If you could go back, would you still have got your dog?

[Soubriquet]

I love my dogs to bits.

I really do

But if I could go back 2 years ago, I wouldn’t have got them.

They are very restrictive in what you can do. You can’t be spontaneous. You always have to consider the dogs.

The cat couldn’t care less but the dogs need you to care.

They need to be walked and loved.

And you have to clean up their mess when they decide to destroy something.

I have committed to these dogs and I will give them 100% but when these two pass away, we have decided no more dogs.

We have two dogs. I absolutely regret getting one of them (a rescue) as he’s a pain in the ass with multiple physical and mental health problems. The other we bought as a puppy and she’s fine.

When they die, we will definitely get another dog as we live very very rurally and I wouldn’t feel right here without one, but I will research the dog much more carefully the next time. I won’t say never to getting a rescue again, but I would be very wary, tbh.

I’m mixed. Our boy is 9 months. My dc has autism and he is brilliant with her and she adores him. But he is a tie. We went on holiday and took him but obviously couldn’t do lots of indoor activities as we didn’t want to leave him in our rental cottage. He’s very easy going but pulls a bit on the lead and is rubbish with recall as he’s so friendly and dog loving that everything else is much more interesting. So I mainly walk him on lead or on a long line.

I don't think I could be without a dog now, so yes, I'd do it all over again!!

Absolutely she's changed my life and saved me. She's amazing and I'm so happy we rescued her and so happy she gets on with our other dog too

Yes, 100%. He's a big smelly noisy carpet of a dog who wakes me up to ask for his breakfast at 6am every day, and eats his own poo if I'm not quick enough sprinting up the garden with a bag, and shouts at every little noise when I'm trying to work, and has enormous feet like sponges that leave dinner-plate-sized wet pawmarks all over the house, and I could not love him more! He makes me laugh a hundred times a day, is brilliant with my DS and his friends, and I can't imagine life without him.

I'm on day 5 of having our pup but grew up with dogs and always had one until I moved away from home. So I'd say I'm in the thick of it with regard to some difficult behaviours and things like toilet training, having to carry him outside all the time (he's still due his second set of jags), whining at night, mouthing, crate training etc.

But, even now, I'd have him ten times over. We had a moment the night before we got him where we were setting up the crate and his toys and my husband turned and said 'Holy God what have we done' in a half joking way. Our kids have just started to get easier and life was about to get a little easier to manage so adding a puppy might have been mad.

Maybe we've just been hugely lucky with the little dude we've been dealt? Maybe it will all go to shit tomorrow and things will suddenly get mega hard in a way I can't anticipate. But today, while I'm cleaning up little accidents and apologising to my office colleagues because he's whining in his playpen, I'm still 100% glad we got him. He's amazing.

I do not regret my dog because the alternative was him going to live with a stranger. I took him on from a relative and having known him since he was a puppy, although he did not live with me I always always felt a really strong bond with him when I visited and stayed. So I already loved him and when it came to the time when I had the chance to take him, it felt really right

I honestly do love him, good points and bad and his little lovely face always makes my tummy feel all squishy and full of love for him. How wet does that sound? I talk to him all the time and he sleeps next to me all night. He can be so naughty but it doesn’t seem to matter. I also think he has really helped my MH. I am more active and motivated now

Re the argument about natural environment, my dog is a Yorkshire terrier X and he hates any wet weather and likes people more than dogs any day. I think this far down the line he would have no chance in the wild but that doesn’t mean I can’t give him a stimulating nice life, he isn’t in any way pining for freedom. You can tell when dogs enjoy warm home comforts by their body language and behaviours. They aren’t just doing it to please you

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages

This made me laugh, also no way would any creature get into my house without a serious kerfuffel, my terrier likes to guard the house from moths recently
I do let him dig but his favourite place to dig is in the middle of the sofa

Yes x1000 but what I would have done different is pick a litter mate also

Without a doubt yes.

But I do appreciate how tying and costly he is. However none of that compares when I see how pleased he is to see us or how much joy he brings into our life. Admittedly he has been an extremely easy pup and teen. If he had been a bit more of a handful I might feel differently.

I do regret getting dogs in the first place. My current three are dog nr 1, 4 and 5. All old gits.

I do not regret bringing them home. One has been in the shelter for almost 2 years, has a disability and was 9 years old, so unlikely to ever find a home (unless some other soppy sod like me came along). Another, my DH had known the dog for years and his owner was sending him to a known kill shelter, so we took him in. The latest arrival was 10 years old and depressed in the shelter because his long term girlfriend died. So he lives on our rug too now.

So I don’t regret these dogs. They’re all fab. But I’m not sure I’d have started the cycle if I could go back in time.

Yes, definitely, not sure about the kids though