is it a good idea to get a dog

[dreamingchild]

Hi, I've never owned a dog in the UK so could really do with advice on whether getting one is a good idea, and if so which breed?
We will have a large house with a big garden, but are all out of the house in the working day. It could be walked morning and evenings by one of us through a mix of open space and roads. Children are 8 and 12 and love the idea. They are quite responsible and I think the older one especially would jump at the chance of going on walks with it etc.

We owned dogs living abroad but they were guard dogs (though total softies) so not allowed in the house and were very well trained when they came to us and we didn't have to walk them ourselves (they bounded around absolutely massive grounds instead). I was also at home more. We couldn't bring them back and they went to another lovely family with huge grounds.

But I am wondering if getting a dog here would be as effortless. I suspect not.

Would somebody be available to let the dog out for a wee during the day? That would be my first concern...4 hours is the tops ideally for a dog to be left.

An older dog would be okay, they sleep a lot during the day. A puppy no way.

As a general rule, you shouldn't leave a pet dog more than four hours alone. If you're all out in the daytime that's just not feasible in my opinion.

You could look at sites like BorrowMyDoggy to offer walks to local dogs and see how you get on.

I am out of the house but my dog goes to doggy daycare. Would that be an option?

You can't leave a dog all day everyday, especially not a puppy. Either one of you needs to change your working pattern or you need to arrange doggy daycare. Mine has gone three days a week since he was 16 weeks old.

Also be prepared that not all dogs can be left even for the maximum recommended time of 4 hours. Some get anxiety, get extremely distressed and destructive - they bark, mess themselves, destroy furniture/floors/doors - we have one that hates being alone but we had plans in place for that before we even got him.

I think you need to reconsider to be honest. Puppies for example are a lot of work - they need taking to the toilet every 20-30 minutes when they're small, they wake several times a night and can't be walked much at all. How are you going to manage those needs when neither of you are home all day? And not all daycares are happy to take young pups - most have a basic requirement of all their vaccinations, the dog has to be spayed/neutered and they need to be house-trained!

No, not if it will be alone all day. If you can arrange doggy daycare then yes.

No

damn. that’s a no
then, which is what i suspected. thank you for your thoughts.?

It's not as effortless! I was living abroad, where I got my dog. Large compound, free range outside, always warm, always somebody around....a bit like you described above. She was also a house dog, when we were home, and we took her for walks, to cafes etc. ... but not every day, She didn't need it.
Later, we moved back to UK, and we brought our African dog. She's adjusted well to being a suburban house dog! We have a big garden but there's just less freedom and less happening around her than before. So she needs: more company, more walks, more toys/entertainment, training and generally more input from us. Which is fine, for us, I work at home and part time. But.....it's definitely not effortless compared to tropical compound life!
Dog ownership in the uk is like a very time consuming hobby, unless you live on a farm with other dogs and lots going on (My opinion).
That was my experience. Was expecting it to be like that mostly, and still glad we did it (mostly!). So....get dogs if you have the time/want a nice hobby