@karendel We picked based on personality, of a puppy. Fun fact about puppies, their personalities change!!
Our shelter had a litter brought in from a little rural community as soon as they were able to be adopted out, and we were told “black lab X” Which was true, but she’s also got a lot of GSD and malamute! Due to her very mutty heritage she’s a rough 1/3 or each, but as a small puppy she looked exactly like a tiny black lab. Her Roman nose didn’t grow in until we had her for a month, and only when we finally saw her in bright sunlight could we tell she was dark sable instead of black but had black GSD saddle and mask markings. Again, only visible in bright sunlight. We’d adopted her in winter. Her husky fur which sprouts from her belly, butt and armpits didn’t grow in until she was almost two years old, her armpits and belly were just straight up hairless until then.
Her demeanour changed to reflect all this. While she started out as a calm, toddling, chill dude, she rapidly became a howling malamaniac who used her GSD cleverness to satiate her black lab greed by doing insane things like swallowing whole potatoes out of a bag within the 20 second turnaround it took for us to make a second trip to the car for groceries.
We also thought mutts were supposed to be healthier in general due to a lack of inbreeding or overbreeding for extreme pedigree traits, but she was allergic to everything for years (most of her allergies have chilled out now that she’s 9) and had to be on a diet of salmon and bison and goat and kelp etc. This resulted in chronic ear infections during puppyhood.
She’s way more active than we expected, she talks more, she’s way smarter than we anticipated, and she comes up with her own forms of “sign language” (she has specific ways of butting or manipulating your hands with her nose to mean different things to directly ask you for stuff) so all in all she is way more than the dog we bargained for. We also love every part of her and have cherished every moment. We have no regrets at all.
Moral of the story; do your absolute best to consider your options and choose the dog you’re sure is the best suited for your lifestyle and home… but be prepared for that to not be the case once they settle in. Dogs are intelligent enough to have big personalities, and sometimes they don’t show them until they’ve adjusted to their new home (or in ours case, grown up). You could have your dog for a few months before their true selves starts showing, be prepared to love and care for whatever comes.
