to get a puppy now?

[CoralRose]

This is our current situation:

Semi rural house. 3 bed. Large living space. Large garden, surrounded by fields.

One (very old, very placid) cat.

3 DC:
5yo DS - school full time.
2.6 DS - Nursery two mornings a week.
4mo DS - Errr...dribbles alot.

DH works full time, me not working for at least another 2 years, even then will be part time if at all.

So WIBU to get a puppy now? If I am... how long should we wait?

btw one thing I absolutely hated and despised when my partner and I were looking to rescue a cat was all the ads of people trying to rehome their "old feline" because they weren't getting on with their 'new dog'! I'm not saying you'll do this, but it was absolutely disgusting

You shouldnt rule out a staffie on the grounds that you have. They do make fantastic family dogs.. can take an awful lot of messing with from children (that many other "family" dogs do not have the patience or pain threshold for).. and are also very obedient when trained.

They get a bad reputation only because they have got a lot of bad owners.. my staffie is the most placid and gentle dog you could imagine with children, and is a very obedient and well behaved dog too. Far better than the beagle, and basset we had when I was a child. (pics on my page of him),

cocker spaniels - or ours at least - is the most magical dog in the world. i'd no experience of dogs before - but she is so lovely with children. not a nasty bone in her body. ok she ate things when she was young. she has never done a proper growl - when she's play fighting with the boys she does pretend ones that don't scare anyone as she wags her tail and its not a proper growl- or when there's someone outside she doesn't know and again a not bearing teeth one.

i still wouldn't get one when my kids are so young

Dizzy that's awful, I could never get rid of my cats for anything, the pets either get added to or we stay as we are. Cats are family, Ok they are family on their terms but family never the less.

Just had a call from Mum saying she'd told son she'd pay the £50 for the dog, it's £150 she's deaf. Then said I've told him I'll pay but the final decision whether to have a dog is yours.

May I scream and be tempted to commit matricide. (sorry OP, if you think I'm hijacking again, just both in the samish puppy boats right now.

Squeaky- he's lovely, we got our staff (pic on my profile) after getting to know my neighbours dog, he was the most gentle dog i had ever met, i had always wanted an english bull but could not find one (well none in my price range) so i bought a white Staffie bitch, TBH she has been hard to train, she would mouth alot (just very playful) and would jump up but only with adults, with the dd's she will stay very calm and dd2 would sit on her and dress her up (she doesn't do this anymore), she follows the dd's around the garden and is first to tell me if one of them has fallen over. We wouldn't be without her.

Sorry not read all the thread but puppies are hard work personally I wouldn't have another, ours is 3 years old now and we lost lots of stuff through him eating and chewing it and he has a ver sensitive tummy so was poorly for a long time whilst we tried to find food he could tolerate, he now has a raw meat diet.

I have always had rescue dogs which are always a few years old.

I would highly recommend a greyhound or whippet rescue would be great with children, have the most loving chilled out personalities and greyhounds will either walk for miles or be happy with a quick trot round the block if yo are rushed with the children one day.

Oh and greys and cats can live together, ours have

I know Mitmoo, absolutely broke my heart and filled me with disgust, if my dog hadn't been quite young and totally unsuitable for them then I would've taken them in just to give them the best few years of their retirement possible! And that's what I think an OAP animal deserves, the best last few years of "retirement" that you can possibly give them. It's also what me and OH plan to do later on (once we've had kids and no longer have our current dog and cat). We want to specifically rescue the older dogs and cats so we can be sure that whatever their lives were like before, the last few years of them will be the best possible and that they will die happy and loved.

The cat isn't necessarily a problem. My sister has brought home two puppies at various times to an established cat (she's very old now - 18?) and the cat, a tiny thing, is totally and utterly in control. Each dog (a goldie and a lab, so you'd think big enough and ugly enough to hold their own) treated her as a goddess. They were also terrified of her! She'd stroll in and eat their dinner before they could get to it and they'd sit there and watch her, whimpering. She'd take a few mouthfuls and then stop and have a little wash in front of the bowl, and then, maybe, when she was ready, wander off so they could get a look in. If they got on her nerves, she'd hiss at them, but at other times, they'd curl up on the rug together and she'd let them lick her!

