To ask you to tel me all the shit things about having a dog?

[ProserpinaProserpina]

Two preschool DCs, small house, large garden. I’m desperate for a dog. DH works from home in a workshop in the garden. Dog would spend most of the day with him. We’ve both had dogs before and live an active, outdoorsy lifestyle. I can’t think of any occasions that we go out to anywhere that a dog couldn’t come, and there is very rarely not someone home. I work 3 days per week but like I say, husband is around. I’m happy to do evening walks as required, dog could have the run of the garden all day every day, and DH has a very flexible (read: easy) schedule which would allow the dog to be walked as much as needed.

DH is happy with whatever and does absolutely adore dogs but is more pragmatic than me. He’s very much of the ‘if you want a dog, we’ll get one but it won’t be easy’ attitude which I’m a bit worried might bite me on that arse when things are difficult.

So please, tell me all the shit things about having a dog and why it’s a terrible idea to have a dog and children so that I can make a truly informed decision (ie. Not do it).

Picking up poo and walking them in cold weather. Otherwise they're great.

Can be very tying , dog hair everywhere , chewing

But get one ;)

Hairs everywhere (if a dog who molts)
Smells
chewing the house/shoes/anything
picking up it's shit
vet bills
cost of dog insurance
having someone to look after it if you go away
having to walk it in ALL weathers and even if you are ill
mud indoors
scratching/damaging leather sofa and gloss kitchen units
ruined paintwork where it has scratched/jumped at the door eager to get out
cost of food
general annoyance of dog wanting to be inside then out then inside again - especially true on a winters day when you have to keep opening/closing the door to continuously let it in/out
waking you up at silly o'clock
jumping on the bed (I don't believe that any animal should be on the bed)

I am not a dog person !

I haven’t read all the replies so don’t know if this has been said already but FOOD!! Our 1 year old lab is an absolute nightmare and will literally eat anything and everything.

I've found it really hard to manage with my autistic son as he drops food all the time and I’m constantly on high alert to make sure the dog isn’t eating something he shouldn’t. Have also had to move all of our Christmas tree decorations up as he keeps taking them off the tree!

@Scottishskifun I completely agree it depends on the dog but you don't know what you're getting and that's the risk.
Also - as you say your dog came first - I assume you had a chance to focus on puppy first and get it to be an okay adult dog and so then it was more about teaching children how to be around? Bringing puppy into young children environment has to be much much harder!

Hmm, having to pay a dog sitter when you go on holiday. That is the only downside I can think of. We have a great one though who is also our dog Walker a couple of days a week.

Oh, the puppy stage was awful too, most of my shoes got eaten.

One of our dogs steals and buries bras. That is annoying, he is really good at finding them - even a new one, still in a bag, attracts her attention, I don’t know how or why.

Being bitey when they're puppies
Shitting in the house
Waking you up in the night/early morning
Eating stuff that is left lying around
Expensive vet bills
Going in the garden and bringing muddy footprints in the house
Digging plants up
Killing your lawn with their pee

That said, I think it sounds an ideal set up for a dog, sorry.

When the kids are poorly, the dog still has to be walked. When you're poorly, the dog still has to be walked. When it's raining, snowing or Christmas day, the dog still needs to be walked. It can be a tricky balancing act to keep up together with the dog's training and exercise requirements without putting the kids off having the dog full stop.

And especially so in winter when every walk requires donning waterproofs, wellies, coats, hats, gloves, fumbling with wet leads and picking up by poo by the light of a headtorch. Then the inevitable mess in the porch when you get back and everything's dripping wet and muddy. Yuck.

I love my dog but there are whole weeks where I could happily turn back time and not get him! My kids are 5 and 3 and the dog is 2 now.

Hair. The smell. The inability to be spontaneous. Training them. Walking them when it’s cold/raining. The risk of high vet bills. I adore dogs but would never have my own

I would never get a rescue with small children.

My friend got a dog this summer. It means they now can't go anywhere for more than a couple of hrs (without paying a sitter/walker). So summer afternoon/evening BBQs are out, evenings at (our) home are out, overnighters are out. They can't bring the dog as we have a cat (and I don't want a dog in the house).
Multiply this by the number of other friends they used to do that with.

