But since I am a dog beware my fangs.

Okay but hear me out:

What my dog thinks I’m using:

That final was intense. Those dogs are damn impressive. 

I’ve always gotten a lot of questions about my dogs in regards to their “difficulty level”. I also see a lot of smack talk about how naive people must be to get “this breed” as their “starter dog”.

Like, don’t get me wrong. I know a lot of people see some cute fluffy dog and think, “I want one of those” and do zero research regards to their temperament, their drive, their challenges, and their needs. Trust me, I get it. I hate seeing people get angry that their shepherd herds everything that moves, or pissed off that their working dog destroys everything in sight because a one hour walk a day isn’t enough stimulation for him.

But, I don’t understand this mentality that so many people seem to have, that dog breeds are lined up on a “difficulty skala”, like a golden retriever is some perfect “starter dog” for a level 1 dog handler, and you must achieve level 5 dog handler status before attempting to own a GSD, or husky.

How difficult a dog is for you as a first time dog owner is completely relative to who you are as a person, and your individual lifestyle. There is no one-breed-fits-all dog that is a perfect “starter breed” to ease you into it, before you can try a more “challenging” dog and then work your way up to the “ultimate boss” dog (which, by the way, if there was one, it would be a toss up between a border collie and a dutch x mal cross).

I’ve had shepherd dogs virtually all my life, and it did jack all to prepare me for how to deal with labradors. I’ve been around dogs, worked with dogs, of all kinds of breeds, but I’d be absolutely bananas to bring home a jack russell terrier right now, and while I could “handle” a Labrador, it wouldn’t bring me the same kind of joy.

It just makes me sad when people ask me if I think they can “handle” a samoyed as their first dog, like there’s some kind of starter breed they have to go through first before they are allowed to bring a samoyed into their home.

I just want to say once and for all, there is no perfect starter dog, and there’s no list of dogs you have to go through before you level up enough to get the dog you “really” want. It doesn’t matter how “difficult” the dog is. What matters is why you want this specific dog.

Does this dog fit your lifestyle? Do you have the time to care for his specific needs? Are you willing to seek assistance from a trainer? Are you able to admit that you don’t have all the answers and do your best to learn and grow?

Do you want this breed because you think they’ll make a great companion on your journey together, or because you saw one once and it licked your hand and it was magical and it’s all you can think about now?

Right now, at this point and time in your life, can you provide the enrichment this breed needs? I’ve owned many shepherds, but I knew a shepherd would not be happy with where I live now, and the time I have available. I know how to socialize a shepherd, I know how to confront their potential reactivity. But I also know that now is not the time to build that kind of partnership. And it has nothing to do with whether it’s too difficult because it’s my first dog ever and the breed might overwhelm me–it’s because in spite of my many years of experience with this breed, our lifestyles would not jive well.

It doesn’t matter which breed of dog is the first puppy you bring home. It matters that you are dedicated to researching, learning, training, and going the distance on your journey together.

2) ran full speed and hit end of long line resulting in my arm being pulled so bad I had to take time of work.

3) missed the tug toy and bit my stomach, resulting in a bad bruise and teeth marks. (It hurt with just the lightest touch).

2. I went into the water and she wanted to follow me despite hating swimming. So she reached me and tried climbing up on me, so now I have a scar on my right arm from her not-sharp thumb dewclaw.

2. Didi was cuddling with me on the couch as a puppy and full on punched me in the eye and I was worried I’d like scratched my cornea because I couldn’t open it for a day

3. My leg got caught in the long line when I threw a ball for Didi and I got yanked on my ass and bad rope burn on my leg

And both of them have given me really bad tugs which have resulted in me falling or having bad arm/shoulder/neck pain and accidentally bitten hands and fingers (inhibited tho) when playing. George is a handsy dog so I’ve been scratched and punched by him a lot.