zak George videos on youtube, but often have questions that go unanswered.

I joined in hopes that I could read about and ask questions about being a puppy parent as I like to be fully prepared and take the approach of questioning everything and thinking through things way in advance.

I hope to learn lots while I'm here!

 

[Bear91]

Hello!
I think you should open a new post (or maybe more than one) for your questions, so we don't go off topic here
Though I am curious, why did you decide on a non-breeder?
Also... I don't really appreciate breed-mixing. Not at all. Actually, a good breeder has (in my opinion) no more than 2 breeds... and absolutely does not mix them.
I'm not saying anything about the dogs obviously... but if I buy a dog it's because I want some guarantees (especially regarding its temperament), and a breed-mix will not, cannot give them. If I don't need this guarantees I can as weel adopt a puppy that's looking for a home.
That said, welcome

 

[HelloToYou]

Oh yes, I do intend to make threads to address specific questions. I just meant to introduce myself and explain how and why I came to be here.

In terms of your questions, U

 

[HelloToYou]

I accidentally hit "enter" too soon and now it won't let me edit. Here is what I meant to say:

Oh yes, I do intend to make threads to address specific questions. I just meant to introduce myself and explain how and why I came to be here.

In terms of your questions, I was originally leaning toward a breeder in order to gain a level of predictability. In terms of guarentees with temperament, there's never any guarantee. If, however, you know about both parents, you can have an idea of what is likely. That goes for pure breed and mixed breed. I did a bunch of research on breeds and it seemed that a keeshond would make a good pet. It just so happens that there's a breeder near by who breeds spitz mixes including keeshonden. The one major issue I had with the breed was their hugely poofy coats. Apparently when you mix them with Klee Kais, the offspring tend to retain the kees temperament but not have such huge coats. The combo seemed good and I researched the other breeds the breeder mixes to think about and consider various other combos. It does mean less predictability, but when it comes from a breeder, you have the chance to meet and know about the parents as well as know about health history and know they didn't come from a puppy mill or some other messed up breeding situation. With a mix, certain pure-bread characteristics can be mellowed out which is a plus. In the end though, my need for control in terms of what my dog is like, eased up the more I researched training. I still have certain preferences in terms of breed types, but I'm more open to opening my home to the right puppy that comes along, opposed to requesting that more puppies are brought into the world, contributing to the over-population issue. As I've been looking at Petfinder, I've found a number of dogs that I'd be up for adopting if the time was right. Therefore, when the time comes, I'll be searching for a puppy to adopt rather than requesting a breeder to breed a certain combo.