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I debated whether or not I should post this, but I decided it would be nice to have lots of other feedback on this situation.
We have been doing a puppy search and had breeders fairly narrowed down. However, an interesting scenario has recently presented itself. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details, but essentially someone has suggested that I purchase a green-ish 2 year old that would "kind of" be coming from someone I know and I know the background of the dog fairly well (I know...sounds confusing but I can't go into too many details without giving it away!). Price in this instance is not an issue, as the current "keeper" of the dog and breeder think that my aspirations would be a good fit, so the price for puppy versus this dog wouldn't be too much of a difference. The dog has not been titled, but has been tested in just about every venue you can think of.
The way I see it here are the pros and cons of each:
Puppy Pros
- well, let's be honest...puppies are adorable
and puppy breath is awesome
- get to get the experience of training a good working line puppy from start to finish
- shape behaviors, raise, and train to how it suits our family
-satisfaction of doing it myself
- Elsa tends to accept puppies and be less dominant with them than adult dogs
Puppy Cons
- Potty training
- Lankshark phase
- Length of time before ready to title/compete/be an operational SAR dog
Adult Pros
- Mentally mature and good training foundation already in place
- No naughty puppy phase that makes you want to rip your hair out
- Dog would be ready much sooner to get out there and do things
Adult Cons
- Sort of feel like I'm "cheating" in taking a dog that already has a fair amount of training
- Some pressure (from myself, not the other party involved) to "do good" by the dog and make sure it reaches it's full potential
- Elsa tends to be very dominant and doesn't settle as well in the house with an adult
Soooooo. Any other thoughts? We were pretty much set on a puppy and then this opportunity presented itself so I definitely want to explore this option as well.
We have been doing a puppy search and had breeders fairly narrowed down. However, an interesting scenario has recently presented itself. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details, but essentially someone has suggested that I purchase a green-ish 2 year old that would "kind of" be coming from someone I know and I know the background of the dog fairly well (I know...sounds confusing but I can't go into too many details without giving it away!). Price in this instance is not an issue, as the current "keeper" of the dog and breeder think that my aspirations would be a good fit, so the price for puppy versus this dog wouldn't be too much of a difference. The dog has not been titled, but has been tested in just about every venue you can think of.
The way I see it here are the pros and cons of each:
Puppy Pros
- well, let's be honest...puppies are adorable
- get to get the experience of training a good working line puppy from start to finish
- shape behaviors, raise, and train to how it suits our family
-satisfaction of doing it myself
- Elsa tends to accept puppies and be less dominant with them than adult dogs
Puppy Cons
- Potty training
- Lankshark phase
- Length of time before ready to title/compete/be an operational SAR dog
Adult Pros
- Mentally mature and good training foundation already in place
- No naughty puppy phase that makes you want to rip your hair out
- Dog would be ready much sooner to get out there and do things
Adult Cons
- Sort of feel like I'm "cheating" in taking a dog that already has a fair amount of training
- Some pressure (from myself, not the other party involved) to "do good" by the dog and make sure it reaches it's full potential
- Elsa tends to be very dominant and doesn't settle as well in the house with an adult
Soooooo. Any other thoughts? We were pretty much set on a puppy and then this opportunity presented itself so I definitely want to explore this option as well.