The decision to buy or adopt a puppy should never be taken without careful thought. Several things deserve consideration, such as:

  • The time and space you have
  • Your ability to take care of the animal
  • Your own sense of responsibility
  • The agreement of everyone involved
  • Your professional and personal future. A settled life is essential.
  • The financial commitment

On the dog’s side, several criteria also come into play in this choice:

  • Its breed and temperament
  • Its life expectancy
  • Its ancestry
  • The breeder
  • Its socialisation
  • Its pedigree and guarantee

It is worth knowing that not just anyone can set themselves up as a breeder. A breeder and their establishment must hold a licence. Bringing puppies into the world and raising them through their first few weeks of life — the most important weeks, which shape a dog’s character almost for good — is a heavy responsibility, not one open to amateurs.

What is more, the law now places certain duties on breeders, which weeds out the hobbyists who are more tempted by the profit from a sale than by the serious business of raising the litter well.

A litter, after all, means a great deal of work in socialisation and in schooling by both people and the mother. Only puppies used to a range of stimuli (firecrackers, gunshots, traffic, children, dogs, elderly or disabled people, and so on) can grow into dogs with no behavioural problems. A dog’s aggression, even its dangerousness, often has its roots in its first ten weeks of life.

That said, it is clear that a dog needs training well beyond its time with the breeder, and the owner is entirely responsible if something goes wrong: firstly because they bought or chose the dog, and secondly because of the training they give it and the control — or lack of it — they have over it. We still see far too many owners who have no idea how to train their companion, making glaring mistakes that lead to dangerous situations.

So adopting a puppy must remain a considered act, and not a gift to be given to someone, nor a spur-of-the-moment whim; an animal is not a consumer good to be thrown away when you have had enough.
The Swiss Cynological Society can supply addresses of recognised, licensed breeders.