By Rikke Jorgensen
Getting ready to search for a four-legged family member? One of the biggest questions to answer is whether to bring home a puppy or an adult dog. Here’s a list of things to consider.
Puppy pros:
You get a chance to do it, as Sinatra crooned, your way. A puppy is learning about the world from scratch, and you can give yours the best possible start in life—puppy daycare, puppy socials, lots of training and play, encounters with friendly people, etc.
You can often meet a puppy’s parents, whether online or in the real world. That allows you to judge for yourself if mom and dad possess the qualities you want in a dog. Are they friendly, healthy, playful, outgoing?
Puppy cons:
Despite your best efforts to shape his personality, your puppy might turn out different than you hoped. Hyperactive, for example. Or painfully shy. There are simply no guarantees.
Like small children, puppies need oodles of attention and care. You must house-train yours, teach him manners, see that he’s well socialized, and so on.
Puppies cost more initially. They need vaccinations, new equipment, and bigger beds as they grow.
Adult dog pros:
What you see is what you get. Adult dogs (2+ years) have fully developed personalities, so the dog you meet at the humane society is who you’ll live with. Some dogs with kennel stress only ‘become themselves’ after settling into a new home. But in such cases things often go from good to better: A shy dog gets more confident or a playful dog gets downright frolicsome.
Most adult dogs are either house-trained already or need only a few weeks’ refresher course.
Adult dog cons:
You’ve missed the critical socialization period. Any behavior problems resulting from prior trauma or neglect must be addressed with training and consistency, and may never fully disappear.
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About the author:
Rikke Jorgensen is a San Francisco-based writer whose work regularly appears in the dog culture magazine, The Bark, the San Francisco SPCA’s magazine, Our Animals, and many other publications. She’s a recipient of the Dog Writers Association of America’s Maxwell Medal for best Magazine Feature.