Days out at some places are out (no dogs allowed), camping trips have to be at certain sites. UK self catering holidays are difficult (can't leave the dog in the cottage so can ONLY go to dog friendly places), walks can only be as long as the dog can cope with. And so on.

It's changed their lives in ways they hadn't quite realised. Of course there are the good bits, but EVERYTHING revolves around the dog.

I have dogs and young kids! Not really found it hard to be honest my advice is research your breed!! All the people I see moaning about the dog are ones that have got the wrong breed in my opinion and can’t provide the dog with the training and stimulation and exercise they need! So make sure you get a breed and size that will match your family and lifestyle! Mine are small and not hyper so we’re pretty easy going even as puppies and very intelligent and fast to learn

I really regret getting a dog. Much prefer the two cats.

DH was desperately keen for a dog and persuaded me that it would work. He does look after him well but I'm pretty indifferent to him. I have taken him for the odd walk but he's too strong willed for me and even the trainer said we should re-home him to a farm.

We've had him 5 years now so I don't think I'm going to suddenly change and adore him the way DH does. When he's gone, we definitely won't get another one!

Spending €1200 on dental work that isn't covered by insurance 😫

That's what I have spent on my own teeth this year, too.

yes i agree . our lovely dog is in a steep decline and we all
end up in tears at thought of what's coming!

I've been afraid to go to the human dentist after what the dog cost 😂

We got a puppy in January after years of wanting a dog but waiting for the right time. He's completely and utterly amazing and whilst he has made life harder, he's made it better. The puppy stage was like going back to having a newborn and, to be honest, we were not prepared for how hard it would be (we both had dogs as children though) but it was over quickly enough.

He's brilliant company (apart from his barking startling me!), encourages us all to get outside and enjoy nature, and he's so affectionate.

On the downside, we have to plan carefully for nights out/time away (we've now got a fab dog sitter who comes and stays with us so that our dog is in his own surroundings), the kids always promise to walk him but never do, he tears up any bit of cardboard he can find, paw prints on carpets etc. etc. etc.

I love him and am so glad that he joined our family.

I wouldn’t get a puppy with 2 very young kids, but an older dog, DO IT!

The hair. I'm trying to work out how my parents dog still has fur - I seem to wear a lot of it!

Gorgeous and lovable and loyal....but they are a tie. If you go out as a family you're not going to always be able to take the dog.Holidays need more planning. Even an overnight stay needs planning. Not all your friends and family will like dogs and won't want them in their homes.
But the unconditional love and loyalty you get back from them is indescribable. We got our boy as a puppy to help our teenage daughter with her mental health, and he's the best thing we've ever bought- he's actually helped all of us. Wouldn't be without him now!

Dog kennels are very expensive. My 9 months old rescue puppy just chewed up all corners of the living room furniture, we think he did it while we were here and thought he was relaxing!

We have two dogs though and I wouldn’t change it!

Aging.
The hair- we have to vac 3-4 times per day otherwise the house turns into a dog bed.
Trips away have to include the dog.
Illness.
Cost.

My house stinks, I normally wouldn't care but Xmas coming up and visitors means I've got to bath them, wash the carpets, beds, wipe snot off windows, mud off walls and I can't be arsed. And while I'm doing all this housework they follow me round, snuffling in the dust piles, sitting on the stuff I've just moved, and basically tripping me up, the hairy bastards.

They are little heart thieves. You love them and they become part of the family, but they don’t live long enough, and you often have to put them down to spare suffering. Also you don’t think of this at the start, probably because you can’t imagine how much you’ll love them. We invite people into our company and dogs into our solitude, and their loss is heartbreaking.

Everything else is temporary and front-loaded through the puppy or new dog haze. If instinctively things like a clean house, dog hair, freedom, phases of barking all bloody night and dealing with behavioural issues and the sheer embarrassment of a young dog are not a price worth paying for you, don’t do it.

Otherwise like any love it’s well worth it, but don’t underestimate it or think there won’t be love - and it comes with grief, the price of 10, maybe if lucky 15 years, of company in your/ your family’s solitude. Everyone thinks they have the best dog - and none of them are wrong.