Puppy buying is a bit of an art. As a breeder, and being in breeder-communities, I know that breeders can experience a lot of frustration with enquiries. Puppy buyers, I’m sure, also get frustrated, and perhaps don’t know that they are going about puppy buying in the ‘wrong way’.
I’ve compiled a list of tips for contacting a dog breeder. These are broad and general, but hopefully will help anyone who is searching for a puppy.
Well, if it’s not obvious, I am going to see Ian Dunbar in Melbourne (Australia) this weekend.
This is a three day seminar called “Science Based Dog Training with Feeling”. I believe this may be a very similar seminar series as Crystal at Reactive Champion visited and blogged about in November 2010.
Friday is based on preventing behaviour problems. It seems, from my pre-seminar PDFs, that this will mostly focus on socialisation (not a surprise for those who know Ian Dunbar). I am excited to hear what I should be doing, as a breeder, to prevent behaviour problems, from a socialisation perspective. (I am also interested in asking him where I’m going to find 100 people before 8 weeks. My puppies probably interact with about 20 people before 8 weeks, and see about 50 people before 8 weeks. And I feel exhausted getting that many people through my house and in the streets!) I already think I’m doing a pretty good job, but there’s always room to learn more.
Saturday is titled “Learning Theory Redux”. While I’m interested to see the Dunbar perspective, I am concerned that I am just going to hear learning theory again. I am sure I’ll get something out of it, don’t get me wrong, but I am already fairly savvy and learning theory, and I expect the rest of the audience will be too.
Sunday is about luring. I know Ian Dunbar is big into luring, and I can’t say that I’ve ever attended a seminar from a luring advocate – so at the very least, this would be fun!
I am concerned that Ian Dunbar may not truly consider the genetic basis of behaviour… There are a few snippets in the PDFs I’ve received, saying things like “At eight weeks of age, regardless of breed or breeding, the puppy’s behavior and temperament depend almost entirely on how the breeder has raised the pup.” I very much disagree with that. Genetics, in my mind, plays a huge role in dog behaviour. Why was it in my litter of 3 pups in 2010 did they all have very different behaviours and temperaments at 8 weeks? It certainly isn’t because I treated them differently – it’s because they’re different dogs, with different personalities, and different genes driving their behaviours. Does Dunbar really believe that a whippet is different to a boxer at 8 weeks purely because of socialisation from the breeder? Anyway, I spoke more about the overemphasis on socialisation previously.
I’m very much looking forward to these seminars, but it means you won’t be getting any posts for about a week. I’m sure you’ll survive without me!
Edited to provide a link to our ‘Dunbar Index‘, which summarises our learning from the lecture series.
Just read an absolutely fascinating study called “Enriched environment experience overcomes learning deficits and depressive-like behaviour induced by juvenile stress“, that Dr Sophia Yin made reference to recently on Facebook. It’s an absolutely fascinating read, especially after writing about the over-emphasis of socialisation just days ago. I almost have to eat my words… Almost…
Dogs yawn when they’re stressed – I don’t know if rats do, too, but this study used biochemistry to measure rat-stress.
Basics of the Study
This study used rats to investigate the role of stress on adult behaviour (particularly surrounding anxiety and depression). Two groups of rats were stress during their juvenile period (27-29 days) through ‘forced swimming’, elevation, and restraint. (A third group of rats was used as a control.) One group of the ‘stressed’ rats was given environmental enrichment, by enhancing their cage environments with toys, shapes, colours, and allowing them activities outside of their cage. The other groups did not receive environmental enrichment.
The Findings
In short: Environmental enrichment seemed to ‘neutralise’ the anxiety experienced by the stressed rats, and sometimes reduced their anxiety further than rats with no stressful incidents and no environmental enrichment.
In long: Continue reading
For too long we’ve cried “socialise, socialise, socialise”. I vote for a new slogan: “select, select, select”.
Ultimately, to bring a confident, happy, sound, enjoyable new puppy into the household, three critical selections need to be made:
We need people to select an appropriate breed. They need to know what characteristics fit in with their family or lifestyle. Genetics hugely determine the behaviours of dogs. There are countless resources explaining how to consider the breed most suitable to you. This includes practical appearance criteria, like “how big?” and physically appealing charactertisitcs. Then, nitty gritty criteria regarding owner energy compared to the dog’s, and willingness to groom. An understanding of the breed’s original purpose and how that original purpose might be annoying (e.g. a breed bred to retrieve likes to use their mouth, a breed bred to herd may nip and herd people, a breed bred to kill vermin often are indiscriminate with pocket pets). In short, new owners need to research breeds and work out what breed would love to live and thrive in their household– not a breed that they could ‘make work’.
