What to look for?

Our family recently lost our Golden Chow mix of 14 years and we are looking for a couple of new companions. What should we be looking for at the breeders or in the breed itself when it comes time for selection?

We are looking at both a Shih Tzu and a Labrador Retriever.

What are the advantages or disadvantages to getting a dog from the Human Society if they have what we want? We have seen what appear to be some very sad looking pets here locally and one Pet Store actually got closed down because they sold a few dogs that were ill.

Thanks for your help!

Pros :

It's cheap
It's usually easy to adopt a dog

Cons :

Some shelters don't know much about the history of the dog
Some shelters don't take the time to look at the dog's temperament
Some shelters don't bother with some medical problems (infections etc)

I've had bad experiences with the local shelter, but I will still look there first next time we want a dog. It's just very important to ask questions, and spend 30 minutes with the dog before adopting, to see how they react with kids, how trained they are etc.


Another option is to look at www.petfinder.com and look at rescues, although lots of rescues have really annoying pre-requisites.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your decision!