tell me everything you now about juggling children, work and dogs

[thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat]

I am starting to crave a dog but I need lots of experiences to decide if it's feasible. I grew up with dogs - so did dh - so we're not naive. I am thinking of a greyhound or border terrier. I'd love a lab but do not have the time to walk as much as a lab needs. Here are the things I'd love your opinion/experiences on.

• being in the house: At the moment dh and I are out at work 4 days a week. This can quite often be 3 days a week. We currently have a dog-loving nanny so the house is never empty for long periods. So I think this aspect is ok for now - however, what if - when the girls are both ft at school we decide not to have a nanny? We would happily pay for a dog walker those 4 days but is this enough?

• walking: we live in surbubia. one walk a day could be to a playing field where he/she could get a run; the other would probably be a trot round the block. at the weekend we regularly go for long walks anyway in places like Richmond and Bushey Park so he/she would get a long walk once a week. I know that for these 2 breeds this is technically enough - but is it ok for one walk a day to just be trotting round on a lead?

• very small (but safe and walled) garden: not exactly delighted by the thought of him/her peeing in our tiny garden and decimating our already shoddy (and tiny) lawn. Is there anything we can do to minimise this?

• settling in - I have a month off work in Sep so I could be around to settle one in, but only for a month - is this remotely feasible for a puppy? what about an adult?

Sorry this is long but I find mn a great source of anectodal experiences and would really appreciate any you have. many thanks.

the title is, of course, meant to say "know"

We have a border/lakeland cross terrier and my DH works all week and I work 2 days per week. I was very lucky that when she was a puppy my Mum would have her at her house and look after her for those two days. Now she is an adult she goes to stay with my MIL for the two days. There is sometimes the odd occasion when she has had to be left on her own for the day but as DH only works 5 mins down the road he calls back at home at lunch time and lets her out and plays with her for a while before going back to work. When I am at home I take her for a 15 minute walk and then most of the time she just runs around in the garden but we are lucky that we have an 80ft garden. I think if my doggy didn't get a regular walk she would still be happy just to let off steam in the garden. We do go out quite regularly and sometimes she has to be left for up to 4 hours at a time, once slightly longer and she always copes perfectly okay with that although she does like to move objects around while we are out. As for the garden, she is a bit unruly and does like to dig up bulbs and grass and we cannot seem to get her to wee and poop in the same place. We did buy one of those pee posts (a plastic post that you put in ground that smells of wee, supposed to make your dog wee in that spot) but it did not work, she just sniffed it and walked away!! We are considering having a fenced off section of the garden made for her so she does not ruin the rest of the garden. When we bought our puppy I only had a week off work to spend with her but like I said before, she was looked after by my Mum when I went back so everything fitted in nicely. All I can suggest is give it some serious thought, I must admit I did not know whether we were doing the right thing but to be honest its now as if we have always had our dog, I cannot imagine that we have ever been without her, she has fitted into our lives with the minimum of fuss. Hope this helps, Louise.

I would recommend www.dogpages.org.uk chat for info on breeds and working and children etc - there are especially a lot of greyhound owners on there with a wealth of experience.

Only thing I would say re lawn wee is dogs tend to cause less burn marks on grass than bitches.

Good luck with your decision-making.

Our dogs get left for 3 hours at the longest althoug there are infrequebt occasions when it is longer. If it will be a regular 3 days by itself then I would worry about it becoming bored and frsutrated especially if its a puppy. A og walker could help but it depends how long a stretch of time dog would be alone? How long do you work?

The grass is often a problem and as 2labs said its worse with bitches. we have 2 bitches and have now sectioned a bit of our garden off so they cannot get on our lovely newly laid turf. Maisie has managed once and just one wee had burnt a patch

If you have very young children I would recommend a puppy but an older dog maybe a rescue would probably need older children