Anyone ever bought a dog .....

[Headgardener]

I'd love another dog but as I'm out for up to nine hours a day monday to friday I wouldn't even consider it until I have retired from work as I don't think it would be fair to leave the dog on it's own for such a long time.

 

[lulubel]

Regarding dogs (and pets in general) being a tie .... yes, they are.

Just over 13 years ago, I found an abandoned kitten. In the time it took to make a few attempts to find a home for him (which I could have done successfully) he'd snuggled his way into my heart. I sat down and thought about it. My parents' cats had always lived until their late teens, so I figured 20 years would cover the lifetime commitment I was about to make.

Fast forward to today, and this is what my life is like. My grown up kitten was diagnosed with a brain tumour last April. He's happy - as long as he has me near him. I manage to get out cycling for a couple of hours a day, and usually a quick trip out to buy a few groceries (during those times my OH sits with him) but the rest of the day is spent pretty much in the one room that he considers his safe place. It's my bedroom, and we've arranged it a bit like a bedsit for my use, with furniture positioned so he can get on and off it safely. He can walk OK, but his balance isn't good enough to run or jump. He gets stressed and anxious sometimes, but he's soothed if I touch him. I never get a full night's sleep because I wake up every time he moves so I can check that everything's OK. The bills for the ongoing vet treatment to "manage his condition" are around €150 a month. His favourite thing is to snuggle in my arms, where he purrs and purrs and purrs, and curls up his front feet in happiness.

Would I change it? I'd change the brain tumour, obviously, if that was within my power, but I wouldn't change the way my life is if it meant being without him.

I'm crying as I type this.

If you get a dog, someone has to take ultimate responsibility for its welfare. In our household, in Sam's case, that's me (although my OH also has her own cat who is her responsibility). In my parents' household, it's my father - although it's always been mother who's made the decision to get another pet, he's the one who shoulders the responsibility.

If you get a dog, put in the time and effort to develop a strong bond, and any problems of old age will only matter to you because you know your companion is nearing the end of its life.

If you get a dog, consider a rescue dog - there are young dogs, and even puppies, needing loving homes too.

 

[biggs682]

+1 re rescue centre sourced dog , we re homed a cat about 7 yrs ago .

step daughter had a dog for christmas , and she has no idea what she has let themselves in for , all roses at mo ... but give it time

 

[Licramite]

old chinese proverb
a dog is lunch not just for breakfast.

 

[Linford]

ah come on now, that is quite a list of ailments for one very old dog, hardly representative of them all. if you took such a risk averse attitude to life you'd never leave your hypoallergenic bed in a filtered oxygen tent not under a flight path and well clear of earthquake zones.

She developed colitis about 6 years ago, She went to skin and bone pooing blood and vomiting regularly to the point we thought she only had a couple of months to live through starvation, we tried all sorts of diets to try and aleviate it, and eventually the vet agreed to put her on steroids which worked. If quality of life can be measured by appetite, then she is very happy and always looking for food.
The side affect of them though was that after a couple of years, they damaged the connective tissue in her shoulders and they both popped out within a month of each other. They operated on the one side, but it didn't stay in, and they decided it wasn't fair to put her through that again. She learnedto walk again, and pootles around the house with the occasional trip out to the park. It does help her though that she is a very small dog, so the body weight doesn't massively strain the false joints.

We never get a full night sleep, and as soon as she moves in the night..3 or4am, we are up out of bed and running her outside before she poos on the carpets. Sleep depravation can be very wearing.

My OH who was so up for dog ownership said that she would not ever have another dog. My parents say the same after owning a dog to the age of 17 who eventually died of kidney failure. My in laws had a couple of yorkies as brothers, they had real health problems, and they ended up nursing them both for about 6 years, until they both died within 6 months of each other last year.

As they say, a dog is for life, and you don't get rid of your pets for something which can be managed within sensible limits...and returns them a reasonable quality of life.That can though give you many years of expensive vet bills, and a requirement to clean up after them all the time. It isn't a party now.

 

[aces_up1504]

My advice would be choose your breed very carefully to suit your families life style and size of house. If your going to for a pedigrer find a good breeder, make sure at least the mother is present, better if the father is there also to get an idea of final size and behaviour.

My biggest piece of advice would be, take it dog training even if it the basic certificate. A well behaved dog that responds to a recall and other simple commands makes your life a hell of a lot easier and much more rewarding.

 

[Linford]

God, you're a cheery bugger Linf.
Dogs are great. Always pleased to see you, grateful for anything you do for them, however small, and they get you into instant conversations with other dog walkers.
It's bloody upsetting when they die though. Then again, if your reaction after a decade or more was 'Oh well, lets get another' how sad would that be?

We have had cats which we nursed until age related illness killed them, and now the dog. I love cats, and would have another one in a flash but I can't bear to see them go. It broke my heart when I had the Tom put down. I held him whilst they put him to sleep. He was ready to go and the Kidney failure must have been very painful. I will never forget that, and it still upsets me now thinking about it.

Lastly, we have 2 older Horses now, one which could go on for another 10 years, the other which could go on for maybe another 20. We consider them as pets having had them for 11 and8 years already and won't sell them on.

