Hello!
I'd love to get some insight from dog owners.
I have a long, long, long term plan to rescue an ex-racing greyhound. It's taken many year to get to the point where the dream may become a reality in the non-too-distant future.
I've found a great rescue with a personal touch and fantastic track record in matching dogs to homes. I've done LOTS of research into the breed and I'm sure it's a good match for us. I grew up with dogs (until I left home in early twenties) so I'm not utterly clueless and "know" dogs. I feel very much that I'm prepared and responsible.
Now the dream is getting closer to becoming a reality, my husband is getting more interested in the "drawbacks" of having a dog. He's not at all adverse to the dog plan but I think he wants to be certain that we've considered all angles.
In particular the two areas I'd like insight are:
We've discussed that it may make visiting some places (that don't allow dogs) more tricky, but that the dog will (once settled-in) will most likely be able to be left alone for a few hours for this kind of thing (occasionally). We've discussed that we could book a dog walker or even a pet-sitter if it's going to be too long for the dog to realistically be left. Or could ask members of our joint families who would happily look after a dog (there are quite a few options to choose from). Ultimately I plan to integrate the dog into our daily lifestyle as much as possible, but sometimes there will be things we need/want to do where we can't take the dog, but I don't think this is an insurmountable hurdle.
He's also worried it will impact our ability to go on holiday abroad. For this I would either a) leave dog with aforementioned close extended family members or b) a pet-sitter (there are several locally that "board" dogs, or c) as a last resort there is an option to use a kennel. We would only go on holiday abroad once, maybe twice at the absolute max a year. Other holidays would be UK and we'd take time to find dog-friendly accommodation and take Dear Dog with us.
I'm assuming this is how most people who have a dog manage these kinds of situations? But I don't have the best frame of reference because growing up my parents didn't do ANYTHING if the dog couldn't come (slight exaggeration but not by much). My mum wouldn't fly and would never go abroad so there was never the issue of leaving a dog somewhere while going on holiday. Ditto day trips - we would generally do things where the dog could come. I have some memory of leaving dog with grandparents on only a few occasions.
So basically I'm making the assumption that most people that have dogs don't totally stop going anywhere dog unfriendly and don't stop going abroad completely... but I just want to check with the general consensus that my plans sound sensible and fair...? Or am I barking (ha!) up the wrong tree...
Side note: I do know that we might end up with a dog that cannot be left or has separation anxiety and needs special care (DH and I have discussed this is a risk you take when getting an animal like a dog) but this is something specific that we'll discuss with the rescue when we are in the process of selecting a dog to try and get the best fit. And I also know that the dog will need to be well settled with us before we do go anywhere and will ideally need to get to know the person he/she is being left with beforehand, etc.