How did you know you were ready for a dog?

[percypal]

I’m thinking it’s a bit like thinking you might quite like a baby? You’ll never be fully ready for that life change but ready enough?

@broomers on one of the puppy threads on here I’m sure a MNetter took her fairly young dog on a big ferry over to France or the Netherlands or somewhere. No, it’s not a fortnight in Barbados but still a change of scenery! I’d really like to do something like that in the future but I know wholeheartedly I’d want to do other holidays too so for me it would mean using boarding facilities probably.

Home boarders or in-home dog sitters.

Im not sure you are ever 100% yahooo dog ready. And even if you are, there must still be adjustments, maybe a touch of the puppy blues...

A dog was something we all had on our dream list. But we had lots of other pets... we knew a dog would be more intense and I was worried it would be all left to me.

It changed for us when I was at home more. Someone we knew told us about a young puppy that had been removed from a house by the breeder who wasn't happy with the care and taken puppy back home. And that conversation led to.....

We all love our dog. The joy they bring knocks me out - it's way better than I ever thought.

I was in no way ready whe. DDog came into my life, rather by accident.

Inner London flatshare with a no pets clause in the contract ✔️
Working full time ✔️
Just out of a messy break up ✔️
Dog who'd had multiple homes and had a few behaviour issues ✔️
Basically clueless about training and behaviour ✔️ (god it was a steep learning curve)

But I made it work because I HAD to. It was a hit like finding out you're 8 months pregnant; you have to muddle through somehow and we did. My life looks nothing like how it did back then though!

Not that I'd suggest anyone follow my lead by choice; I was just making the best of a bad situation.

How did you end up with the dog @ElephantInTheKitchen?! Did it all work out in the end?

What does everyone do for holidays when they have a dog?

I'm not a fan of kennels and I think ddog would be pretty miserable in that environment. We found a home boarder (fully registered and insured, our council has a list online) and after the initial meet we also paid for dog walking a few times in the days leading up to the holiday for ddog to get used to them.

It's expensive - we paid £28 a night for home boarding plus an extra one off £50 odd for walks in the run up - but it's just an extra expense we factor in now at planning stage. The boarder Whatsapped us daily pictures of ddog snuggled up with them on the sofa and on walks too 😊

We got dogs when we were both at home a lot, kids were old enough to enjoy and know how to treat them, financially secure, decided no more holidays abroad so we wouldn’t need to leave them, had time to walk them a few hours each day, plenty of space for them to run around and had someone to look after them in an emergency.

We made the decision to have no more abroad holidays for a while. We have a second home in Cornwall so we go there a lot which we enjoy more anyway and the kids and dogs love being by the beach. I wouldn’t leave them in kennels but we do have a few friends who will look after them if needed. Maybe a dog sitter could be an option for you.

I was at home, dc had started school, we had time, money and inclination.
While dc dearly love the dog honestly nearly ten years on I wish I had stuck to cats.
I'm never having another.

@broomers we are off to Lanzarote right now and I have paid my friends 18 year old dd to come and house sit . Her mum has just got a dog so ours going there couldn't be our usual option .

@broomers our doggy daycare does overnights but you have to book well in advance. Dog stays with them in their family home and mucks in with their own dogs. They only take a few at a time and get very booked up over the summer. We've not been on holiday abroad yet so not needed to use them. Had a lovely UK holiday last year with the dog - lots of hiking, visited caves, visited a castle, gardens, went in a cable car, dog friendly pubs and restaurants. It was great!

We got a dog as soon as we thought we could manage one. Young DC, but we had a garden, and one of the routes to school had a place for an off-lead run. It was bloody hard work, but 100% worth it. And it got easier as the DC grew up a bit and could be left while I took the dog out for 15 mins in the pissing rain.

You can leave calm adult dogs for more than four hours provided they are used to it and it's not more than a few times a week. Most dogs cope well in kennels - ours go in happily.

