Could do with some advice please...

[zonedout]

I have been lurking on the dog board for some time and thought I would emerge to ask for a bit of advice...

I have been almost completely scared off my decision to get a new puppy by what I have read here (due to collect her in roughly 4 weeks)...

I have had dogs all of my adult life (was the first thing I did on leaving home age 21... Got my beloved first puppy who sadly died of cancer 5 years ago, when ds1 was a baby). For a long time I had two dogs and my second dog is now almost 14.

The one thing I do know is that I don't ever want to be without a dog. I also know that I have two young children (one of which has sn and has quite a fear of other dogs after witnessing our dog being attacked and having her ear shredded by another dog in the park last year, the other ds has bad asthma and i know my chosen breed is ok for him) and am not up for getting a rescue just now, although have no doubt i will do in the future. I did actually check with the breed rescue but very few are bred a year and they pretty much never end up in rescue.

So this is not a puppy vs rescue question but a will I cope with two young ds's and a puppy thread? I am not working and am around most of the time but of course there are the school runs, a couple of after school activities, quite a few doctors apps. And am facing life as a lone parent in the not too distant future ( but all things doggy have always very much been my department anyway so no great problem there). It has been a long time since I last had a pup and I had no children then... I know nobody can really answer this but will I cope or am I mad?! (or quite possibly both!?)

The pup I am due to take is from the breeder who bred my current lovely dog.

Thanks in advance for any wise words!

TBH, it does depend on the breed of dog. I have two young children and a 9mth old rescue lab/collie cross (have had her for about 6 weeks) and really don't think I could have coped if me and my husband hadn't been able to share dog walking/ child minding.

Our mutt needs a couple of walks a day and the children and are just too young to come along with me. They moan and cry and beg to go the playground instead and I wouldn't be finding it much fun at all if I was on my own.

I have a 6 year old, a 3 year old and an 18 month old. I also have a 9 week old GSP. My DH sorts the puppy out in the morning - he gets up before me, he takes him into the garden and he generally supervises breakfast (the puppy is like a piranha until about 8 when he calms down for the day). I then am responsible for the 4 for the rest of the day.

It is very busy and can be stressful but it is also gorgeous. I leave him in his crate for school runs (though he will come with me when he is big enough for the twenty minute walk each way). He HATES being left alone but is so happy when we return. It means I am really restricted to being out only for the hour in the morning to drop DD off and the hour in the afternoon to pick DD up. I have to go to the doctor at 11 05 and feel bad that I have to crate him again for up to an hour but if I don't crate him, he toilets in the house. Not ideal. The other thing to bear in mind is the puppy needs his boundaries set which means training him. That can fit in around your life but still needs to be done.

As Thunderbolt said, you'll cope because you have to but at times my guess is you'll question why you made your life harder than it already is.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply... I am still very much in two minds. My head and my heart are at massive odds!

My two ds's (age almost 6 and 3) are very used to coming out on long dog walks with me as it is all they have known.

I am, however, terribly nervous about adding extra stress to an already very stressful time in my life but, on the other hand, need to figure out if the benefits will outweigh the stress!

My breed is one that needs a fair amount of exercise and stimulation but not excessively so (less than a border collie!) My lovely old dog isn't going to last much longer and I can't stand the thought of a dog free house. Additionally, I will be moving in the next year or so and would far rather a puppy chewed up this place (which is in need of a coat of paint and new carpet anyway) than my new home. On the other hand I imagine that if I wait a year or two this particularly stressful period will have hopefully passed... But on the other hand again the puppy could also be a good and therapeutic distraction for my boys and I...

Aaaargh, I am driving myself crazy!

Any further common sense gratefully recieved!

My dog is 16 months and I wouldn't be without him but if I'd known how time consuming and destructive (and long) the puppy stage would be I'd have gone for an adult rescue dog. I couldn't have coped if I'd had young children, mine are teenagers now and weren't much help but I wasn't expecting any. He began to settle down when he was a year old, not quite perfect yet, still has the odd naughty puppy day, but getting there.