Dogs And Supermodels

An ongoing conversation in the online dating world is the observation that men will tend to choose to marry an average looking woman that treats him nicely than marry a supermodel that treats him like garbage. I think that is generally true.

However, I think the opposite often happens when people choose what kind of dog to buy or adopt. Many people fall in love with the look of a type of dog rather than choose a dog based upon what would be a good dog to live with. 

I was contacted by a student the other day who is looking to adopt a new dog to be a companion of her current dog. Her other dog, the one I trained years ago, died about a year ago because of cancer, so she was ready now to get another dog. The problem? The dog trainer the other dog owner/ rescue uses isn’t happy that my student’s current dog is a pit bull. The trainer apparently has a bias against pit bulls. Sight unseen.

My student knows I judge every dog individually, not by breed. She wanted to know what to do about it. She didn’t want that trainer to bias the evaluation. My advice?

“I don't know that I would worry about that too much. As long as the greeting is set up appropriately, then you can test to see how the dogs relate to one another at first.”

My student has the right idea. She wants a dog that will get along with her dog. A companion. Not one word about how this other dog looks. The other dog doesn’t need to be a supermodel dog.

Years ago, when shopping for my first dog, I went from breeder to breeder to see what I wanted. I remember a Rottweiler breeder with gorgeous German show dog lines. But her dogs had no personality at all. Even with the owner. That wasn’t the kind of dog I wanted.

I’m sure everyone can be wowed by a gorgeous dog. Who wouldn’t? For me, however, I’m always more interested in the personality of the dog. Can I relate to the dog? How is the relationship between the dog and the owner? 

So, I’m not into supermodel dogs. I’m into nice dogs, regardless of breed. “Gorgeous” wears off quickly if a dog isn’t any fun to live with or costs a fortune to deal with medical issues.

Most dogs can be turned into nice dogs if you raise the puppy correctly, starting at 8 weeks of age. I find that many show dog breeders of the most gorgeous dogs pick their breeding dogs for all the wrong reasons (primarily appearances), don't accept constructive criticism about the weaknesses in their breeding program, isolate the puppies from the early experiences they need, don’t properly work with their pups, don't train their adult dogs, and create supermodels that aren’t fun to live with. What could have been a very nice line of dogs is made into a factory for dogs with lifetime issues. They are more focused on producing supermodel dogs rather than good companion and easily trained, healthy dogs.

Plan accordingly.