PET CORNER

By CHANTE WILDGOOSE

Every year the holidays seem to come around faster than the year before. Once Discovery Day has past, the winter holidays roll right behind with New Year's here before we can blink an eye! One of the first signs of Christmas for veterinary professionals start to present themselves right around this time; new puppies for Christmas gifts.

Puppies are cute and adorable and they make excellent surprise gifts for people of any age.

But I have to advise that a pet should never be an impulse purchase. As a matter of fact a Christmas puppy is rarely the best of ideas.

The attraction is understandable: Who doesn't love a puppy, and who wouldn't want to delight a child?

But there are reasons why shelters, rescue groups and responsible breeders are uniform in their advice to think twice about a Christmas puppy.

The reasons against a Christmas puppy are broken down into these categories:

1. Holiday stress. Puppies are not toys. They are animals who need a lot of attention. Who has time for a pup during the holidays, that stressful season of socializing, travelling and shopping?

With a houseful of friends and family and a Christmas dinner to prepare, who will make sure the puppy isn't being mauled by overly enthusiastic children and guests? Who has time to get house-training started right?

Most people I know are already working at maximum stress levels during the holidays, trying to get everything done on time.

To get a puppy off to the right start, the animal needs to be number one on the family priority list. That rarely can happen during the holidays.

2. Bad timing. Try house-training a puppy when cold fronts begin to roll in every weekend! Are you really so keen on the idea of a Christmas puppy that you want to be outside on winter nights, shivering? Sounds more like torture.

What about the rest of the training? The first few months of a dog's life are crucial: Bad habits are far easier to prevent than they are to break later, and ongoing socialization is critical.

Will you really feel like training and socializing your pup when the holidays are over, the days are short, and the kids are back in school?

Dogs who grow up unhouse-trained, unmannered and unsocialized too often never get a chance to grow up much at all.

From summer to fall, I get dozens and dozens of phone calls from people who are tearing out their hair over their now-adolescent Christmas puppy!

Some people work with the dogs, but many just dump them in the backyard. Sad for the families, tragic for the dogs.

3. Poor selection. Many reputable breeders and shelters flat-out won't cooperate with your Christmas puppy lust.

That means if you're looking for a puppy, you may be choosing from sellers who don't know or care enough to offer healthy, well-socialized puppies.

With purebred dogs and the new trendy cross-breeds, this can be a real problem because congenital defects such as hip dysplasia turn up frequently in animals from sellers who don't certify their breeding dogs as free of congenital defects.

Such breeders may not know of the potential for problems, or they may not care because health certifications cut into profits.

Their lack of regard for reputable breeding practices may cost you in the long run, both in dollars and in heartbreak, if you buy a puppy from such a person.

Such breeders also may not know or care about the importance of early socialization, gently exposing puppies to the sights, sounds and smells of family life, and leaving them with their mom and littermates for at least the first seven weeks of their lives.

Puppies who miss these important early lessons may end up with less than ideal temperaments.

Dogs can be great for children, and children can be great with dogs. A better bet would be to wait until late spring or summer to find the perfect pup from a shelter or reputable breeder. When the days are longer and the weather is better, it's easier to train and socialize a pup.

It's difficult to pass on that lovely Christmas morning moment, but if your goal is a healthy, well-socialized pet for years to come, wait until the odds are more in your family's favor when it comes to getting the right puppy off to a great start.