To those of you with dogs and those of you who've had them. What made it the right time?
Lady CJ and I are looking at a puppy. Female lab/Shepherd mix (75/25), currently ~10 weeks, and seemingly well tempered. Many family members have said it's a bad time.
We have 2 roommates - one with a cat, and one moving in in July with a 7 month old Husky (female). Fenced in yard, sunroom with power (for a porta-cool or something of the like) that can be left open to the backyard for play during the daytime, and come July there will likely be a doggy door into the house.
Financial commitment wouldn't be the issue. We both live active lifestyles, and like to be outside and busy; I work regular hours, she expects to be 7-3.
Both of us have siblings that have raised/trained difficult dogs, so no misgivings as to the work required, the stress added, or the irregular hours/activities picked up to accommodate having a dog.
Pup is up to date on vaccines. We do have 2 trips coming up, end of June and late July, 5 or so days each.
We both grew up with dogs, and are excited (if daunted) by the idea of having a puppy here. It's difficult to hear people say it's not the time, as it's hard to imagine exactly when the time would be.
What say the dog owners of GRM? Would we be making a mistake or embracing happiness?
Puppies get bored easily. For the hours that you will not be home to entertain and supervise your puppy I would recommend crate training. Also, see if a home visit can be arranged, to ensure that everybody gets along before making the commitment with a specific pup. For introduction with the other dog, start on neutral territory, such as a park, then try an in home visit to see how new pup will do with the kitty.
Fenced in yard is great, but hopefully the roommate with the Husky is aware that they are nimble jumpers and have a rep for being escape artists. I would not recommend leaving that one in the backyard unattended for any length of time (former Husky mom here).
Do you own a house or rent?
Renting and dog make a bad combination. The dog will dictate where you live. If the landlord keeps the place nice he will not allow a dog. If the landlord does not care about the place, he will allow a dog.
John Welsh said:
Do you own a house or rent?
Renting and dog make a bad combination. The dog will dictate where you live. If the landlord keeps the place nice he will not allow a dog. If the landlord does not care about the place, he will allow a dog.
We rent. Our Landlord is great, the house is very nice, and the neighborhood holds high standards. They just recently got this house, but we looked explicitly for homes that allowed dogs now. Ideally, we'd be here for a few years, and then move on from renting.
Are you bored? That’s how my wife and I realized it was a good time to get a pup. Now we have two. We’re definitely not bored any more.
In reply to classicJackets :
Sounds like you have a good arrangement...for now. However, the dog will still dictate where you live. You might find such things as, you can not accept a better job because you can not easily move with the dog.
Not just a dog but a LARGE dog. Some landlords might accept a tea cup poodle but don't expect them to accept a 75lb dog.
I hold my stance. Renting and a dog are a bad combination.
Myself, one of my reasons and goals to own a home was to get a dog.
My wife and I recently agreed to no more dogs until one of us is retired or maybe ever. Especially no puppies. We both work all day and enjoy being able to get away (boarding is pricy). Pups are a lot of work and take a lot time in the beginning. We realized that we just would not have the time in the next foreseeable 10 years.
We had a Doberman we rescued that was over 10 years old. She had great manners and we could leave her at home for 15 hours with no accidents. I can't trust a puppy that much. Also, we like nice furniture and clean floors. Our 7 year old human son has been trained to take care of things. And our cat has been trained to not touch the furniture at all.
Sounds like family members are anti idea of you and Lady CJ getting a dog. Excuses can always be made for it not being the right time, but if you can financially afford it and have the space I say go for it as long as you plan on crate training.
In reply to captdownshift :
Absolutely ( we called it box training.) bring it home in a box and every 1/2 hour take it outside and let it per and poop. Then play with it and bring it back in to the box.
Box then pee then eat then play. Box then pee then eat then play. Towards midday change up to an hour cycle and work towards a three hour cycle. By the end of the weekend ( 4 hours +)
I trained both the Saint Bernards and the Newfundland that way and they never once went in the house!!! ( 150 pounds each ) love giant breed dogs.
In reply to classicJackets : you do realize a dog is simply practice for a baby don’t you?
yupididit said:
My wife and I recently agreed to no more dogs until one of us is retired or maybe ever. Especially no puppies. We both work all day and enjoy being able to get away (boarding is pricy). Pups are a lot of work and take a lot time in the beginning. We realized that we just would not have the time in the next foreseeable 10 years.
We had a Doberman we rescued that was over 10 years old. She had great manners and we could leave her at home for 15 hours with no accidents. I can't trust a puppy that much. Also, we like nice furniture and clean floors. Our 7 year old human son has been trained to take care of things. And our cat has been trained to not touch the furniture at all.
Box train your puppies and they won’t mess in the house.
There are three real reasons to get a dog.
1. You will live longer. Pet owners live longer.
2. Your son will learn responsibility from owning it and in exchange he will get total unrequited love.
3. The right breed ( I love giant breeds) will patiently wait for attention from anyone and then play, meanwhile they give security that the most sophisticated alarm system can’t.
I can tell you the wrong time to get a puppy. We got ours in the middle of a cross country road trip. And by we I mean my wife and my son came home with him while we were staying at my moms. That is the wrong time to get a puppy.