Just think hard about the breed/cross/general type. Don't go for a working-line dog unless you're prepared to give a lot of time and input (training, mental stimulation, not just walks). Some breeds tend to bark a lot. Some need regular grooming.

I wouldn't be without our dogs. I get a lot of exercise I wouldn't get otherwise, have made new friends, and so on.

We went abroad last year for two weeks and my mum took our dog. I have used a dog sitter when we had a family wedding, they stayed at our house for a couple of nights.

I also gave a friend with a dog and we occasionally take each others dog if needed for example if we go for a long day out she'll have my dog likewise I'd do the same for her.

I couldn't put my dog in kennels, it would break both our hearts.

Fwiw I had all the same worries you do before getting our puppy but the pros have definitely outweighed the cons. Our dog has been an amazing addition to the family, he is a loyal and loving little friend and I can't imagine being without him now.

It's worth the cost, the dark, cold, wet walks, the training, the organising etc for the happiness he's bought us.

We got a rescue 6 years ago. We were all dog virgins. Had two teens. Youngest pestered but we weren’t up for it. Asked my sister to let us dog sit for a couple of weekends Hoping to give DD a fix and not have to commit. When her dog left the second weekend we found it was us that really missed her. Took a while to find ours but she is a dream and have never regretted it.

Also our dog hardly costs us a thing. Rescue centre charged £130 and she was chipped, neutered and vaccinated. She was 2 so no puppy stage to deal with. She is a mixed breed and has had no vet visits in 6 years. Eats dry food from Aldi plus raw veg and rice and odd bits of cheese. Insurance is £18 pm. As she is an oodle type( no formal ID ) we get her groomed every 3 months at £40 but have done it ourselves and could leave her long.

I got my first dog when I was single - had a job where he could go to work with me so that was all that was needed. He was a rescue, pretty straightforward generally, a sensible size and fairly easygoing as a character as long as he got plenty of walks. I dropped two dress sizes 😄 By the time DH and then later on DS came along, we were a solid package. I’d had a dog growing up so I knew what was involved - after my parents split up I’d taken on a lot of the responsibility for walking, cleaning up when he got older and incontinent and so on, because dm had to work shifts. So I wasn’t naive going into it.

When we lost my first dog, Spudpup was a shock to the system because he was my first puppy. He’s a working Lab, although not the sort with all the FTCHs on his pedigree. But he’s now 18 months old and mostly a delight - still a bit of a daft teenager at times but very calm at home, takes Christmas and things in his stride, is moderately well behaved on walks (😆) and is a good running buddy for me. We were already an active family so the only change there was that a puppy slowed us down for a bit as they’re not able to go on long walks until they’re physically strong enough (which goes by their age). We also tend to holiday in the uk anyway so no change there either.

Out next job is to train him to come out on bike rides with us, but at the moment he’s too excitable in the woods - we’d have to get off and push if he needed to be on the lead. DH isn’t up for bikejor, so that’s out. But give it a year or so and I hope we’ll get there with it.

We only holiday in the UK, that's one of the compromises we make as our dog is very sensitive so wouldn't copr in kennels.

I have a MIL that will mind our dog when we can’t take her on holiday. We won’t put her in kennels as she was a rescue in a horrible foreign ‘shelter’.

We don't have any family that could look after one for us so it's our main stumbling block st the moment.

For holidays this is less of an issue, planned in advance you should be able to find a suitable home boarder. For us the one thing I hadn't really thought of was ad hoc stays, emergencies etc. which can't be arranged months in advance.

We have no family in this country so have no one to call upon just to look after the dog for a day. I realize now that most people I know with dogs have willing family members for odd days where they need care. I haven't really managed to make any dog walking friends either.

