It’s not if a kind of dog has “good” or “bad” breeding that will matter most in the end. It is about what the dog was bred for—what circumstances, what places, what behaviors—and why. These are the things that will tell you the most about what your dog is. Though there are occasional “bad seeds” in the gene pool, problems are more likely to arise from an owner simply being unaware of what kind of dog he has in the first place.

Think about it this way: If we try to use a hammer to tighten a screw and end up making a big mess, the hammer is not “bad.” A bowling ball is not “bad” for breaking our toe if we try to use it in a soccer game. The point is that differences in design matter, even if two things seem categorically related (be they tools, balls, or dogs). Not knowing—or ignoring—what something was made to do can set the stage for misunderstandings and accidents.

It’s hard, but when we are on the hunt for our perfect dog, we can’t let love blind us. I am as guilty as anyone of totally drooling over certain breeds of dogs. Some of them are heart-stoppingly supermodel gorgeous and others are irresistibly adorable. We can’t help but be attracted to the appearance of certain dogs, and in some cases are literally flooded with a cascade of the nurturing hormone oxytocin when we see their big eyes and squishy baby faces. Despite these understandable natural reactions, we have to ask ourselves the tough question: Are we pursuing the right type of dog for our lifestyle and personality, no matter how amazingly cute his little face is? We could be disastrously incompatible. We might want a social butterfly and end up with a suspicious and protective introvert. We might want a quiet companion for our children and end up with a total circus in our living room.

Also, if we are to live with them successfully, we can’t afford to ignore the genetics of the dogs we already have and love in our homes. We have to remember that most breeds of dogs were designed to be a specific tool for a specific job—not to be our pet.

Most dog breeds we see today are the result of this utilitarian history; and the relationship between their form and function is inseparable. The appearance of these working dogs is tied to the behavioral jobs for which they were bred. Preserving breeds and their standards means keeping the behavioral DNA that created them in the first place. But few of us actually want all of those traits anymore. Most of us just want a buddy.

Thankfully, we can find out what our dog was made to do; then he can be appreciated for all of those natural instincts and be our buddy at the same time. We can get to the bottom of our dog’s DNA as it is most likely to affect us, and make better decisions about the dogs we choose and how we live with them.