Dog Behavior and Misbehavior - Know Your Own Prejudices Before You Adopt

If you're thinking about adopting a dog, you should first determine the doggy traits and behaviors that you absolutely can't live with. It's important to know this before you pick out a dog. With so many dogs available for adoption, you should take your time and get one that you know you can live with. Here are a few of the behaviors and traits that you will want to avoid:

If you have children (or even if you don't) a vicious dog is an obvious example. Even nippers can leave children with a life-long distaste for dogs. An overly shy dog would also be a poor choice, because fear biters can be as dangerous as an aggressive animal. Dogs have teeth, and it takes only a few seconds for a child to be scarred for life, emotionally and physically.

Other unacceptable behaviors can include excessive digging if you have a beautifully landscaped yard, chewing if you have nice furniture, yapping or barking that keeps you, (and the neighbors), awake at night. It can also include dominant behaviors such as an unwillingness to follow the lead of any human in the house, or a need to dominate the children or women who live there. If the dog needs to be taken for walks, he needs to accept a leash and the direction of his owners. If he won't, the walks will be miserable experiences for the human he drags behind him.

If you have children you may not want your new dog to exhibit classic herding behaviors that cause some dogs to nip at the flank of the kids in their flock. Since this behavior is hard-wired into the brains of Border Collies, for instance, it is extremely difficult to train out of a dog. You also may not want a dog that is so loyal to your children that it mistakenly assumes your neighbor's child is picking on yours, a little fun roughhousing between boys can lead to a bite on the friend's rear end if your dog is overprotective. Australian shepherds are famous for taking their child-guarding job a bit too seriously, but they are by no means the only ones.

If a dog has been trained from birth to use a paper on the floor for his bathroom, it may not be possible to retrain the dog to go outdoors. Apartment dwellers may approve of this behavior, but most people would prefer the dog leave his mess outside the house. Housebreaking an older dog is a very frustrating, and sometimes impossible task, so you'll want to find out if he's housebroken before you bring him home.

In addition to the obvious behavioral problems, you should consider your own prejudices about dogs, and respect them. There may be specific traits, behaviors, or even breeds that you don't want to live with. You may not want a dog with long hair, for instance, because the shedding and grooming don't appeal to you. If you don't want a long-haired dog, know that in advance" there's no point in bringing home a Yorkie and then finding out that you can't spend the hours it takes to keep the beautiful coat in good condition. If you think bulldogs are ugly, bring home something else. You get the point.

You may not want a specific breed because you were frightened by a dog of that breed when you were a child. I feel this way about dachshunds.

My brother and his wife have four dogs on their farm, of four different tailless breeds. They don't want a shaggy tail dragging mud into their house, or knocking things off the coffee table.

I once met a Labrador retriever who presented me with a six-foot long 2X4 and begged me to play fetch. When I didn't respond quickly enough, I got whanged in the shins with the Lab'sstick. I have held on to a prejudice against Labs ever since, it may not be reasonable, but it's there. I can also remember Grundoon, a cocker spaniel mix that we had when I was a child. Grundoon's favorite game was chewing on the top of my head and pulling my hair whenever I tried to lie on the grass on sunny days. As you can imagine, I have a few prejudices against cocker spaniels, too.

If you have such a prejudice, let it be, there are hundreds of other breeds out there. If you really don't like or can't tolerate a dog because of past experiences, there's nothing wrong with admitting it.

Once you've created a list of unwanted behaviors, put a checkmark next to any behaviors that could be changed with training. And remember we're talking about you doing the training unless you're willing (and can afford) a professional dog trainer who can handle problem dogs.

Try to be as realistic as possible, an older dog can be housebroken, but it isn't easy, and it may not happen until the carpets need to be replaced. A husky that was allowed to pull his former owner across the park at breakneck speed can be taught to heal in a civilized manner by a skilled and patient trainer but can you do it ? Or are you willing to hire a professional?

Remember the world is awash in dogs. There is no reason to accept behaviors or traits that you don't like, since the perfect dog is out there, willing and desperate to share your home. You may have to do some fine-tuning with additional training, but a complete makeover shouldn't be needed if you bring home the right dog.