I’ve always liked dogs, ever since I was a kid. Unfortunatly, since I lived in an appartment, I wasn’t able to have one, until I moved out and bought a house. Then, all I had to do is choose a puppy. But which puppy would be the best for me?
Well, as it turned out, I fell in love with a Shih Tzu and that’s who we adopted, and we’ve been happy with our choice, but it could have been a real mismatch. We were lucky. Ignorant, yet lucky.
Did we know a Shih Tzu would need grooming? Yes, but not to the extent that it does. Fortunatly, I like to brush my dog’s hair while doing other things, so that’s not an issue.
Did we know Shih Tzus were stubborn little rascals and are hard to house break? Yes, but did we realise it would take more than 6 (more than 9???) months to somewhat succeed? No.
And we got our puppy during the hard months of Canadian winter, so that wasn’t the best of ideas, was it?
Most of these issues and others could have been prevented, or at least acknowledged if we’d just look for more information on the breed.
There are a lot of Web sites about dog breeds, but more of those I stumbled upon would usually have a list of breeds and a link to the information page. That’s not so bad if you know the name of the breed, but if you’re not sure, a picture can be very helpful in browsing the breeds.
That’s exactly what the
dog breed information section of the
BreederRetriever.com Web site has to offer.
Each breed data sheet has 4 main sections of information.
- General facts about the breed, such as: group classification, country of origin, life expectancy.
- A description of the physical appearance of what is the breed standard.
- A section about the usual temperament of the dog, whether it’s a suitable choice for children or not, whether it is obedient or free minded.
- Finally, a section about what care the breed demands. Some dogs can be quite demanding, and size does not necessarily matters.
Each dog breed is also rated about 13 criterion, on a scale of 1 to 10. Criterion are affection, energy, playfulness, sociability, trainability, exercise needs, grooming need, Suitability to cold/heat and watch dog/guard dog capability.
Furthermore, since each breed is rated, you can sort the list of breeds according to one of the 13 criterion, thus enabling you to better choose a breed that fits best your particular situation.
Rating each dog about those criterion is awesome. However, the meaning of the classification leaves me somewhat puzzled. I understand that, for example, a dog with 3 stars in
grooming needs doesn’t need much attention, whereas a dog with 8 stars in
grooming needs is much more demanding. It would have been so great if the star rating system was accompanied with a legend. For example, for
grooming needs,
1 to 2 stars could mean “
one bath a month, brush as needed“, and
9 to 10 stars could mean “
bathe weekly, daily brushing to prevent mats in hair“. Otherwise, the criteria is very much subjective to what the person who rated the breed thinks. Unfortunatly, I cannot read in that person’s mind!
If you’re interested in the breed history, a navigation tab also provides some insight in how each breed came to existence.
I would have really liked a search feature where you could enter the partial name of a breed. Sometimes, you know part of the name, and not necessarily the beginning of the name. Thus alphabetical ordering of dog breeds make little sense if that’s the case. For instance, if I know “Welch Corgi”, it would be nice if it would direct me to “Cardigan Welch Corgi”.
A really neat feature is the ability to browse other user’s pictures of the breeds, and also a discussion forum for each breeds. It makes a lot of sense since owners of the same breed will probably experience the same issues. It’s nice to have a place where you can discuss common issues among people who have experience.
The only problem with this part of the Web site is the integration with the rest of the Web site. The forums and pictures of the breed are running on a different engine and navigation system than the main part of the Website, thus leaving the user a little bit confused as to where to click to come back to the breeds listing. Fixing this would make this Web site a much better resource than it already is.
Another feature that has the potential to becoming a great resource is the
dog breeders directory. It has the awesome knack of being geographically integrated with Google maps, thus making the search for a nearby breeder easy. The word of mouth has to keep going among dog breeders, more breeders are needed, especially from Canada where they are scarce in the directory.
There are lots more to discover in visiting
BreederRetriever.com, but I think I’ve detailed the most important features here.
Overall,
BreederRetriever.com has the potential to be the best online resource for dog owners, breeders, and dog enthusiasts. Fixing the few issues I mentionned would tremendously enhance the user experience, and might just be what needed to be done to get to be the best dog breed information Web site online.
This was a paid advertisement.
brem
