Bonding With Humans
Some professionals who train dogs specifically advise obtaining a puppy at about seven weeks of age. Their research indicates that it is at this precise point in time that a puppy is most ready to bond to a human and subsequently depends upon that person for approval. They believe that prior to that time, the puppy needs to be with his siblings and mother. After that time, the puppy passes through varying stages that lessen the puppy’s need for bond with humans and make him more independent in nature. Though not all animal behaviorists would attempt to be this precise; however, there does seem to be general agreement that the optimum time to bring a puppy into his new home is at about seven to eight weeks of age, depending upon the breed. Even so, literally hundreds of thousands of other dogs can be successfully adopted, and you may have already decided that an adult dog is more to your liking.
Choosing an adult dog has both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, the adult dog’s temperament is pretty well set and more easily determined, so you will have some clues as to how your personalities might mesh. a less positive aspect is the fact that the dog may be set in his ways and you will have to work a bit harder to undo habits that do not work for your household.
Don’t adopt any dog, puppy or adult, based simply on the way he looks. Spend as much time as you can with the dog before piling him into your car and rushing him home. Pick an adult dog whose personality matches yours. If you are a laid-back individual who has a low-key approach to life, an excitable, off-the-wall kind of a dog may be more than you can cope with. On the other hand, an extroverted tri-athlete may not find the ideal companion in a pokey, mellow, short-legged dog.
Keeping all of this in mind will give you a more definite and suitable approach to training, rather than having expectations of your dog that he will find extremely difficult, if not impossible, to live up to. Observe the dog you have selected and act accordingly. Do not rush to judgement and mistake your dog’s unwillingness to respond for a lack of intelligence. This is probably not the case at all. A better way of viewing your dog’s mental capacity may be that he is thinking a lot, thus prolonging his training, which the owner may not always appreciate. On the other hand, while the less “intelligent” breeds may be easier to train, there’s many an owner would not trade the excitement of seeing what his dog will come up with next for all the perfect behavior in the manuals. Life is a tradeoff. Whatever the case, every breed of dog is trainable when you use the best approach for his individual personality.
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