Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New Pet + New Home = Disaster?
I am in need of some outside advice. My husband and I currently are in the process of purchasing a new home! Exciting & stressful yes. We are currently in an apartment and my thoughts are to get a puppy before the move into the new house so I have time to potty train before getting on fresh carpets. I'm not worried about puppy problems on our current carpet. I feel that this isn't too much added stress but would like some outsider opinions. Do you think we are trying to do too much at once?
NewbieNestie
Re: New Pet + New Home = Disaster?
You'll likely have to do some retraining once you move into the new house. Just because the puppy knows not to go inside your current place doesn't mean it will 100% transfer it's knowledge when you move.
Why do you want a puppy? I know they're cute & all, but I'd much rather adopt a dog that is already house trained and sleeps through the night.
The reality is, unless you are SUPER diligent and watch the puppy ALL the time, you will likely have a few accidents throughout the first year. Get a good enzymatic cleaner.
I got married, bought a house, and got our first dog within a couple months, and it wasn't too bad for us, but we adopted a one year old dog that was already housebroken and well behaved.
Have you seen my monkey?
We've had great luck with our 7 year old dog. It makes me sad that someone would assume an older dog would have unworkable baggage. FYI, a puppy could come with baggage as well.
We adopted a young adult dog (2 years old). She was a breeze to train, already housebroken, and no puppy behavior. She came from an exceptionally bad situation and she is honestly the worlds most perfect dog.
Lol. We've all heard this before. Usually from people who don't realize that young puppies physically can't hold it very long, and often need potty breaks every 2-3 hours, including at night. Or that young puppies explore with their mouths, and destroy lots of things (including walls). Or that puppies teeth at around 5 months, so the mouthing comes back with a vengeance. Or that once you think your puppy is calming down, they hit adolescence sometime around 8 to 18 months. There's a reason why many of us who foster refuse puppies. There are lots who love puppies and only foster puppies, but they have a lot more patience and time to clean than I do.
Have you seen my monkey?
Myth myth MYTH! Contrary to what a lot of people think a very large portion of a dogs personality come from genetics. I rescued our girl as a puppy and have done nothing but positive training, tons of socialization etc and she is a basketcase because that is who she is.
Please look into an older rescue who is with a foster family and they can tell you all about his personality. This is the best way for you to go. What are you referring to, exactly, when you say "old bad habits"? Older dogs are still trainable! Please go rescue
Did you know the #1, 2 and 3 reasons that dogs are given up to shelters? 1) family is moving, 2) family is having a baby, so "dog won't get enough attention," and 3) owners are divorcing. None are the fault of the dog!
All 3 of my dogs were adopted as adults, and none have irreversible "damage" or bad habits.
We adopted my dogs at 2 years old (separately.) The reason we did it is that I felt I could get a much better sense of temperament, energy level, etc. We've been talking at work about using my male as a therapy dog to help child victims testifying about sexual abuse. He is that good with children and that attune to emotions, through no training on our part. And we were able to see that immediately b.c. he was an adult with a settled personality. My girl has also been very close to perfect and was potty trained when we got her, as well as excellent with kids, people and other dogs. They're both much calmer and easier than any foster puppies I've had and have required a million times less work. They both had questionable lives before but they are, by no means, damaged. I prefer adults who have been temperament tested so I know what I'm getting.
Why would you risk losing a security deposit? Why not buy a house with some tiled/hardwood areas and confine the puppy to those areas while working on potty training? As a pet owner I went into home buying looking for as little carpet as possible and keeping in mind that any carpet was likely to need replacing with hardwood in the next few years.
ETA: Just because you pissed me off, your bias against adult dogs is based on the presumption that you know what you're doing with training and won't find unique ways to mess up a puppy on your own. You don't sound like an experienced dog owner so if it's that important to you to have perfect behavior and raise a dog to be perfect (which is impossible BTW) I'd start reading on positive reinforcement training NOW.
Just as an FYI, puppies too can come w/ baggage. If their genes aren't right, if they have anxiety issues or have been taken away from their mother and litter too early they can develop social issues with people and/or with other dogs no matter how much training you have done.
Some dogs/puppies have issues and some don't. It's just like humans. To dismiss an older dog because they are older is pretty crappy IMO. There are positives to getting a dog that already has a developed personality.
I was totally coming back to this thread to say that I consider myself a fairly experienced dog owner, but I don't think I could successfully raise a puppy into a well adjusted obedient dog. Adult dogs FTW!
It's so funny that you say that... I honestly stopped reading the responses after I realized no one wanted to answer my original question but instead use my post as a preaching ground for dog adoptions. I came back today out of curiosity to see if anyone was ready to come down from their soap box but see that isn't true. While I could try to defend myself (I am an experienced Dog owner, know what comes with training, etc.) I'll stop there. I am all for adopting. If anyone has read one of my other responses the puppy I got was indeed ADOPTED. I also volunteer at a dog rescue in my free time and love that there are people like you all out there that enjoy adopting dogs. I was being honest and apparently nobody is into that but why would I adopt a dog when I know thats not truly what was right for myself and my family?
p.s. I especially love you lady who is trying to tell me what flooring to put in my new house! I actually laughed out loud at that one
If you are "all for adopting" then why do you have a problem with people suggesting it? why are you getting so defensive? Chiiiilllll.
Your original question was answered, btw. The puppy will have accidents after you move in, so you might as well make peace with that.
Eta: Love your siggy, it suits you!
I'm glad you adopted, and I'm glad things seem to be going well. But I'm sad that as a rescue volunteer, you think adult rescues have issues. I hope you were helping behind the scenes and not with the dogs or potential adopters (AKA people like us, whatever that means).
And FYI, your disappearance won't make us get off our soapboxes on adopting adult dogs.
Have you seen my monkey?