by Tim Guy

Created on: May 21, 2008   Last Updated: July 11, 2010

So you've decided that you want to pick up poop and clean wee off your carpet for the next six months? Well Congratulations! Owning a dog is like having a best mate that doesn't talk back, go home half way through a night out or puke up on your girlfriends (hopefully!)

It is truly rewarding but you must remember that dogs are a huge tie. That means no holidays without the added expense of kennels, no random trips to the shops oh no everything has to be planned perfectly!

Before even considering what breed of dog you would like to own you need to ask yourself can I afford to pay for a dog? The vets bills, pet insurance, food, leads, collars, toys?

If the answers yes then I'd like the take the opportunity to tell you that there's two ways you can go:

Get down the dogs home right now, or open up that dusty old breeds book your Nan gave you for Christmas when you were eight.

Seriously though, I don't want to put you off the idea of re-homing an animal, but they can have severe problems such as disobedience, aggression or separation anxiety. If you're a first time owner id recommend buying a breed from a decent breeder.

There are quite a few types of search engines on Google that tell you which breed is best suited to you and there good as well. You select exercise requirements, guard dog potential and lots of other things. It then gives you a list of the best breeds for your circumstances. Do it. Now.

Ok so you've got your list of breeds? Excellent. Now you need to go on the kennel club website and search out potential breeders and go and visit them, their family and their litters.

Now this is where your heart comes into it. no matter how sad eyed or shaky hands the pups are make sure you look past the sweetness, criticize and assess their character and how well built they are until you know he's the guy for you. be careful though because there's allot of rouge traders out there out to make a quick buck out of animal trading.

Once the above is out of the way you should ensure all certificates, health checks and injections are in order and then pick whichever puppy you feel is right for you. And believe me you'll know which one it is!

All that remains is to purchase the necessary chew toys to be ignored the car harness that will not be worn and the doggy bed that won't get slept in and you're away! Make sure you take into account however where you are going to train the beasty and also how you're going to train him or her, after all, puppies are messy, noisy, smelly, and disgustingly lovable! Again the best information is search-able on the Internet or in the yellow pages!
Good luck!

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