The advice here has been excellent- re not already being active I think sadly in most cases people get the dog thinking it will be a great way to get them out, but then talk themselves out of it or just take the dog out for 20 minutes and then wonder why they have a fat and destructive dog. The thing with several working breeds (which labs are although the show line ones really are quite far removed) is that if they are “unemployed” IE understimulated and under - walked is that they will become “self employed” ie keeping themselves busy by destroying your home/becoming anxious or reactive. So personally I’d go for a lower energy breed.
I know a few people with bichons and all but one (long story the moral of which is research your breeder) are fabulous dogs, a little yappy but endlessly patient with children, good with other dogs, fairly clingy so easy to teach recall, all able to be left for a few hours (obviously not right away), cheap to feed, happy with a 20 minute swing round the block and a quick game in the garden one day, but will come on a two hour walk in the Peak District the next.

One thing I’m not sure that’s been mentioned is if you get a 8 week old puppy you cannot just pop to the shops for 90 minutes on day one, you’ll have a month or two where you really need someone around all the time or you’re setting yourself up for separation anxiety issues. I’ve no issue with leaving dogs for 4hrs but you need to build up to it.
Also as you have children, puppies are jerks. All of them. They’ll bite, steal their toys and also can get over stimulated easily, so it’s so important to think about the character of your children, theyll need to follow clear instructions from you about interacting with the puppy, accepting that yes there will be a mouth or a nip here and there (labs are particularly bad for this in my experience) and it not be a disaster or they won’t get frustrated and lose their rag at the puppy.

Our dog gets left with in laws when we go away. She absolutely loves it as do they. We come back to a very spoilt dog.

Emergency care, we probably have enough people around that if we needed to leave her for a day we could find someone or someone who would pop in an lunchtime or take her out for an hour. Our neighbour is very dog friendly and probably would.

The issue is that in laws and us can't now go on holiday together, which we did like doing, unless it's in the UK. I don't think there's any way round that. We could leave her with someone for the weekend, but not longer. And we couldn't put her in kennels. So we'd have to find a very quiet homestay or get a housesitter.

Walking has been the best thing but we already liked walking. Our small/ medium dog gets 20 mins first thing and 45 early evening as well as being let out in the day by Dd(wfh) or me after 4. At the weekend we have longer walks. The DC did lose interest but we never have. It’s great time to talk together or just go out and get some time alone. Always feel better for it. Only a handful of days a year in driving rain that I have to grit my teeth.

For the sake of complete transparency and honesty, I didn’t give it that much thought to be honest, certainly not with DDog1.
With DDog1, I got him when I was 18ish and it was a decision on the spot. I lived (and continue to live) on a farm, I’ve always had dogs and was confident he would have a good home, and he does, but I didn’t exactly study my circumstances first. It was New Year’s Day 2014, I was hungover, he came home with me on the day, much to my then-boyfriend’s annoyance, and he’s been my best friend and shadow for the past decade. He outlasted twatty ex by a long way.
DDog2, well she just kind of fell into my lap earlier this year. She needed a home and I didn’t want her to keep going from pillar to post. DH and I had discussed another dog so it was in the offing but we hadn’t made concrete plans, but it worked nicely when she came along.
They’re a bind, they make a mess, they take up too much space on the sofa, they drive me mad on a regular basis but I’d never be without them. They bring so much happiness.
I was pretty active before getting them (farm life!) which made the exercise pretty easy because they just come everywhere with me… and piss off the working dogs 😂 when I first got DDog1, he’d come to work with me at the feed merchants where I worked at the time and either chill in the truck while I was busy or he’d sleep under my desk.. the customers loved him.
I wouldn’t necessarily advise this sort of gung-ho method of acquiring dogs but it’s worked out brilliantly for me. Just giving balance.

There's some amazing advice here but I'd also add if you're going to need a regular dog walker or daycare, please get it in place before you get your dog.

I'm a dog walker and the amount of people who message me saying they need daily care for an 8 week old puppy starting next week is shocking.

Most dog walkers near me are full - I've had dogs on my waiting list for over a year and still can't offer them a space.

He is ridiculously adorable.