Advice before buying or adopting a dog

Plenty of people choose a dog on looks, on a story that got to them or on a general breed description. That's not enough to go on. What counts is how much time you have and what a normal day looks like for you. Then there's the family's experience, whether there are children or other animals, and how much space there is at home. Then your budget and how much noise you can put up with. There's also how active you want to be with the dog, and whether you can get to a vet and to someone who can help with training.

Good advice helps you ask the right questions. What's the dog's history? How does it react to being handled, and how active is it? How does it cope on its own? Are there medical problems? How was it raised, and what support will it need? With puppies, you factor in development and socialisation. Bear in mind too that the adult temperament can't be fully predicted from one short meeting.

Some people come hoping the specialist will “choose” the dog for them. A responsible specialist won't. They explain the risks and how good a match you are, and the decision stays yours. Sometimes the best advice is to wait. That has nothing to do with how much you love animals. It's respect for the life the dog will have once you bring it home.

Advice helps most if this is your first dog, or if there are children or other animals in the family. It's also useful when you can't decide between a puppy, an adult or a senior dog.

No breed and no age guarantees a particular character. Choose by looks or breed reputation and you can miss what the actual dog in front of you needs.

You start with your schedule and the resources you have. Then you talk through a dog's life stages and what it needs in each.

You agree how to recognise a responsible source and what medical information to ask for. At the end you put together a plan for the first few weeks.

When you're looking at a particular dog, watch how it explores and how quickly it recovers from a surprise. Notice how active it is and how well it tolerates handling. See how it reacts to children and strangers, then to other animals. That's how you find out what the situation is like for it.

Come with a rough budget and a plan for holidays. Sort out beforehand what each adult in the house will be responsible for. Think about which vet and which instructor you could turn to.

Serious advice doesn't try to sell you anything. You hear about the hard parts as clearly as the good ones. You're told openly that you can put the decision off. The goals are realistic and you can see them. You get an explanation of what criteria the dog is asked to meet, how you reward it and how the difficulty goes up.

Advice like this is a form of prevention. A realistic plan cuts down the need for corrections later and lets the family start the dog's education from day one.

It can't predict exactly what the future dog's personality will be. Nor does it replace checking the source and the paperwork. Talk the risks through openly. One is an impulse buy. Another is expectations built on breed stereotypes. A third is underestimating how much a dog costs and how much time it takes.