Personality Matching and Your Puppy
Finding the right puppy is more than just picking out size and color and should primarily include personality matching to you and your family. Re-homing a dog for behavior reasons is not uncommon. Inevitably, you are bound for problems if you solely pick out a puppy by how cute they are.
Disney’s 101 Dalmatians was originally produced back in 1961 and almost 60 years later my kids love to watch it. Who wouldn’t love those well behaved puppies that thwart Cruella Deville at every turn? This movie was such a hit that it was re-released several times over the subsequent decades. Dalmatians became very popular after each movie and shortly afterwards flooded humane societies throughout the country. Who’s to blame? Caveat emptor is the Latin term for buyer beware. The buyer is to blame and is a failure of personality matching. Evidently, the problem of impulse buying by the ignorant has been a problem for millennia.
Up North Pyrenees is here to help solve this problem. First, we ask all prospective owners if they have read about Great Pyrenees. Do they know Pyrs shed a lot at times? Do they know Pyrs can be stubborn? Do they know Pyrs can bark all night when they are left outside? There are reasons for these qualities. If they can’t live with it or learn to love it then they need to move on to the another breed. Second, do they know some of the best qualities of the Great Pyrenees? Loyalty, companionship, gentleness, protection of the weak and vulnerable to name a few.
Up North Pyrenees gets a little nosy into your life and family and will inquire more of you. Would you tell me about you and your family? We love to get more than a paragraph of information. Frequently, I listen to customers talk for 15 minutes about themselves. We get a very good idea of who you are and what personality type will fit best into your family.
Our family cares for these puppies as a team. My two youngest sons are superstars when it comes to personality recognition but neither of them are as good as my wife. Being a perfectionist might be seen as a negative. But, not if it is a carpenter building your house, a dental hygienist cleaning your teeth, or a surgeon fixing your daughter’s fractured ankle. Amber is a perfectionist and this is one of the most wonderful personality traits a breeder can possess when picking out the right puppy personality for your family. Lazy, hyperactive, calm, confident, dominant, submissive, observant, shy or needy. Their personalities really start to come through at the 6-7 week mark and we observe them for many hours. We take this part of the job seriously and it is the most difficult and stressful part of our job.
You can learn how to identify these personalities by familiarizing yourself with the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test. Take some time to look this over or print it out when you visit a litter that is unknown to you. This test isn’t fool proof but is better than just going by a feeling. You will be getting a “snapshot” of their behaviors. We believe our long interactions with them is far superior even to this method.
There are rare times when a puppy in a litter just doesn’t match you. We won’t place a puppy with you. That should make you feel good and inspire you to continue with us. But, you may not feel that way when you find out that you won’t be receiving a puppy on 1-2 weeks’ notice. We will typically give you the choice of several puppies that fit you. This is how we really do love our puppies and honor our families. You can choose to wait for the next litter or we’ll return your deposit. But, you need to know that this is likely the best gift we could give you and keep you from a not so good personality match.
We desire to work on your behalf to provide excellent puppies to the glory of God. I hope what you’ve read will help you wherever you go to get your next puppy. Hopefully, you’ll choose Up North Pyrenees for your next high quality personality matched Great Pyrenees puppy!