We are thinking of getting a dog, but have no previous experience. Can anyone chat practicalities with me?

[AdamLambsbreath]

Here's the situation: I have always wanted a dog, and DH is keen as well. We have no children at the moment, although we are TTC. I am at home full time, DH works full time. We own our own home, with a sizeable secure back garden. We are both very active (running, cycling, walking) and happy to exercise a dog for several hours a day - in fact that's one of the things we'd look forward to.

We are seriously looking at applying to rehome a failed guide dog. I know this won't necessarily be successful, but want to figure out everything we need to know first. I would hate to let a dog down by sending it back, and want to be sure we have a realistic picture of what we're committing to: good and bad.

Here are the things we're apprehensive of:

-Dog plus starting a family. A part of me thinks it's the best thing to get a dog now and get it settled, trained and happy before children turn up, rather than attempting to do it with little ones in the picture. However, I don't know whether this is a good idea. If anyone has experience of this, I would love to hear it.

-If we are successful in starting a family, can we cope with a dog and (potentially) a small child too? Will the dog be unhappy about a new arrival? Will it be safe with it?

-Logistics. We are prepared to give a dog the care and time it needs, and don't have many commitments that mean spending time away. However, we do occasionally visit with family and friends. Can you take a dog with you on overnight stays? Are they happy to sleep in other houses? Or do you need to return home/arrange daycare or a dogsitter?

-Costs. These shouldn't be an issue per se, but we'd like to know roughly what we're looking at per month for food, insurance etc

And finally: the good stuff

When I write down all the cons it spooks me a bit, and all I can think for 'pros' is that . . . we'd just love to have a dog. If anyone wants to talk me into this, please do

It'd be really helpful to have any advice - thanks in advance!

If you are not successful with a failed Guide dog, you could also consider looking at rescue dogs. They are not all in rescue because they're mad, bad and dangerous to know!

Smaller rescues, in particular, usually have dogs in foster homes (as they don't have huge kennel premises). Dogs in foster homes are used to the hustle and bustle of life, often used to living with other dogs/cats/children etc. Therefore you can get a good, hopefully honest, assessment of what that dog's temperament is, their energy levels, which will stand you in good stead if you adopt. You could even research any local rescues and offer to foster, as a first step to adoption. There are many "failed fosterers" around who started by fostering and then adopted the dog. You could also research local agility clubs and cani-cross (as suggested above) and perhaps hear of suitable dogs that way.

Smaller dogs are often a lot more active than larger, so don't discount a smaller breed, as they will often be happy to go out running with you, when a larger, more sedentary dog may not.

Also, sign up to a few rescues, talk to them about your lifestyle, what sort of dog, age/sex/size, and keep in touch. Remember that they're almost always staffed by volunteers, who are inundated with work. Don't wait for them to call you about suitable dogs, keep in touch and call every week or so to get updates.

If you're on FB, join the FB pages of local rescues, they're often much more up to date than rescue websites, and you can chat to people connected to the rescue and see the dogs they have coming in. Don't rush into it, be prepared to wait for the right dog and good luck!

How long do you reckon it needs then, Bertie? Given an adult dog without significant behavioural issues.

We are actively TTC at the moment, although to be frank we're having MC issues so I have absolutely no idea when/whether we'll conceive.

So we may have as little as 9 months, or as much as . . . well . . . forever (although I hope not . . .)

I do feel I'd be cautious about getting a new dog with kids under 5 in the house. This was one of the things I was considering, as if we can have kids we'd like 2, and so if we waited I'd be looking at about 7 years at least until we could have a dog. It seemed to make sense to get one before, and enjoy having a pet for those seven years. But I know nothing about it, hence posting here . . .

We had our first dog for about 3 years before we had DD - it really wasn't a problem. We just took sensible precautions to make sure the dog and the baby weren't alone, we made sure he had more walks than usual (DH managed that even though there wasn't much by way of paternity leave then), and generally tried to make sure that the dog saw the baby as a Good Thing. From a very young age DD knew to treat the dog gently and not as a plaything. I reckon that this way round was easier than trying to introduce a dog (let alone a puppy) to a small child.

Interesting muttie. I wish I'd know a year ago that conceiving was going to take this long . . . that way we could have got a dog straight away and had plenty of time

It's a gamble looking at a dog at this stage, I know. But I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen with TTC and don't want to keep postponing life forever.

Makes it bloody hard to make decisions!

Thanks for the tips on rescue centres, lady. I'd heard that rescues wouldn't rehome dogs to families with small children, so had discounted them. But that's not the case, from what you're saying. I'll look into it . . .

I also know that the queue to get a failed guide dog is very very very long. I also won't get a dog just yet. Looking at the weather outside, a dog wants to go out come rain or shine, they don't wipe their was, they chew, they piddle everywhere especially at the beginning and end of their lives. They smell, they chew your shoes, they run off and you spend hours trying to find them etc.

You cannot go out for hours on end without thinking of the dog and what you will do with them.

Where do you get dog boarding for £10 a day?

It's £25-30 for me .

I agree the only thing to really think about is weather/dog walks/baby. Depends on where you live partly. If you're somewhere rural, with no paths or streetlights, it can be a nightmare. If it's raining lots, and you need to take the dog out for an hour, the logistics with a baby or small child are tricky. I had the kids before the dog and I have no idea how I would have coped in a rural area, post-section, with a baby and the walks to do twice a day, in the winter.

We're in the suburbs with, and have good lit walks and several large parks nearby.

You're right though, still a big commitment, esp when weather bad or with small children.

Some rescues won't rehome to people with small children under 5 but many smaller rescues are more flexible. They will look at the family environment, discuss your plans for how you would cope with small child/baby and dog and would hopefully be reasonable about it. If they are confident that you would put measures in place to keep baby and dog safe, they are more likely to "pass" you as potential owners. Things like putting stairgates in between rooms, so you can separate dogs & babies, crate training a dog so that can be the dog's safe place where kids won't pester it, things like that...

I think the larger, more well-known rescues are so afraid of bad PR that they have a blanket ban. But, after all, you could go out and buy a puppy tomorrow and have it with small children, so I think rescues should be more flexible.

True, lady. I've often thought how odd it is that with small children it's difficult to adopt a rescue dog (which is likely an adult, has had health checks and comes from somewhere with an understanding of its temperament and behaviour) but perfectly possible to buy a bitey, fighty little puppy under the same circumstances!

NB: Not that I don't like puppies: I love them. It's just that our retired next-door neighbours have a lovely but VERY bouncy pointer pup, and it chews my hand, licks me and tears stripes into my arms with its little claws every time I try and pet it . Apparently it's fine with kids, but it would be hard work!

We've had rescue dogs with any age child (my one was a baby for example) I do think it's what ladyturmoil said 're pr but also I think rescues do have to take control as some people are irresponsible (though they are still irresponsible anyway, they don't need any help)

If you aren't lucky with the guide dogs, and have trouble getting a rescue given you're planning a family, breeders sometimes have adult dogs - we got our current one at 10 months (trained and well-socialised with dogs and the breeders grandkids!) - they'd kept him for show but he didn't make the grade. Much easier than a puppy, and more of a known quantity.

Myself and my husband are currently bursting to get another dog. Ours has just turned two and I read this was the perfect age to introduce a pal.......but its just not sensible with a baby on the way.

It took three quarters of an hour to wash the poo of my dogs head last night and I can still smell it when he gets close :(

As the other posters have said, I reckon it depends on the dogs temperament whether you could introduce it to a new house and baby quickly. I think it would take a year to fully get to know your dog to be able to guess how he will react to stress, perhaps others disagree? All dogs come with baggage, but if your willing to train with your dog, you could give it a go. (I would not let anything put me off getting a dog as soon as it became feasible)

Also, if you wish to run / cycle with your dog (we do parkrun too, dog loves it) the dog needs to be around a year old as this is when their bones settle.

Cost of dog walkers - it depends. some take more that one dog at time - which makes it cheeper(but you may not like the idea of that)....not an option for us as ours is a giant....and he is wonderful with ids - really gentle. So ours is £12 an hour...but we are quite close to London, which makes it more I think.

The flip side is I have a friend who also has a dog - we walk together a lot and will also help each other out with walks if one of us is stuck.

Also with the child sick scenario if DH can - he will take him before walk, which satisfies our dog to a point (he thinks his walk should be after breakfast and the kids are at school and gives me the eye if his routine is changed LOL), but DH does travel so this is not always possible.

A big thank you to everyone on this thread for your advice. It's given us plenty to think about.

I've got in touch with a Labrador rescue centre, and we're looking into fostering as well as adopting, to give us an idea of what dog ownership will be like and whether it's something we can definitely manage and commit to for a dog's lifetime.

Still very nervous, but now spending a lot of time imagining how much nicer day-to-day activities would be if I had a canine companion with me

Our failed guide dog came to live with us two weeks ago and he is wonderful! We put our application in around two and a half months before we heard anything from Guide Dogs but that really just comes down to wich dogs are withdrawn and which homes are available.

Our dog was withdrawn because he's very immature and just not cut out for working life! On his paperwork it says he has Low Task Focus so basically he'd rather be doing his own thing than anything useful He's got all his basic training but pulls on the lead like mad and can still be a bit bouncy so a bit of work (and growing up) to do yet. He's great with the dc and we all love him!

Most guide dogs are lab/golden retriever cross, our boy is and he doesn't shed that much although I've no idea if that's usual or not for the mix of breeds.

Best of luck with it all, it's so daunting trying to think of everything and get it all right!

Great that you got in touch with Lab rescue centre and are considering fostering. I fostered for 2 months last year and really enjoyed it.

You could also contact Black Retriever Rescue I'm sure they'd love to have an additional fosterer.

Good luck

I have a colleague who has a failed-guide dog! So it does happen, occasionally.

I have 2 dogs - a mad Weimaraner, and a chatty cocker spaniel. I run with each of them individually. The cocker goes to parkruns with me, and yes my times are on average a minute faster with her than without. I just have her on a short lead with a chest harness, but since we've done one Canicross event (Waggy Races), and have signed up for another, I really should invest in a proper running belt.

Mad Max is too freaked out by all the adrenalin sparking in the air and high fizzy vets at a parkrun....but he's my bosom buddy on long runs on quiet roads.

Dog walker taking the 2 of them charges 8-10 per hour, overnight stay in a kennel is 17 if they share.

I tried taking my dachshund running with me... he'd sit looking puzzled, then do a mad dash to catch up (which TBH wasn't too hard, I'm not a fast runner), then sit down again. On the way back similar except he'd be out in front and stop to wait for me.

An on-lead dachshund can be surprisingly good at pulling you up a hill though!