Question for dog owners

Huskerfanz · December 2009

I have wanted a dog for as long as I?ve known but my family never owned one. I got my fix through volunteering at the animal shelter, working for a vet for a summer, and helping with friend?s dogs so I have been exposed. DH grew up with a lab that he really liked. We both want to get a dog but the question is when should we get a dog. We currently have two cats.

We are both working full time with about the same 7-4 M-F shift. I?m being moved to a different position but there is a chance I?ll be close enough to home to come home during lunch breaks.

If I can?t come home during lunch, is it fair to get a dog now when they will be stuck at home for 8 hours with only the cats to play with? Or, do we wait until kids enter the picture and I become a stay at home mom. I guess I?m nervous about getting a dog and having children too close together but I don?t want to wait 7+ years to get a dog.

If this makes any difference, we are looking for a medium-sized dog (lab, pointer, etc) and we will have a fenced in yard next spring.

Thoughts?

emmypants · December 2009

I'd post this on Pets. They are great answering questions like these

A-to-the-C · December 2009

Wait at least until you have the fenced in yard. That way, if the dog can't wait 8 hours, there won't be a problem. I also HIGHLY rec petfinder.com. We adopted our dog from a shelter listing on there and she came to us already potty/ obedience trained. Of course they aren't all that way, but you can find them, and you certainly don't need a puppy if you won't be home to let it out every couple of hours when it is little.

annabear07 · December 2009

I'm not a dog owner but I can tell what my brother and SIL did. They too wanted a dog, but both worked a good distance away from home. They ended up crate training the dog (so it stayed in the crate during the day) and then hired a dog walker. The dog walker took the dog out twice a day. If you could afford to do that then that would probably the best way to get a dog now. HTH!

emmypants · December 2009

Yeah, I totally forget.

www.petfinder.com

I highly reccomend them!

Huskerfanz · December 2009

Oh, I've been all over petfinder.com! It's dangerous...too many cute dogs!

I hadn't thought about a dog walker. Thanks for the ideas ladies!

RockThisB!tch · December 2009

emmypants:
I'd post this on Pets. They are great answering questions like these

I wouldn't post this on Pets - they may not be as nice about it.

I agree with adopting and petfinder!!!! There are so many dogs out there who need good homes (even puppies).

I wouldn't get a puppy if you cannot let it out every few hours. A puppy can only hold its potty one hour for every month of its age while it's a puppy. Piper could only hold it for an hour or two, at most, for the first few weeks we had her. It's also terrible for potty training to leave it crated that long as a puppy when it physically cannot hold it. Crate training is a great method, too, because as long as they're not in there too long, they will not potty in such a small space/the place where they sleep.

I would recommend making sure at least one of you can be home with it during the week for lunchtime play and letting it outside before deciding to get one. I also recommend crate training - puppy pad training is useless and completely defeats the purpose of house-breaking a dog.

What DH and I did when we got Piper last year was we got her on a Friday morning, we both took that day off, and used that whole weekend to start her on potty training and familiarizing her with our house and outside. You have to be around to witness pottying in the house in order to effectively train a puppy. Catching them in the act is the only way they learn not to go in the house. Scolding them about it later does nothing. We took her outside every hour the first day and every two hours the second and third day (praising her while going potty outside) and she quickly learned that it wasn't okay to go in the house.

Sorry to use the word 'potty' so much - I couldn't think of a better term. Stick out tongue

Good luck!!

jquirke9881 · December 2009

MH and I adopted a black lab about a year and a half ago. He is now 2. We are gone from 7:30am until about 5pm. He has never eaten anything or gone to the bathroom in the house. I realize we may have lucked out, because he is a really great dog. We leave him plenty of toys and when we come home the toys are all over the house, so he plays a lot. I also leave the tv or radio on low for him and I swear he thinks they talk to him. I honestly think he just sleeps most of the time. He goes out 4 times a day, twice in the morning, once right when MH gets home at 5, and then once before bed. It has worked out really well for us. I used a resuce organization online, labs4rescue.com. I also agree petfinder.com is a great resource. Good luck!

emmypants · December 2009

Rock, that's true. She didn't say breeder, so I figured it was safer

Huskerfanz · December 2009

We are planning on adopting unless some friends have puppies they need to get rid of.

