advice please

[apple85]

Hi
I just wanted a bit of advice really as everyone on these boards seems v helpful. We are considering getting a dog, when I say considering we are thinking of all the factors. We have two kids aged 1 and nearly 4. I work part time 2.5 days per week..so do 9-5 2 days and 9-1 on one day. Dh does full time pretty much 8-4 Mon to Fri. We go away to my parents approx every 6 weeks for the weekend which is a 2 hour car journey. Although we could take the prospective dog with us. I just wanted some advice as to whether people think our work would mean it was cruel to get a dog because it would be left on its own quite a bit. Also looking for advice about types of breed that are best with young children. We are not making any rash decisions but I've been googling stuff and sometimes it's hard to know where to start. Thanks for reading

[AlpacaLypse]

Your family circumstances don't rule out you getting a dog, but you'd need to budget for some sort of daycare on your working days. Some dogs are perfectly happy to snooze most of the day with a dogwalker taking them out at lunchtimes, others get pretty stressed about it.

If you got a puppy you'd need to take all your annual leave in one go to settle it in, and even then it would still be very young to be left alone or put in daycare.

A rescue organisation might be able to match you with a suitable dog in need of a new home.

[apple85]

Thanks for your reply. I'd rather not get a puppy as I'd prefer to get a dog in need of a home. However it seems that just from looking on the websites for some rescues most dogs say children over 5..or is there some leeway if you ring or go in and ask?

[AlpacaLypse]

Different rescues/rehoming groups have different policies. There are a lot who have a blanket ban on children under five, but others, especially the smaller ones, will look at each potential new home on its merits.

I help with this one, and I know they will consider any new home.

[AlpacaLypse]

And I was chatting to someone the other day who's a senior volunteer with this one, she was saying they too have no blanket ban on younger children in the household.

Obviously the pool of dogs who are suitable to live with a younger child is a lot smaller, but there are plenty of dogs who are perfectly family friendly but have had to be put up for rehoming due to changes in family circumstances - usually job loss or divorce causing household to have to move to rented accommodation.