If your dog suffers from anxiety, you’re not alone. Many factors contribute to your dog’s distress. For decades, dog anxiety was attributed to isolation distress, AKA separation anxiety, while reactions to people, dogs, noises, and other stimuli were dismissed as mere character flaws. Now, canine anxiety is studied, diagnosed, and treated compassionately to address a range of behaviors once considered maladaptive, such as destructiveness, leash reactivity, accidents, excessive barking, and aggression.

Doodles are very popular dogs, which means there are reputable breeders, committed to producing the healthiest dogs possible, and then there are breeders looking to make a quick buck. You need to know how to spot the difference so you can find the right dog for you. When faced with a lapful of adorable puppies, you may want to take all of them home with you, but doing a simple temperament test will help you find a dog who’ll settle in to your family with ease.

Both Pit Bull males and females make equally good companions. Pit Bull males are slightly larger than females. Some males mark their territory inside your house by urinating on walls and furniture, a behavior that can be difficult to thwart. Males may fight with other males, especially other male Pit Bulls.Females, too, can fight with each other, especially other females, but are somewhat less likely to do so.

Getting a dog should never be a trial affair. And that goes twice as much for a Pit Bull. Because of the number of Pit Bulls in shelters and rescues, and the number who will never make it back out, you owe it to any dog you get to make sure it’s a lifelong commitment—and that means making sure that a Pit Bull is right for you.

Pit Bulls are the Peter Pans (well, maybe if Peter Pan were a wrestler) of the dog world, eternally young at heart. They remain young of body as well—up to a point. While your Pit Bull may be active and healthy for a long time, one day you will look at your youngster and be shocked to discover that his face has silvered and his gait has stiffened.

Perhaps no other dog breed has endured as many public misconceptions as has the Pit Bull. These misconceptions truly run the gamut: Although some people consider Pit Bulls to be the safest and gentlest companions, others regard them as evil enough to be Satan’s understudies. Neither viewpoint is correct, but both have some basis in fact — and in the breed’s controversial roots.