We have a very loved elderly dog, and our children are currently in Year 2 and below. At the moment, we don’t have many matches or big weekend commitments. Our dog is at the gentle 45-minute to 1-hour-walk-at-a-steady-pace stage of life and happily snoozes all day—ideally in the sun. She’s walked every day unless severe weather warnings say it’s unsafe (awful storms or extreme heat). We use trusted house sitters if we’re away for a day trip or overnight, so everything is very manageable. She has no separation anxiety and is pretty much a model doggy citizen now.
However, after a few issues with tumours, I know we probably don’t have many years left. The children (and us) will be devastated when she goes. My husband and I have been discussing whether we would get another puppy or remain dog-free for a few years. We love big, active dogs like Labradors. When we got our current dog, we were child-free and happy to devote plenty of time to long hikes, puppy training classes, daily short training sessions, scent training, and so on.
My worry is that we now have very active children, and at some point our weekends are going to explode with sports matches. Our dog is amazing, but she is the product of a lot of training, time, and devotion. For those of you with busy, sporty children who are also very sociable (days out, play dates, birthday parties), how did things work with a new puppy? Is there a particularly good age for children—or for the family as a whole—to get a puppy? We want to make the best choice for both our children and any future four-legged family member.