please help me make a decision. Take on this poor pup or not.

[Tortoise]

14wk old lurcher x puppy on local Facebook.
They only had him 2 days. People they got him from suddenly got full time work hours so had to re-home him. Now this person wants to get rid too as her partner wants an older dog not a puppy.

Dilemma is that I have a 8 yr old grey and a 2 yr old jrt already and 4 dc!

My heart is saying take this poor pup and give him a loving forever home.
My head is saying, can I manage 3 dogs. Can I afford 3 dogs. Although main cost is food for the 2 I have plus vaccinations yearly. So not too bad.

I'm home a lot of the time as currently on job seekers.

I just don't know what to do.
Would I be mad to get another dog?
I have no puppy experience as took on jrt age 1 and grey was 4 when got him.

Have big, fully enclosed garden and lots of fields nearby.

Please advise and please be honest, I can take it lol.

Bump.

I think the only thing is that you you dont know about any potential health problems with this pup. As you have 2 dogs already the pup would be well socialised and I expect have a lovely life with you!

I think if 2 people have rehomed this poor pup there may be something wrong with him? Are they asking for money or giving pup away? If you aren't sure about keeping him you can get in touch with a rescue and take him there to make sure he finds a nice home. I know rescue centres are full to the brim- but pups are always rehomed really quickly.

Thanks for reply.
The 1st people rehomed due to work. This person thought her partner agreed to dog but he meant older dog. Bad communications I think!

They want £50 for him. Its so unfair that the poor thing is being passed around so much in his short life.

OP, your head is telling you the right thing. What you can do, is to let the person selling the pup about specialist lurcher rescues, who will move heaven and earth to get this pup picked up, into rescue and then into a good forever home. A good place to start would be here www.lurcher.org.uk/

• let the seller know about this organisation. Give them a call. If you can say roughly where in the UK you are, I could probably point you (pardon the pun) at several greyhound/lurcher rescues.

Think hard about this. You are on Jobseekers at the moment - that is not a luxurious amount of money. How are you going to afford insurance, vets bills, food, training, etc? What happens when you get a job? Who will look after the puppy? Do you really have the time to spare for socialising, training a puppy that has already had multiple homes? Moving from two to three dogs is a big difference, much more than moving from one to two. How are you going to manage walking three dogs with lots of DC as well? Please think this through. Getting this dog into rescue will be the best thing for it.

I'm in Somerset.
Arranged to meet him before I saw your message. Will tell her about lurcher rescue though.
When I find a job it will be part time so dogs wouldn't be left too much and would have company of other 2 dogs plus know of dog walker locally.
Both dogs currently uninsured because pet plan who I was with, seemed to put price up a lot. Not ideal but I grew up with 3 dogs in the house and they never were insured.
Training I can do with clicker as use it with jrt.
Im still undecided but thank you for advice.

Oh, and walking would be ok. Used to walk 3 as a child and DS's old enough to hold lead.

If I'm honest, I'd agree with scuttlebutter. Your heart is in the right place, but you have to think about what you would do if, say, the dog broke its leg- I recently saw a break that cost £1000s at a specialist to fix. 3 dogs is 3 times the possibility of one of them needing potentially expensive veterinary treatment.

It may well fit in with your other dogs, but equally it might not. I had two dogs, and my younger one has had lots of behavioural issues, which I (and behaviouralists) think stems from being "dog 2". Can you afford to see a behaviouralist (roughly £60-£80 for the first consultation) if the pup does have "issues"?

I know you feel you are keeping this pup from an uncertain future, but there may well be someone else out there who would be happy and willing to take this dog on, and be better placed than you to take it and give it a great lifestyle.

Really not trying to be mean, but I see a lot of heartbreak with injured/ unwell dogs and well-meaning owners who have no means of paying for the treatment the dog needs.

It sounds as though you have nearly reached a decision, especially as you are going to see him.

If you need them, you might also want to know about Greyhound Rescue West of England (they do lurchers as well) and South West Sighthounds - a very small charity but a good one.