But the cat could be a problem Clam, my mum has an elderly, ex ferel cat. Feared by all dogs whom have ever known her. Including, at one point, my own beloved Devil Dog (a terrier x). This cat was brought up with dogs and ruled over them. The Akita my parents owned tried to help save the life of her kittens after theu were mauled to death by the kitten of another stray ferel my mum brought home (really dangerous dogs those Akita's huh?)

Enter my sister's Lurcher. My sister heard he was being sold on Gumtree by a friend of a friend. She begged to be allowed to take him home with her as she couldn't stand the thought of who might get hold of him and what they might do with him. The owner eventually agreed to give my sister the puppy.

At this point he was only ten weeks old. He was raised from a pup with the cat. He was trained by very experienced owners and socialised with very many cats, including my own cat.

This has not prevented him from terrorising my mother's cat. Only last week the Lurcher pulled the cat from the sofa and tried to kill her. He was stopped in time. They are now not able to leave the cat and the dog alone, they must be supervised at all times. The cat lives upstairs, the dog downstairs. The cat has access to the house via a skylight on the exentsion.

There are never any guarentees that a puppy will grow up to be tolerent of even the most fearsome cats, even when raised with them. My mum's cat now fears dogs so much so that she attacked me in an attempt to reach my dog before he got her. My dog, who was previously scared of her, jumped to my defense and chased her with the intent to cause her serious harm. Luckily he did not catch her.

An older dog, who has already matured, will be a much safer bet for the cat.

I can't emphasise enough how important getting the breed right is. I plan on getting a dog when our youngest is 3 or 4. I've had dogs before and have no intention of getting one again until all my kids can appreciate it. I've already done a lot of research and picked the breed. I think you need to too. I think you need to ignore your DH because refusing a fluffy breed is ignoring a lot of potentially excellent breeds for your situation. It's that sort of attitude that has men insisting that their male dogs keep their balls. Personally I've decided on a low shedding, small less than 20lbs (so I can let the kids hold the lead now and again small dogs also take up less room in the car so are more portable for holidays etc) and something that is happy with reasonably short walks. I would talk to a lot of people about different breeds and keep an open mind.

On the Staffie note I have noticed that they are the only breed I ever see trotting along next to their owner off lead on pavements in urban areas. That must indicate that they are pretty fantastic dogs once trained. My beautiful but loopy boy would be in the road playing with traffic in a heartbeat.

Please (anyone considering a puppy) don't assume that you will be able to walk your dog off lead. It requires a huge amount of training depending on the breed.

Please don't assume that the dog/puppy will be happy with you just "being there" during the day. Some breeds are happy to sleep most of the day, my boy however is not He follows me everywhere, nudges me if I haven't paid him any attention in the last 5 minutes etc. I work from home but he still gets bored/lonely if I'm not careful.

What I'm basically banging on about is PLEASE research your breed completley before you commit. I "researched" our choice and read what I wanted to hear iyswim and ignored any bad things.

Our pup (well dog really now, as he's just turned two) is an all sorts mix, with a spaniel'ish' mum and an unknown dad. He works very well for our fairly energetic but quite lazy family, as he only really needs two short walks (so long as one is retrieving) but is also up for a day of pottering in the garden/countryside and for as long as dh/ds feel like it tug of war or chase. Interspersed with lots of sleeping. In fact I wonder if there is a lurcher or whippet in his mix somewhere!

So I think that you should look for a playful rather than an energetic breed. Energetic breeds might need hours of walking and will get up to no good when bored.

Re the puppy thing ours was mostly not too terrible, but dh did think dark thoughts for a while when the pup bit the children repeatedly (he went through a phase of mad running around nipping) and the children were certainly very upset about it (they were 8 and 10 and still found it hard to do the whole stand totally still thing when being munched). House training I'd say took about a month, with total reliability not till about a year, sleeping through the night I think took roughly a month (he was 8 weeks when he came to us). First time owners so learning everything as we went along.

