First puppy - cold feet!

[Kilconnellbay]

i All,

A friend of the family have just bred a gorgeous litter of puppies with two boys left and i am tempted...
I work from home the majority of the time so am home all day and go to the horses about 3pm for a few hours. My OH is home from work at 5. we lead an active life with the horse and fitness.
My parents also have a dog and would dog sit if we went away on holiday.
However i do know a puppy requires an awful lot of training and time. Obviously, growing up i have always had dogs (westies to be precise) but would you say this combo is a good one for a first time dog owner.

My plan would be to to have a puppy crate at the horses so he can be with me while im there and when i do ride (only for an hour tops at a time) he can be in a spare stable in a crate . I plan for the first few weeks to arrange care for when i go or bring him to the stables and keep in crate while i ride (for 45 mins)
i keep going through certainty to cold feet phases!

Would you be considering getting a puppy if one was not so easily available?

Have you checked that your friend has done all the relevant health tests etc?

Did you say what breed the puppy is?

Puppies do need a lot of time and training in the early days

What you say about crating could be fine for many puppies but you can never guarantee the "model" you get . It is good to teach the puppy to settle and if the puppy has been watching you at the stables would be ready for a nap while you ride if left in a safe place.

he is a norfolk terrier x jack russell

How long are you planning on keeping him in the crate over the course of the day?

A young puppy needs to be taken out to wee or poo every twenty minutes or so. I know you say he'll be looked after by someone else during the first weeks but house training often needs to be continued for some time with some puppies.

From the sound of your OP taking on on of these puppies sounds more like a whim and because it's available rather than something you've thought about and planned for.

Are you sure you want a puppy and actually have the time to devote to rearing a small baby animal into well adjusted adult dog?

not long at all. i work from home so can take him out wees and poos as often as needed. it's more pre-planning for when i go to do my horses if i tire him out before hand, hopefully he will sleep in his crate while i ride.

Those cold feet phases are there to tell you something....

Looking at the puppy threads some puppies are perfectly fine in a crate whilst others hate it or take a lot longer to be comfortable even for a few minutes. Do you have a back up plan if you end up with one that hates the crate?

You mention working from home. I work from home and in the early days I ended up having to do all my work late at night when my DH came home because it was too hard to keep an eye on the puppy and concentrate. It's seems fine in theory but when you have to watch them like a hawk to see if they are circling for a pee, or find they are chewing something they shouldn't even though you thought you had puppy proofed the room it can be very stressful. Also depending on the type of work you do be aware that they have a habit of crying just at the right time if you need to take a call.

Oh and it isn't a matter of dashing out to get them to pee and poo. Often you need to stay out in the garden with them for a while and if they don't toilet it's then back in and back out again. Will that fit in with your type of work?

I am also horsey and while I love both puppies and horses they don’t always work well together. A puppy could well howl all the time you leave it in the crate in the stable and that could upset other horses. I think that for the first few weeks at least you need to find another solution. Also it takes a while to train a dog so that it is safe around horses, e.g. to not enter the arena, to not go into the field, etc. Is your YO OK with you bringing a dog on the yard.

The choice of dog is up to you but personally I go with either a good breeder of pedigree dogs or a rescue mongrel. I don’t quite see the point in rewarding a person for a random, pointless litter.

Well you certainly sound like you have the time to train a puppy but you're clearly having doubts, which isn't unusual once the puppy is installed in the house - read some of the threads on here and you'll see an awful lot of new puppy owners feel overwhelmed in the first fee weeks - but do you really want one.

Puppies can be awfully hard work, I was very lucky mine wasn't, but any dog is a massive commitment and if it's a commitment you're not 100% certain you want to make I'd say hold off.

It sounds like you live a busy life that you enjoy. Taking on a puppy is going to make huge changes in your life that perhaps, in your heart of hearts, you don't really want.

Don't take a puppy just because it available.

If you really wanted a dog at the moment you'd have already been looking for one before this puppy arrived.

Why were the puppies bred? Were the parents health checked? Are they back yard breeders?

I would be a) listening to your gut instinct here and b) refusing to fund a backyard breeder (which yes they are - there is absolutely no need to deliberately crossbreed like this as shown by the fact that they don't have homes lined up).

As others have said, if you truly wish to have a dog, take the time to find a breed that truly fits with your lifestyle and a good reputable breeder OR preferably find a rescue dog that will be a good fit.

Terriers are a lot to work - they have exceptionally high prey-drives and are often very protective of their owners (which means wary of other dogs and prone to barking/growling to "protect").

They need lots of mental and physical stimulation which can be incredibly difficult when they're young and can't walk far.