One of our cats is from a cat shelter and the other was a stray that we found in a Target parking lot and nobody claimed the poor little guy.

Chrissy3321 · December 2009

Both of our dogs are crate trained.

I live close enough to work where sometime I can come home and let them out. If not (and H is at work), then they are in the kennel from 7:40 to 5:30.

I made a point to come home a lot when they were puppies. They can hold it all day now and just sleep, so I'm not worried about them.

If you could hire someone to take it for a walk in the middle of the day until it gets about 6 months that would be good.

If you are going to and from work that is fine, but if you guys like to straight from work to other places that will be hard on the dog.

They like routine for the most part. Routine is really important because once you get them in a routine their bowels will adjust to it.

We are lucky, my inlaws and sister both live 5 or less away, so if I can't get home and have to go somewhere after work on of them will let the dogs out to run around for an hour or so.

Check the adoption criteria with whatever organization you are considering adopting from because some of them require a fence.

brittk0486 · December 2009

I'm glad you posted this - we actually just adopted a dog from the animal shelter. We go to pick her up tomorrow afternoon

DH and I both work full time, so we are planning on crate training her. She is already about 2 years old and already house trained, so we hopefully won't have too many issues with that. A puppy would have been a lot harder. I've been reading a lot of articles here in the past few days on crate training and it seems quite do-able.

We do have family that live very close to us, so if we were ever going to be going somewhere straight after work, they would let the dog out for us. We are planning on getting an area in our backyard fenced in eventually so when it's warmer outside she can stay outside during the days to get some air. Eventually, after she gets used to us and our house, we might try to let her out in the house or in one room during the day, but for a while she'll be in the crate while we are away.

Huskerfanz · December 2009

brittk0486:

I'm glad you posted this - we actually just adopted a dog from the animal shelter. We go to pick her up tomorrow afternoon

DH and I both work full time, so we are planning on crate training her. She is already about 2 years old and already house trained, so we hopefully won't have too many issues with that. A puppy would have been a lot harder. I've been reading a lot of articles here in the past few days on crate training and it seems quite do-able.

We do have family that live very close to us, so if we were ever going to be going somewhere straight after work, they would let the dog out for us. We are planning on getting an area in our backyard fenced in eventually so when it's warmer outside she can stay outside during the days to get some air. Eventually, after she gets used to us and our house, we might try to let her out in the house or in one room during the day, but for a while she'll be in the crate while we are away.

Congrats on the new dog! You should post pics when you pick her up!

We also have family close (too close actually...both of our parents live about 5 min away) so they could come over if the dog needed to be let out.

Jenniferk08 · December 2009

i would avoid puppies as the rule is they can hold it one hour per month old they are. you may also want to get a dog walker for the middle of the day..

Kris_Merc · December 2009

H and I have two dogs that we adopted when each was about 6 months old (maybe a little less). Our newest is about 8-9 months now. We crate trained Dallas for about a year and went home at lunch to let her out if H was in class all day. Now, we are crate training Marley and, again, going home during lunch if H will be in class or work longer than 5-6 hours. We have a fenced backyard, so if neither of us can go home within around 6 hours, they can just stay outside. I would probably recommend waiting until you have your fence up unless you see one and fall in love between now and then (which is what happened when I saw Dallas two years ago at an adoption thing at Petco!). And, if you adopt, be aware that you never know for sure what you'll end up with!! Our first one is smaller than we anticipated and the second is bigger than they predicted but fine with us because we wanted a bigger one! Good luck!

Strawberryglobug · December 2009

I wouldn't post on the pet boards- they'll more then likely yell at you. Hevan forbid a dog be home alone ever. (I was suprised the first time I posted there).

We didn't wait to wait until children because we wanted time to spend with the dog. Maybe thats weird- IDK.

Anways- I work 7-3:30 and Hubby works 7:30-4. We crate trained him and my FIL stops by at lunch to give him a quick walk. We know he could make it the day without though in emergency. We brough him home at 9weeks and I was home with him for a month (summer break). He's now 6months and he's great. He's a small dog- Havanese if that makes any differance to you (hypo allergenic).

GOOD LUCK with your new family member. Remember, dogs are very adaptable!

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