Kari with a puppy from Savaneta Golden Retrievers from South Australia.
Puppy buyers need to select a breeder with care. By that I mean: a breeder that cares. Cares about where their puppies end up, about the pedigrees of their dogs, about choosing pups suitable to the individual’s lifestyle. A good breeder may say no to some households, because they only want the best for their puppies. A good breeder probably doesn’t have a puppy available right now. Good breeders take steps to ensure their animal never ends up in a shelter, and will live a happy and full life in a loving home. A good breeder knows some puppies are not perfectly normal, and will not let them go to any home.
And the pedigree of the dog, including the parents, need to be considered. This is in terms of temperament and in terms of health. Nervous dogs, or aggressive dogs, should not be bred from, and should not be in the pedigree. Buyers should insist on meeting at least the mother of the puppy, and any other relatives possible. The pedigree should, however, include healthy dogs – especially dogs that are old and healthy. Certificates of health should be presented for the parents, including any relevant scores (e.g. hip, eye, etc) for the particular breed. Knowing the background of the puppy provides some security and confidence in what the puppy may grow to be.
I’m sure if people went through all these steps, or even half of these steps, we’d have less dog problems than we see today. There would be no impulse buys, if people were selecting the right breed, and going through a responsible breeder. If people considered pedigrees and parents more often, there would be more healthy and stable dogs.
Selecting the right breed, from the right breeder, from the right pedigree, would right a lot of wrongs. … We can dream, can’t we?
Further reading: Can breeders breed better?
For so long, the message has been “socialise, socialise, socialise“. The idea has been that, regardless of the puppy you select, you should be able to socialise it into a happy, normal, well adjusted pup.
Markable Curly Coated Retriever puppies, socialising with some cows.
The more I learn about dogs, the more I am inclined to disagree. I think we have hugely overlooked the role of genetics in determining many behaviours. While I will always advocate socialisation to get the best out of a dog, I think some dogs are genetically wired to be confident despite their socialisation experiences.
I have some anecdotal evidence to share with you.
I used to work in boarding kennels. We had a pretty extensive questionnaire we’d ask new clients and, sometimes, owners would admit: “We didn’t really socialise her.” Considering these admissions, most of these dogs were actually quite okay. I can recall very few cases when these dogs were outwardly aggressive to people, and most were okay with dogs, too. What kind of explanation supports this evidence? To me, it suggests that these dogs were either genetically ‘good’ dogs, solid and confident, or genetically ‘mostly good’ dogs, which needed minimal socialisation to complete an adequate behaviour code.
Another example with my own girl, Winona. Winona came into my household at a difficult time and got relatively little socialisation compared to other puppies that have come through my house. However, she is a very confident dog. She is tolerant of all handling, she likes all people, and though she is sometimes ‘overwhelmed’ by large dogs when she first meets them, she recovers well and interacts appropriately. It’s clear that Winona is supposed to be a confident, happy, non-aggressive dog. Socialisation had, at most, very little to do with her as an adult dog. Considering the confident, non-aggressive dispositions of her parents, I am not surprised. Winona is genetically confident.
Mooch the Norwegian Elkhound – with us for 2 months due to her severe fear issues.
And then let’s consider Mooch. Mooch was a foster dog we had last year for 2 months. She was an incredibly fearful dog. It took two weeks before my partner could touch her. Once she was on my lap when a stranger approach, and she expelled her anal glands in terror (I didn’t even know this was possible). From her history, it seems she was (almost) kept exclusively in a house for 2 years, being tended by immediate family, with few visitors and few outings.
It took very little effort to bring Mooch around to a near-normal dog. She will never be perfect, but she didn’t take huge efforts or time to get her to be a decent dog. I took her out to tracking training with me a few times, and this is a very busy house – you need to get used to seeing a lot of people fairly quick! You would think, from her history, Mooch would be impossible to restore to confidence. I think Mooch was never meant to be a fearful dog – I met Mooch’s parents and I have met few dogs as beautifully confident and contented. I think Mooch was a genetically confident dog, with a hugely neglected socialisation period, that meant she displayed fearful behaviours.
Now, again, I believe the environments and the genetics work together to produce the dog. I’d like to emphasise that I think socialisation is important, but not the ‘be-and-end-all’ of dog behaviour. To me, the message of “socialise, socialise, socialise” is outdated.
I vote for a new slogan: “select, select, select”. I’ll explain in my next post.