The seven month old female husky is a question for me. Two females, close in age and one of them a husky. They're currently a popular breed, so I see a lot of them. They're often timid so the owners don't socialize them or train them to be comfortable with restraint.
Huskies are very difficult to train, and rarely are they okay to work with.
Whatever the dynamics are with that dog is going to be a big factor in what happens with your dog.
Floating Doc said:
The seven month old female husky is a question for me. Two females, close in age and one of them a husky. They're currently a popular breed, so I see a lot of them. They're often timid so the owners don't socialize them or train them to be comfortable with restraint.
Huskies are very difficult to train, and rarely are they okay to work with.
Whatever the dynamics are with that dog is going to be a big factor in what happens with your dog.
All of this makes me the most nervous so far, especially from you. Is there anything I can "screen" or ask questions on about his huskies behavior to try and get a feel?
He's living out of state now so it's not exactly like we can have them meet and test. Maybe naive, but I think we (roommate with the husky included) we're hoping that introduced young would help their chances of getting along and tiring each other out/entertaining each other
frenchyd said:
yupididit said:
My wife and I recently agreed to no more dogs until one of us is retired or maybe ever. Especially no puppies. We both work all day and enjoy being able to get away (boarding is pricy). Pups are a lot of work and take a lot time in the beginning. We realized that we just would not have the time in the next foreseeable 10 years.
We had a Doberman we rescued that was over 10 years old. She had great manners and we could leave her at home for 15 hours with no accidents. I can't trust a puppy that much. Also, we like nice furniture and clean floors. Our 7 year old human son has been trained to take care of things. And our cat has been trained to not touch the furniture at all.
Box train your puppies and they won’t mess in the house.
There are three real reasons to get a dog.
1. You will live longer. Pet owners live longer.
2. Your son will learn responsibility from owning it and in exchange he will get total unrequited love.
3. The right breed ( I love giant breeds) will patiently wait for attention from anyone and then play, meanwhile they give security that the most sophisticated alarm system can’t.
That's cool and all. But, no time and other priorities. Rather not have a dog than have one and it spend most it's time without us.
mtn
MegaDork
5/23/18 12:25 a.m.
Every vacation becomes more expensive or difficult. That play you wanted to see? Better get a sitter. Oh, it’s limping, better call the vet. Why’d it puke? What did it eat? Honey, when was the last time we vacuumed (about 22 hours ago). What do you mean Costco doesn’t have the food?
Literally everything that I just wrote happened within the past 48 hours at our house. Literally.
I wouldn’t do it until I owned my own house, was married, and had a good emergency fund. My wife thought I was an shiny happy person for making her wait so long. She doesn’t now.
Im not trying to be a wet blanket. We have two dogs, I think we will have a dog until we’re too old to walk it anymore, but it is a lot of work in ways you wouldn’t think of. My wife, never having had a dog, didn’t realize that.
I will recommend adopting an older dog though. Senior dog. They’re so good for working folks; they enjoy sleeping for about 18 hours a day. I’m exaggerating for one of our dogs, but not the other.
We found it worked best for us once our kids were old enough to understand and play with a dog. If kids aren't an issue we always had dogs growing up, our female husky was very aggressive towards other female dogs though, she was by far the worst tempered dog when it came to other animals.
I'd be nervous just because of the husky. I've yet to have a dog that liked that breed for whatever reason.
I think a lot of the answer about when or if to get a dog depends on your personal feelings about dogs. Some treat them better than their own kids, others are more neutral. We have a dog, he's a black lab/great dane mix, he's now about 7 years old. We got him because I was out voted 4-1. Not that I don't like dogs, I love them...but I love them when they belong to other people. I have no interest in cleaning poop, vacuuming fur, etc...so dog ownership definitely isn't my favorite thing in the world. We love the dog, but if we want to go on a date night, no sitter needed. He just goes in the basement. If he pukes, we clean it up and move on.
Dogs are wonderful, fun, etc...but they're a responsibility. You have to decide if you want that. I personally don't, but am stuck with it.
classicJackets said:
Floating Doc said:
The seven month old female husky is a question for me. Two females, close in age and one of them a husky. They're currently a popular breed, so I see a lot of them. They're often timid so the owners don't socialize them or train them to be comfortable with restraint.
Huskies are very difficult to train, and rarely are they okay to work with.
Whatever the dynamics are with that dog is going to be a big factor in what happens with your dog.
All of this makes me the most nervous so far, especially from you. Is there anything I can "screen" or ask questions on about his huskies behavior to try and get a feel?
He's living out of state now so it's not exactly like we can have them meet and test. Maybe naive, but I think we (roommate with the husky included) we're hoping that introduced young would help their chances of getting along and tiring each other out/entertaining each other
Probably not going to be able to learn much by asking the owner. I'm definitely not good at phone diagnosis, and I have years of experience.
Another factor is the difference in their ages. One is a juvenile, the husky is well into adolescence. If they were children, it would be like a six year old and a high school student.
Lots of good advice here. One other thing to consider: the season. Spring and summer are best time to acclimate a puppy with more opportunities for outside play/training. Fall and winter not as much.
