Am I allowed a dog? Can I cope?

[namewithchange]

I would like a dog for my DC's and me. For company and cuddles. But I work part time and I am worried it wouldn't be fair on a dog. I am a single parent.

We live in a lovely area. Lots of outdoor space and walks and my DCs would absolutely love it. Have been banging on about it for years.

Can I cope with a little one? Would it be fair?
How long is fair to leave them alone in the day time?

I am sure someone will be along with a longer reply soon, but to answer one of your questions, puppies cannot really be left at all for several weeks when you first get them, so unless you can arrange time off work, that will be your first hurdle. Then you have to gradually build the time up, and when they are adult you might be able to leave them for 3 hours or so. Any longer than that and you would have to make dog sitting arrangements of some sort.

How old are your kids and are you thinking of a puppy? My kids were 3 and 6 when we got our first puppy and it was HARD. I honestly think it would have been easier to have had another baby. My dh works long hours and often at the weekend and is rarely in until after the kids are in bed. Even leaving it for an hour while I did bedtime was a struggle. You really can't leave young puppies alone for any length of time and this has a big impact on our days out. I thought it would be fine as we do lots of days out to parks etc so though dog could just come too. But in reality we also do trips to softplays, farm parks, cinemas etc etc all of which the dog can't go to. Trips to friends houses etc all more complicated with a pup. Walks in the evening when you have to take the kids out with you in all weathers. It was especially hard in the summer as we could go on a day trip that the dog could come to the majority of but we would often want to stop for dinner on way home, or I might want to go to supermarket on way home. Cant leave the dog in the car in the heat so often had to rethink the whole day. We had far more drive throughs than I'd like to admit just so we could eat and keep the dog cool! This year I'm prepped with a list of dog friendly food places!

I'm not saying this to put you off. I don't regret getting the dog, or getting it as a pup. My kids adore him and he is a great companion.....now. Just be really realistic about the amount of work it will be. If your kids are older and at a little less needy stage then that could make a big difference. Finding a good doggy day care makes a HUGE difference. We have one that is fab, does from 1hr play sessions right through to day care and boarding. It has been a life saver for managing the odd nights away, long days out that dog can't come too etc.

Can you give more of an idea of your working hours per day?

Rescues and people do like to quote a maximum of 4 hours per day as being the amount of time a dog can be left by itself. I'm not sure where this one size fits all figure came from, but some dogs will be able to cope for less time, others for longer. Take it as a rule of thumb or an average, but I wouldn't take it as gospel.

If you work a full length day, would you be able to pay for doggy day care / a dog walker on top of all the pet insurance / food / vet / grooming / toy / etc etc costs that dogs come with? What's your plan if your dog does end up with separation anxiety? It can happen in any dog.

I would encourage you to get a rescue dog - not only will you be able to avoid the arsehole puppy stage, you'll get a dog whose character / tendencies towards separation anxiety are known and you don't have to worry about the complete minefield that is buying a puppy.

We have a puppy. I work full time from home and hubby is a SAHD and our one DD is 7. We have found it very tough to be honest. He is a lovely little guy but needed total constant supervision for weeks. We couldn't go anywhere without him. We are finally getting there but he is nearly 5 months old now. I love him to bits but if we ever get another dog I'll get an older one! At 5 months old we can now leave him home alone for an hour (maybe 2 but we've never pushed it that far) so we can do something not dog friendly but to be honest that only happens maybe once or twice a week. We can also leave him in the car (weather dependent) for half an hour. That really helped with school drop offs and pick ups! The rest of the time he comes with or one of us stays with him.

Tbh it depends on the dog. I'm a first time owner but haven't found having a puppy anywhere near the hard work I was expecting and never got up in the night from bringing him home at 8 weeks. He's 6 months now. He also has been left from day one and is a happy confident soul.

Thank you so much for your common sense answers. It has really made me more aware of what could be a really tricky settling in period for a puppy. I can't commit to that at the moment I don't think so will hit the pause button until I have a bit more time to commit to a puppy/dog.