We have been offered a dog...need advice please!

[harrietlichman]

So we have been thinking about it for a long time and have decided that our family is ready for a dog. I always had one as a child, dh never has and we had two aged cats, the last of which sadly died a few months ago and we haven't had a dog before as the cat wouldn't have coped with it.
So now the time is right...our ds's are aged 6 and 8 and really excited about it, we have a large secure back garden, and time to take him/ her out twice a day - I work part time though, so he/she would be alone for 7 hrs two days a week.
We had decided on a puppy as we thought we could put in the training required and I was a bit nervous about bringing an unknown rescue dog in with the children, and have been researching breeds and looking around for a suitable one.
Anyway, dh was telling someone at work and this guy said he wants to get rid of his dog as he and his wife are trying for a baby and his wife has got a job where she is out of the house all day, every day. Dh has been to see her (the dog) and sent me a pic - she is gorgeous, a 9 month old beagle, she is well socialised and used to children (they have a 5 yr old) and apparently stays in a cage all day while they are out . Dh said she was 'a bit mad' when they went round, jumping up etc, but he put it down to her being let out of the cage.

So, I would like opinions please - I don't want a dog to jump all over people, so is she still trainable at 9 months and do you think she would be ok being left in the house more freely on the two days I am out after being used to a cage, or do you think our original puppy plan is better? I am so torn, she is lovely!

If she has papers, they should be getting back in touch with the breeder. Not rehoming privately.

A private rehoming is very high risk - there is no support or back up and there is every likelihood you are not being given the full story. A young beagle who is crated for an entire working day, every day of the week is likely to have an issue or two IMO. They are a challenging enough breed without that.

Afraid as hard as it sounds, I wouldn't touch this dog with a bargepole. Except of course to check her papers and see who had bred her. Then I'd be getting in touch with the breeder myself because people who decide to get rid of a dog because they're 'trying for a baby' make my blood boil. Especially as the dog is only 9 months old! The fact that they now crate it all day because in the last 7 months things have changed so much the woman is now out of the house all day every day just about puts the tin lid on it.

I hope the breeder is a good one and will have the dog back. It deserves better than the situation it's in. But I don't think it should be privately rehomed. It needs to be assessed by a professional or an experienced beagle owner first.

My thoughts exactly Daisy.

If you were to go for a pup instead then what were you planning on doing with it for the two days when you're working seven hours? An adult would probably just sleep but an unsupervised pup for 7 hours seems to me to be a terrifying (and potentially very messy) idea!

For what it's worth we got the most lovely dog from the RSPCA, she was 6 and would never have hurt a fly, she passed away earlier this year at 16. Our dog we've had from a pup is a little shit with other dogs and has taken a lot of hard hard work to get him to like them, it was nothing we did, he was like this from a pup. Please don't think a puppy will = no problems.

We also homed a rescue who was an adult, also 6. He's ace, so well behaved and obedient and already calm and out of the crazy bouncy stage that does get tiring after a few weeks! Good rescue centres will advise you of the dogs temperament and be clear about training issues or problems. This dog sounds like more than you need to be taking on and may put your dh off dogs altogether.