Well everyone is going to champion their own breed. So I'll say that my cockapoo (ignore the silly name - two rude words in one) is friendly, eager-to-please, sociable, intelligent, easy-to-train and adorably cute.
But I fully acknowledge that staffy owners, and others, will say the same about theirs.

The other thing is, I agree that it is good for kids to be brought up around animals but it isn't always good for puppies to be brought up around children. Kids don't always behave how they should around animals. My dcs still scream like human squeaky toys when they play with our dog and wonder why he gets hyper.

I'll second the staffordshire suggestion, they really are excellent family dogs, contrary to what people say I found my pup incredibly easy to train, she walks to heel very reliably (but not near a road yet, she's only 6months!) her recall is superb, she sits, lies down, stays etc etc, and is very eager to please. She also loves kids, and while she does get excited with visitors we can manage her quite easily. In fact we love her so much we are thinking about getting her a staffy friend from a rescue.
Look into the breed, go meet a few at rescues, and see what other really experienced dog people have to say about them, please don't discount the breed because of a few morons in your area, despite their idiot owners I'll bet the dogs are lovely friendly animals.

Not read whole thread but we got our rescue Springer when she was 6 mo. That was pre-kids.

She's been a dream.

We love her to bits.

springer spaniel - happy out and about but have a secret couch potato side too.

Another vote for cockers, but they do take a loonng time to house train when distracted by young children ( 2-3 months in my case) & someone told me thats because they haven't been 'house dags' for many generations.

The biggest down side is coat care............ but if you give them an hours walk in the morning off lead & chasing (working) a ball plus 15-20 mins in the evening they seem to be unconcious on the sofa the rest of the time

They love being tortured stroked by any random strangers/ children but will chase anything that moves & steal anything to eat that they can reach...

or house dogs

Welsh springer spaniel vote from me.
We have a 18 month old dog and my youngest dd had just turned 3 when we got him at 8 weeks.
He isn't as lively as the English Springers but with our two small children is ready to play at anytime!
He loves long walks but is just as happy to lie in front of the fire snoring away!
They do have a nick name 'Velcro dog' as will follow you around the house!
If I'm upstairs you can be sure he's fast asleep on the top of the stairs ( or at the bottom if I tell him not to come up!)
Our children love him to bits. My 6 year old DS calls him his furry brother!
As you seem aware the puppy stage is extremely hard work, as long as you are prepared for it then the enjoyment you get will far out way those trying moments!

Just read through this thread, got to QuietTiger's post and had a little cry. Little dog at the end of the sofa looked up and gave me a lick. We had a bit of a moment.

It sounds like OP has made up her mind so good luck to you, I'd agree with most of the points made here (the two beagles in our training class were a nightmare & both were with families with young children). It sounds like you will be very dedicated so I am sure you will make a success of it. I'm definitely in favour of rescues, so many wonderful dogs of all ages and breeds, with caring and knowledgeable staff to help match you to the right dog rather than a vested interest in selling you something.

Fred's a JRT which I wouldn't recommend with young children - he loves them but they cannot leave him alone and there's only so much nose-patting a dog can take. Mind you we are ttc so have already started to consider how we will manage any problems that arise...

Best of luck with your decision and search, let us know how you get on.

Anomaly I have to disagree, breed is no guarantee of temperament.

Our first dog was a rescue Wei, who on paper should have been stubborn, with separation anxiety and extreme jealousy towards a new baby.

She turned out to be extremely loving, a bit aloof, with a definite opinion, but would not let DD out of her sight

Our pup is now 10 months old and still very hard work. My DCs are older but the dog has been a source of tension as well as pleasure. My DD, 9, spent weeks screaming and flapping her hands whenever the dog approached her which hyped her up further. DD is also a bit dreamy with leaving doors open etc. It just means that there is a lot of shouting instruction from me to DCs when we are leaving, arriving/ getting dinner on etc - those full on family moments of the day become more tense at times.
Of course we love our dog too, but it is not all unalloyed light and joy!