Perfect Fit: Choosing the Right Dog for You - a podcast by Ty Brown

In this post, I’d like to talk a little about how to choose a dog. This is a question I get a lot, especially since we do plenty of service dog training. People hear that labs are good service dogs, so they get a lab. The reality? Not every lab can handle a service dog’s job. Sometimes people do their research and figure out that a German Shepherd is right for their lifestyle, so they go out and get any Shepherd they can find. These owners place too much importance on the breed, because the breed book says that the dog will be a certain way.

Now, those breed books have some general things correct, but a lot of things very wrong. All dogs are individuals, so within a hundred German Shepherds you’ll find a huge variety of temperament, character, personality, courage, fear, and so on. So what are you looking for in a new dog? The older the dog is, the more you can tell about its character. We can tell some things about puppies, of course, but not a ton. You want to do your best whether you're rescuing an older dog or buying a puppy. There are a few characteristics that I always want to look for.

One of those characteristics is sociability. We’ve all heard this story: “We were going along at the shelter, and this dog was huddled in the back corner and didn't want to come out for anybody. We felt so sad for him that we rescued him.” I’ve heard that a lot. There’s no problem in doing that if you have a big heart, but you need to understand what you're getting into. If your dog doesn't want human contact and is constantly trying to get away from you, it’s not going to be a good companion for your family.

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