Came across an interesting article on Forbes.com.
You can pick up after your pooch and make sure he plays nice, but it’s your dog’s breed that truly speaks volumes about what kind of owner you are.
Got a Beagle? You are inquisitive and willing to learn new things. The Beagle is constantly questioning. If you own one of these dogs, chances are you are a curious, willful person who is loyal to friends, tough on enemies and pretty stubborn.
Those with Cocker Spaniels are family oriented and nurturing. Gentle, playful and sweet in demeanor, they are the perfect size for smaller children. Owners of these dogs display the same affectionate qualities as their pups.
It appears affection–and an affinity for a pet–go a long way when times are tough.
“Pets have become more like family than an animal left in the dog house in the backyard,” says Daisy Okas, assistant vice president of communications at the American Kennel Club (AKC). “Just as people are not going to skimp on their children, they are not going to cut back on their dog.”
Humans are so devoted to their canine counterparts that despite the economic downturn, it seems pet owners aren’t willing to cut back on canine-related expenditures.
In fact, spending on pet supplies and over-the-counter medicines is expected to reach $10.5 billion by the end of this year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers’ Association. In 2007, spending reached about $9.9 billion.
What does this say about us?
“Animals provide a consistency to the ups and downs of our life, whether that’s the downturn in the economy or job stress,” says Shari Curran, director of Therapet Foundation, a Whitehouse, Texas-based not-for-profit that provides animal-assisted therapy. “They don’t care whether you won or lost a bunch of money in the stock market; they provide unconditional love and react the same way every time you come home.”
Dogs are such an important part of many families that even President-elect Obama felt his daughters would need a furry friend when they move into the White House. They are likely to choose a hypo-allergenic breed like a poodle or miniature schnauzer, given his daughter Malia’s allergies.
But the breed the Obamas choose will also affect how they are perceived by the country. That’s because owners typically identify with animals who have similar personality traits, quirks and physical activity levels, Okas says. To identify which breeds bestow which qualities, we asked the AKC and ASPCA for insight. Their answers are based on scientific studies of breed behavior and the buying habits of pet owners.
Canine Characteristics
Owners of Golden Retrievers, for instance, tend to be social butterflies who prefer to be in group settings, while Chihuahua owners are often mischief-makers, taking after their high-energy canine.
“All toy breeds were bred to be companions,” says Okas. “So Chihuahuas, along with Pomeranians and Maltese, may have a hard time being home alone all day.”
Poodles, America’s choice for the next presidential dog according to a survey conducted in August of more than 42,000 Americans by the AKC, tend to have owners who are detail-oriented and appreciate art and culture.
But the type of breed does not always tell the whole story.
Dr. Emily Weiss, Ph.D, certified applied animal behaviorist and senior director of shelter research and development at the ASPCA, advises those seeking a new member of the family “look at the individual dog and their personality and characteristics, not just the generalizations of the breed.”
Since each individual dog has its own unique personality, regardless of its breed, it’s essential you spend time with the pup in order to evaluate if its energy level, amount of training and disposition are a good fit.
Has read with the pleasure, very interesting post, write still, good luck to you!
Kenn,
If you have Cockers, I am going to put my foot in my mouth…they are hard to house break, bite more often than not–most especially children, can and are often neurotic….and are dam difficult to housebreak….and the owners are often the same! Well I am not sure about the owners housebreaking habits. Yes, I know there are some lovely Cockers–I have just not meet many. With the exception of one sweetie named Charlie–but she is English and very well bred!!
Beagles on the other hand are complete charmers–and so are there owners (I own a beagle!)
LOL–I think I will refrain from adding my web site on this one!!
Hi Katy, my hounds are Max, The Dog Files Mascot, he's a Pointer/American Foxhound mix. And Remy, a beagle/border collie mix.
nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now 😉
keep it up
Hi Kenn,
I have heard cockers are nervous dogs and tend to bite sometimes..
Cockers are not difficult to housebreak, neurotic, or biters. When they are poorly bred animals that someone has bought from a pet store or some bozo down the road who thought they’d breed a litter bucause they had a dog and a bitch, yes, they can be. I grew up with cockers, my mother has bred and shown American Cockers since 1976. She also bred and owned a dog who became the top winning cocker in breed history, his son now holds that record and our dog is number two, his grandsire is also on the top winners list at number 3. We’ve never had trouble housebreaking our dogs, never had a biter, and all have been well socialized and very friendly. My mother still has people who come back to her again and again for pets. She has a waiting list for puppies and retired adults. My mother is also a groomer and I’m a vet tech, and yes, cockers are generally one of the breeds you hate to see come in because they can be very hard to deal with, but it’s not the breed, it’s the poor breeding and lack of proper socialization as a puppy. I could say a lot of bad things about a lot of breeds, but it’s not the breed in general, it’s most often poorly bred and completely unsocialized animals that are the problem, not the dogs breed. Think of it this way… If you had a kid and locked them in a room with nothing but food and water, no contact with other people, no toys ect. don’t you think they’d be afraid of everything and possibly lash out uncontrollably? Even if that child has lots of love and toys at home, but it never sees any one but it’s caretakers, never leaves the house, it’s going to be emotionally stunted and fearfull. That’s what people do to their dogs by not socializing them as puppies. They are pack animals and as such require the company of others.
And as for them biting children more often… did you ever think that maybe more people should teach their children how to properly treat a dog? Even the best dog will get fed up with having it’s eyes poked, coat and ears pulled, kicked, slapped, ect. Some dogs are able to deal with more than others and that makes them good dogs for children, but those kids still need to be taught what’s ok and what’s not. I grew up not only with the cockers but my mother’s doberman as well. most people would say that was an accident waiting to happen, yet I learned how to walk by holding on to her ears, and would lay down with my head on her on the floor and she never made any sort of move to hurt me, even on accident. One of the cockers used to lay under my crib or swing and protect me from people she didn’t know. if I was on the floor, she would curl up next to me. Even after I grew up and we no longer had small children around to socialize our dogs with, we only ever had one who didn’t like kids, and he had good reason. He loved everybody until one year at a dog show we left him in his pen while we walked over to the food vendor to get lunch after we finished showing. As we walked back we caught several boys kicking and hitting his pen, and poking him through the wire with sticks. Where they got the sticks I have no idea since it was an indoor show in an urban area with no trees around. From that time on he hated children. I was still in my teens and competing in junior handling and he was my juniors dog. Because of this incident with unsupervised children who had obviously never been taught that it’s mean and cruel to tease and torture animals, a wonderful dog was made to hate kids.
So don’t go around making nasty comments about an entire breed when you have dealt with very few and no nothing about the breed in general.