 

[Sandra6]

We've had four dogs over the past 20 years.
The first was a rescue dog from the RSPCA, he bit my son and we decided we couldn't train either of them to behave nicely with each other so he was rehomed. I do regret getting him.
Then we got a collie cross from a friend, she was gorgeous and really well behaved -she used to round the kids up like sheep! -but she crapped everywhere every night and with a new baby I just couldn't be cleaning up dog poop every morning so she went to live with my dad -for a while - she's 13 now and still there. She settled straight away, possibly because he had another dog to keep her company, I don't know. I don't regret getting her, but I do regret not taking her back but at the time I thought she was happier with my dad, he's since overfed her so much that she doesn't look like a collie at all. That makes me sad.
Next, after much research and determining the right dog for us and whether we really wanted a dog, we got a beagle. Unfortunately my daughter was allergic to him, so he went to live with another family I knew. I don't know if I regret it or not.
Now we have a miniature jack russell. The difference this time was it was entirely my decision to have a dog, whereas in the past it was Mr 6's and the kids wearing me down, and then me having to do all the cleaning up and walking of the dog. This time I knew it was going to be down to me so I didn't feel resentful. Stan's five now and he wont' be going anywhere.
Some times when we want to go away and we have to plan for the dog rather than just us it's a pain, sometimes when I don't want to get out of bed to walk him it's a pain, but I don't regret having him.

You need to be really sure you want to get up and walk a dog every morning, every afternoon and every evening. That you know how many times they can pee on a carpet before they get the idea. And that you know how much vets, kennels, food etc cost.

 

[endoman]

We put it off for many many years than took the punge in Oct 2011, best thing apart from starting cycling I ever did. Rhodesian Ridgeback, so a big lad, placid, asleep on my knee at the moment! He's only been to vets for vaccinations, gets walked twice a day, loves longer walks on the hills when we get time.

No trouble around the house, he lives in a crate overnight and when we are out. He travels well in the car, 6 hours is his longest yet, he then stopped in a hotel in Newquay and loved that!

Walking shared between me, daughter ( 15) and mrs endo, He's also been to cyclo cross races, hill climbs, and a road race,

 

[Robson3022]

Choose your breed carefully and remember the commitment. Ive loved every dog I've had which includes Huskys, Pointers,Collies, Springers and Labs. When my little girl was born having the Husky was a worry but I neednt of worried!

 

[LarryDuff]

We got our dog 12 years ago - a cocker spaniel - when the kids were 6 and 8. She was easy to house train and has been a great wee family dog. She has never been cross with anyone. Her eyesight is definitely not what it used to be but she is always eager to go for a walk except if it's tipping it down outside. She has a part time job, 3 days a week, of surrogate pet for my mother whose own dog passed away last summer.

 

[lulubel]

I should also have added, don't expect the kids to walk/feed/groom/whatever the dog for more than a few days while it's still a novelty.

You may find one of your kids is responsible - I took responsibility for the day to day care of most of the pets my mother collected when I was a kid because no-one else was going to - but it isn't likely.

 

[Sara_H]

My Choccy Lab is 7yrs. He's a very much loved member of our family, but he's very hard work and there have been two periods in his life when it's really got me down and made me wish we'd never got him (but not to the extent that I considered rehoming him).

When he was a pup, he was incredibly hard work, I used to long for him to go to sleep. I'd never had a pup before, I'd grown up with adult rescue dogs and was completely shocked by how tough it was. The nipping, constant tussling, pup constantly attatched to legs, weeing and pooing everywhere.
As an adolescent pup he pulled so badly on his lead that I slipped a disc - three years of substantial pain followed.

He's always been incredibly difficult to train, and he's always been difficult to manage. (if you've ever read Marley and Me - that could be him). Last year he things started to get on top of me, I made a list of things that bothered me, this is it:

Barking incessantly in car (really hurts my ears, very distracting)
Stealing carrier bags off passers by and eating contents.
Popping footballs in park
Eating poo (his own and other animals)
lunging/pulling on lead
Barking all the way to the park
Stealing food
Eating dead animals
Rolling in poo
Incessant barking in garden
Fear of floor/door frames
Barking outside shops
Barking at neighbours
Barking when we're having a cup of tea at the cafe
Barking while we're at the swings
Bouncing off moving vehicles with head (this was added after he escaped from house one day, ran into a car, causing £500 damage to car but no injuries whatsoever to himself)

Another biggie that wasn't on the list is HE STINKS!

As you can see, it's no picnic (in fact we cant have picnics any more as he'd steal the food). It's not what I wanted. I wanted the kind of dog you take everywhere, but he has separation anxiety, so if we're out and about and I need to go in a shop or public loo etc he gets really anxious and barks his head off. When we go anywhere unfamiliar, he gets anxious and pulls really badly and barks his head off. We can't take him camping, we did a test camp in my mum's garden once and he dug his way out of the tent!
You have to really consider who's going to look after the dog when you're on holiday, at work etc, I'm lucky as my Mum is retired and lives a couple of miles from me so she has him for me. Doggy day care starts at about £10 per day where I live.

Having said this, he's a very good companion, very funny, loyal, affectionate. Back in August he tripped and fell awkwardly chasing a ball and sustained a nasty slipped disc (karma for the one he gave me years ago!). There was talk of neuro surgery, which I wasn't prepared to subject him to, so it was a case of drug him up and see if he recovers. The few weeks waiting to see if he got better were heartbreaking - fortunately he's back to himself, with a slight limp.
I'm off work sick at the moment, and I'm so glad he's around to keep me company.

Long story short, we all love and adore him (when my son was little he used to refer to the dog as his brother, peole were surprised to find out his brother was a big, smelly dog). Would I do it all again? Well, I'd never get another Lab puppy, they're maniacs! But I don't ever want to not have a dog. Life wouldn't be as interesting!

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

old chinese proverb
a dog is lunch not just for breakfast.

I think you are living dangerously, nevertheless since they found horse in some beefburgers I am expecting they will soon find some which contain dog. After that..

 

[Robson3022]

Setting boundries and early training are the most important thing. All the dogs we have had have got progressivly better training wise to the point where the Lab has been an absolute breeze!