If you’re in the market for a pom, you’ll have to decide how old a Pomeranian you want. Broadly speaking you can view potential poms in 3 age categories:
Puppies (less than 1 year old)
Adult Pomeranians (2-6 years old)
Senior Pomeranians (7 years and older)
1. Puppies
If nothing else, the experience of choosing a puppy is an exciting event! What’s cuter than a 3 inch furball in your lap, all ready for you to lead out into the world?
Advantages
The greatest advantage to adopting a puppy is that you’ll get to play a crucial role in shaping your pom during its formative years. Unlike adults– who generally have their personalities and habits in place when you adopt them– with puppies it’s up to you to shape them into the Continue reading Should You Adopt an Adult, a Puppy, or a Senior Pomeranian?→
Deciding to go for an adult pomeranian rather than a puppy is an exciting decision! But it’s also one with both advantages and disadvantages compared to picking a pom straight out of the litter (see our related post).
On one hand adults tend to be better behaved and may even be housetrained. On the other hand the adult pom already has habits—good or bad—ingrained and so these may be harder to change than if you started with a puppy.
In this article we’ll talk about questions you should ask the person you’re buying your adult dog from as well as what things to pay attention to when interacting with the pom.
A popular method for determining a puppy’s temperament is Puppy Aptitute Testing (PAT).
While there are experts in Puppy Aptitute Testing who would gladly take your money for them to run the tests, the truth is you don’t really need to hire one to inspect your puppy. Just use the following simple tests to get a feel for how the puppy you’re interested in will behave.
1. Social Attraction Test
Procedure: Motion the puppy to approach you from 4 feet (1.2 m) away
Good response: The puppy should eagerly approach you with his tail down
If you’ve decided that you want to get a pom puppy, then you want to make sure you research any potential pups thoroughly any time you visit a potential puppy seller.
If you need help figuring out where to find a pom puppy, see our article about where to buy a pom.
Here’s a checklist of things to pay attention to when you do a puppy visit.
1. Age
Your ideal puppy should be between 8 and 12 weeks old. This is a good age because the puppy will typically be finished weaning, is eating a lot, and is full of energy. At this point they are ready to belong to a new home and become attached to people.
Pomeranians are small, fluffy, and cute! They make you just want to hold them and cater to their every whim. How can you resist that teddy bear snout, that shaggy coat, that puffy tail?
But it’s exactly these qualities that make pom owners particularly vulnerable to small dog syndrome. In this post we’ll describe what small dog syndrome is and how you can prevent it!
What Is Small Dog Syndrome?
Small syndrome isn’t an official medical condition. Instead it’s a psychological state where your pomeranian thinks he or she is “head of the pack.” Your pom basically sees you as the pet and himself as the owner! As the owner, he sees it as HIS DUTY to ward off (i.e., bark and attack) strangers, keep you in line, eat what he wants, and do what he pleases.
One of the decisions you have to make when you decide to look for a pomeranian is whether you want to find a show pom or a pet pom. What are the main things you need to think about? (Besides price, of course!)
How much do you want to spend? Show Poms will cost more, typically A LOT more.
How serious are you about training your dog to be a show pom?
How much research do you want to put into your dog’s lineage, intelligence, and physical looks?
One of the first questions you’ll have if you’re looking into getting a pomeranian is how much they cost.
The short answer is that they can range anywhere from almost free to thousands of dollars! How? Read on to learn more!
Free (Or Nearly Free) Poms
Free poms? How do I get one, you’re probably asking. Here are some cases where you might be able to get a pom for free:
you have a neighbor/friend/relative with poms who just had puppies and is willing to give you one for free
you find one at the pound or at a shelter and you get one for almost free
you find one from a rescue organization or on a rescue dog site like petfinder that is being offered for free or almost free
In all of these cases, you’re “rescuing” a pom that more or less wasn’t wanted by the previous owner. This is a great thing Continue reading How Much Do Poms Cost?→
Dogs don’t sense things like people do. For example, trying to teach a pom to tell the difference between a red scarf and a green scarf may be a lost cause because your little buddy doesn’t see colors well.
To understand how to best communicate with your pom this means you should understand how he senses the world.
Smell
Smell is a pom’s strongest sense. Poms use smell as their primary sense for understanding the world, which is why you often see two dogs sniffing each others’ butts as a “greeting.” Your pom Continue reading Pomeranians and the 5 Senses→
If you already own other pets such as cats, other dogs, hamsters, birds, etc. and are thinking of adding a pomeranian to your family, you might wonder how this will work out. We explore several cases that might occur and what you should be aware of for each one:
Adding a pom when you already own other dogs
Adding a pom when you own cats
Adding a pom when you own other pets (birds, exotic pets, etc)
Adding a pom when you already have another dog
Dogs are pack animals. Because of this, when two dogs meet there will always be a more dominant dog and a less dominant dog.You might encounter several different scenarios here:
