Quick background - have wanted a dog for a long time, work/young kids/living situation has previously prevented it. I was obsessed with dogs as a child, loved my childhood dog to the ends of the earth etc. Now I WFH, my DH is on board, DC are old enough to be sensible (8 & 6) and we have been seriously looking into rescue dogs. Though I am the dog-lover, my DH was happy with the idea of applying to adopt from the Guide Dogs Rehoming scheme - we don't want a puppy, I want a rescue, we need something good with kids and cats, we are both naturally drawn to larger breeds so Lab, Goldie etc.
But - we have the opportunity to privately adopt a dog we already know, a terrier crossbreed.
Pluses - family dog, so good with our children and known to them already. Has lived with cats, and is not that bothered by the ones he's grown up with. I have a massive soft spot for him. He is intelligent and charming.
Minuses - badly trained. Has no recall, and is fearful of other dogs - barks at every dog he sees that gets close enough. He will need a lot of training and commitment from me. Presently he barks when guarding the house - he is stressed in his present environment, and we live in a house with windows onto a road and a suburban garden surrounded by other gardens. There are no other dogs near us - at the moment, but obviously can't guarantee that will always be so.
He is not the breed we imagined - not a problem for me, but possibly more of an issue for my DH. We had imagined a family dog we could take on camping trips and days out and walks etc. - certainly in the short term this would not be possible.
He's also always slept on his owner's bed - and I'd always imagined a downstairs dog/upstairs cat divide...
I think he is a lovely lovely dog, a real sweetie - but with issues. If we take him on and it didn't work out, it would be awful ... from that perspective it would be better that he's rehomed outside the family, perhaps? And I wonder if best for him too that he goes somewhere more rural where he can terrier around to his hearts content?
But - perhaps I am being too pessimistic about him - could these issues be worked on and trained out of him? At the moment he is not walked at all, and has a tiny garden, and is one of 3, so he is stressed, full of energy he can't release and he is intelligent, so with work he could learn boundaries and calm down.
Or will I always be responsible for a fearful dog who can't accompany us on holidays etc and has to stay home?
Wise people of The Doghouse, WWYD?