The Canaan Dog makes an excellent companion animal, but is too sensitive, intelligent, and independent to be an easy pet. These are dogs who want to be regarded and respected as family members. As such, a Canaan Dog is appropriate only for families who have the desire and wherewithal to make daily, quality time for another family member -- socializing, educating, playing, and hanging out with him, or her.

The Canaan Dog is a self-reliant, thinking, independent creature who possesses much of its ancestors' behavioral predispostions and instincts for survival. These include a natural sense of the significant vs. the irrelevant, and a definite individual agenda -- and they are often so basic and so strong that Canaan Dogs will tend to trust themselves before all else -- including, sometimes, their human family members. This can be frustrating for the humans and sometimes dangerous for the dogs.

In common with wild animals, Canaan Dogs inherit a fundamental fear or mistrustfulness of anything new -- whether it be new people, new animals, new environments, or anything else the dog has never before encountered. From their point of view, anything new might be deadly, and it's a surer way to survive to run away from it and not find out. While this is typical of the breed, it can be largely mitigated -- but only through consistent socialization -- regular, frequent exposure to new thingss, new people, and new places -- heavily in early puppyhood, and continuiing throughout adolescence.

The Canaan Dog seems to understand that its quality of life in a family depends in large part on successfully charming its humans. Most are very quick to learn how to charm, and sure to maintain their disarming status as family clowns or drama queens, and are characteristically sweet natured, and even humorous. Nonetheless, Canaan Dogs can be incredibly willful and manipulative about getting their own way. Without firm, fair consistency on the parts of their human pack leaders, this means that they are often successful, too. (For example, puppies being crate trained -- as all companion dogs should be, in the opinion of most experienced Canaan Dog breeders -- often get establish a prevailing dynamic by playing on the hearts and nerves of would-be kindly owners -- screaming bloodcurdlingly as though their legs were being amputated with a butter knife.)

Canaan Dogs not only have a strong denning instinct, impelling them to want to dig dens in which to escape the elements, or in which to whelp their puppies, but they also love to dig, whether to create shelter, or to find roots or grubs, or just for fun. This would be a challenge for the family who might wish to leave their Canaan Dog outside and unattended in a landscaped yard.

While most Canaan Dogs are not nuisance barkers, they are almost all keenly aware of their environments, and reactive to new stimuli. This means that while they are excellent watch/alarm dogs, they may also be problem barkers in some situations. They will bark at any animal intruder (unusual squirrel, bird, etc), and at unknown humans (meter readers and delivery guys, as well as thieves and burglars). They may equally dislike skateboarding, or roller-skating kids in the neighborhood. In situations where Canaan Dogs might disturb the neighbors, it might be prudent to keep them indoors, where they are likely to be more discriminating, and less likely to be problem barkers.

In addition to being independent, good problem solvers, and great diggers, Canaan Dogs can also jump and climb. This means that they can also be awesome escape artists! Some can not be left outdoors without "dig wire" being buried in the ground below fences, and without either securely covered outdoor areas, or fences high enough not to be jumped over (some Canaan Dogs can clear 6 feet with ease), or hot-wire deterrents to climbing. Most Canaan Dogs are not truly interested in running away from home; they just want to prove they can get out. Unfortunately, in the environments most Canaan Dog owners live in, they can quickly come to grief outside the safety of the home enclosure.

Some lines of Canaan Dogs are definitely and lethally dog-aggressive -- and occasionally aggressive towards humans. It is arguable that dog aggression plays an important role in wild-living canine social groups, but few would argue that it is appropriate in domestic companion animals, or unlikely to make many placements of such puppies unworkable -- despite the best efforts and intentions of breeders and buyers. While it is hard to see how anyone could rationalize the acceptability of aggression towards humans in companion animals, it is appropriate to note that the creators of the breed, the Drs. Menzel, listed "handiness" (or "biddability" in contemporary jargon) as a primary characteristic of Canaan Dog temperament. Indeed, from the earliest days, there have always been companion Canaan Dogs who have been, within reason, tolerant of other dogs and "handy" towards human beings. A good Canaan Dog is not a dog killer, a fear biter, or a dominant biter. He is a fascinating, wonderful, and unique companion animal.