Planning on getting a dog? Dream of how nice it will be? Read this!
For every well behaved dog you see, there will be 9 more which have been left at home because of their bad behaviour.
In the UK there are 25 million homes and we have a dog population of 8.5 million which means that around 25-35% of homes in England have a dog as a part of their Family. Official figures suggest that 30% of homes own a dog.
At WKD we are firm believers in a dog/human relationship where the owner does not have to compromise their lifestyle or the quality of their dogs life because of unwanted behaviour. Unfortunately it appears that many dogs and owners are suffering a less than ideal life together because their dog isn’t well behaved or they have undesirable temperament traits.
Our quest to improve the lives of dogs and people around the world has lead us on a learning curve steeper than we could have ever imagined and along the way we have discovered some amazing insights into the reality of living with the typical friendly but boisterous and uncontrolled dog that the majority of owners have regardless of wether they have taken on an older dog or raised a puppy.
One interesting realisation is that when a prospective dog owner embarks on the journey into dog ownership they usually do so based upon a dream of the perfect dog based upon various meetings they have had with lovely dogs over the years.
Imagine for a moment that you walk in to a pub/restaurant and meet a lovely and well mannered dog. You have been thinking of adding a dog to your family for a while and meeting this dog helps push you across the line. You are already imagining how great it will be to take your dog out on such trips with you and you are so excited to hear the wonderful comments that you will get from members of the public when they meet your dog in the future – STOP!!
The above scenario is familiar for many people but is not a realistic view of typical dog ownership. Based on the population of dogs in the UK, if there were 100 families in the restaurant and only one family had a dog with them, then around 30 other families in the restaurant had left their dog at home. Why would they have left their best friend and companion at home when they are out enjoying some nice food and relaxing in a friendly public place? Because their dog cannot be trusted in such an environment.
True to our 10% pass rate on our temperament test, over 90% of the dogs that the patrons owned were not the type of dog with the type of behaviour which would be conducive to them joining their family in such an environment.
The same can be said for dogs running off lead in the park or at the beach, in the coffee shop or at the vets – whilst a few dogs a running free, playing with their owner, generally being responsive, polite and easy going all of the dogs which are kept on the lead are not capable of such good behaviour and even more owners won’t even venture to such an environment until after dark or early in the morning when all of the other owners and members of the public have left. Out of all the dogs that attend your local park, only around 10% of them will allow their owners the freedom to enjoy off lead walks with their dog regardless of the distractions of the environment.
How many dogs do you think don’t get proper walks because they pull like a train on the lead? Or how many never exercise off lead because they cannot be trusted to come back when called or chase animals, jump on strangers or get into fights? How many can’t go to the coffee shop or the pub with their owners? According to our temperament testing statistics, only 10% of puppies develop into the ideal ‘go anywhere’ dog. The other 90% end up living a life of compromise and so do their owners. Selecting the right dog is critical to success.
If you are looking for a well mannered, well behaved dog with a solid temperament which will be capable of full inclusion within your life then buying a dog based upon a breed description and then planning on training it is not the answer. You must start with the right temperament for such a life in the individual dog and then proactively raise your puppy to strengthen certain traits and reduce others. Stop looking at breed generalisations and start looking deeper into the individual dogs character. Read more about our temperament tests here.
If you would like to get hands on experience of the correct temperament of dog for your family then come along to WKD for a no obligation demonstration of how we do what we do and remain the market leaders in this very niche area. We will not pressure you to buy a dog, we are busy enough, but if we can help you make the right choice, regardless of your route into dog ownership then we will consider it a job well done on our part!
