I just want a dog

[Coronagroaner]

Our dog died shortly before lockdown. Once the grief had subsided enough to start looking for another one covid restrictions had kicked in and it was impossible to look at rescues.

Then puppy prices went through the roof and there are still slim pickings at rescues.

Now at the stage of simultaneously just wanting anything just to have a dog in the house again and worrying that no dog can ever live up to the last one and worrying that whatever we get will have some big issue and we’ll regret it.

Kids are still devastated and ask when we’re getting another dog every day-they want to play With and stroke every dog we meet and often cry afterwards because they want one so much.

I’m contemplating a second dog and would prefer a rescue. My local dogs trust currently has 4 dogs available (as in not reserved) - 3 greyhounds who need an adult only home (I have a 14yo son) and a collie that cannot live with another dog. Another local rescue which is council affiliated, has 2 dogs available - one which cannot live with a female dog (mine is) and one which is a huge rottie x and is basically unsocialised and needs a large breed experienced home, which I’m not.

I don’t want anything huge and strong as I’m a mobility scooter user, so need to be able to handle leads whilst steering, but there’s very, very little available. I really don’t want to have to do the tiny puppy stage again as I’m not as quick on my feet as I used to be, so don’t really want to be rushing up and downstairs all night etc. I do understand why people go for overseas rescues, as there’s so much more choice. I’ll just hold fire and keep looking until the right dog comes along, but It does seem to be quite difficult to find one without paying thousands for a badly bred pup.

Totally irresponsible to be buying puppies off Gumtree. Either choose a breed, register with a breeder that you like, and wait for a puppy (6-18 months is often normal).

Or rescue. Lots of Rehoming charities have dogs coming in all the time. Register with them, and keep an eye on their Facebook pages/websites for a dog that is a good fit.