I can't emphasise enough how important it is to have insurance. You only have to see some of the other threads on here to see how quickly illness can strike and how expensive it can be. We never had it either when I was growing up, but vet medicine has changed hugely (for the better) and treatments and tests are now available for a whole host of conditions that wouldn't have been looked at twenty years ago. You are also down the road from Bristol which has a world class vet school and if ever your dogs need a specialist they are on your doorstep, but are not cheap. We are in S Wales so know a lot of people who have had dogs referred there for specialist investigations.

Any good price comparison website will now do a look for you for deals, and if you have multiple pets the insurance can work out a bit cheaper. It also gives you third party protection - in this day and age, when there are so many claim farms that will put in a claim for damages if your dog sneezes over someone, that is a protection worth having.

Lastly, the thing to consider is this - if you buy this pup, you are directly rewarding irresponsible sellers who advertise on FB. You are reinforcing that this is a selling method that works.

Listen to Scuttle. That is good advice.

You cannot afford another dog and if you take the dog and have to rehome him then he will be getting passed on again. You can save him from this by taking him to the rescue. Or persuading the seller to do so.

It is not just the financial cost, but the other issues. 4 DC and 2 dogs. Adding a puppy into that woudl be foolish, I am sorry to say.

My DC were 4 and 6yo and I found the first couple of months with our new puppy quite stressful. It is not easy.

How old are you DC?

Honesty I'm still really torn.
I was like this when I took on jrt. He was on his 2nd home too and they didn't want him. He's not much trouble and is a lovely dog.
I totally understand the point re facebook.

Dc are 7,8,12 and 14.

Right, I have put off seeing him for now. She was going to bring him here so could see how my 2 get on with him.
And I have told her I wouldn't have money until end of the week which gives me a few more days to think.
Also asked if she has thought about contacting lurcher rescue.
I appreciate advice and see where you are coming from.

Tortoise, hope you don't think I was being horribly negative, but it is something I (unfortunately) have to deal with on a day to day basis. I feel awful for the owners, who can't afford the treatment/ referral, and so so sad for the animal who can't get the treatment it needs.

I've referred a few things recently to the vet school, they now have MRI capabilities, which is great, but costs £800 a scan. It really is somethign that ALL dog owners should consider. As Scuttle said, it's fantastic that vet medicine has come on in leaps and bounds over the last 15 years or so, but it does come at a price.

Definately get the insurance even if only a basic policy. Our last dog had a major op including scans/ x-rays at 16 months approx £2k, this was at Langford. Other various bits and pieces, such as a mast cell tumour, impacted anal glands and finally her last illness was a further £1900 safe to say the insurers didnt make anything out of her policies. some insurers do discounts for more than one animal I believe.

Jooly No, I need to think hard about it and your post made me think even more.
Trouble is I would love this pup but on the other hand I have enough already. If I only had one of my dogs I would have snapped him up.
One minute I decide best not to take him then I start thinking how lovely it would be for my jrt to have a play mate because my grey is too lazy and not interested. Then I think grey would hate a puppy jumping over him. He's not impressed with jrt trying to play!

She is going to look into lurcher rescue.
I did think about ringing them and seeing what they say. I could foster him until they can take him. Oh I don't know lol!

What about when/if you get a job - how will you juggle all your dogs and the puppy then?

Well, no different to what I would do now. Walk before school, walk early eve and depending how long I would be out, there is a local dog walker who I would use.

Maybe your idea of fostering him for a lurcher rescue would be the best one! If you feel you could look after him right now, but not so certain about the long-term time/money committment? I think it would definitely be worth either you or the owner contacting a rescue and seeing what they think.

Poor little thing, being passed around like that. I don't suppose the 'breeder' is willing to take him back?

Listen to Scuttle she always talks sense and her advice is spot on. It best for the puppy and you.

Get a puppy when the time is right for you
By taking the dog to rescue it will have support for the rest of its life regardless of what may be in the future

She has someone going to look at him tomorrow. Hopefully he will go to a good home.

Good news. He has be rehomed. I'm glad a didn't take him on. Would have been a mad house!