Negatives of having a dog

[Sleepdeprived42long]

So, we are considering getting a dog to join our family which is currently me, DH, DS11 and DS9. I’ve had cats my whole life but not dogs. DH and DS11 are most keen but I’m definitely not against the idea!

We’ve had some bad luck with pets in the past so I really want us to make this decision with our eyes open not just to the positives (which we know) but also the negatives.

Just by way of background-if we did go with a dog, would probably dog like cockapoo/cavapoo or similar. We both WFH and enjoy family walks-we don’t see this changing in the next few years. We do sometimes go out for whole days at the weekend (although normally to the beach or similar) and go on holiday quite a lot (4-5 times a year for at least 2-3 nights but sometimes up to 10 nights). We could afford a dog but would have to make sacrifices on other luxuries (possibly a holiday or two!). My mental health isn’t great-I struggle with anxiety and depression at times.

So, for those of you who have dogs, can you tell me your honest negatives of dog ownership?

See again my earlier comment about not teaching dogs to have a routine... all of mine have been just as happy to get up at 10am as 5am 😅

Dogs are great for MH. Particularly one that looks into your eyes adoringly and cuddles up with you.

Negatives include:

-sometimes getting you up in the night when they might need a turd!
-getting you up in the morning before you want to, although can be solved by putting dog in bed with you
-finding suitable care and paying for care for them if you go abroad
-costs of insurance/vet bills
-general day to day work concerning the dog, basics like food, grooming, whatever.

Overall well in favour!

We got our very first dog 2 years ago as a puppy, a chocolate Labrador.

He is my boy.

Never having had a dog before, I had no concept of how powerful my feelings would be towards him. I k ow it sounds very corny but I honestly can’t imagine life without him.

He structures my day. I love taking him for walks and don’t mind rain, snow. We live near a beach and I now truly appreciate my local area.

Negatives......lack of spontaneity. We can no longer decide to go on a big day out at the drop of a hat. Doggy daycare has to be planned well in advance.
The same for holidays.
Although he’s a Lab, we don’t have huge problems with dog hair.
The house doesn’t smell( I asked a very honest friend).

We have a cockerpoo and a cocker spaniel. The best thing is that it does make you get out and exercise every day whatever the weather and my mh is better for doing this. the downside especially recently is the mud, everywhere. It takes me as long to clean the dogs after a walk as to do the walk itself.
Another massive downside for us is that we have to take the dogs everywhere but that is partly my own fault I don't trust anyone else with them, They have stayed with a dog sitter before by younger dog has bad separation anxiety. We haven't been abroad for years due to the dogs, and every Uk holiday involves taking them everywhere with us !
It's just luck whether you get an easy dog or not. I think cockapoos, although very cute are high maintenance. mine is almost 13 years and still naughty, unpredictable, just quite hard work although I do think she may have some kind of dementia or something starting. She comes alive in the evenings and can be a bit of pain.

Always a surprise when one of your old threads gets resurrected!

To update the thread-we brought our cockapoo puppy home in November and she’s honestly one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Thanks to everyone’s advice we had went into it with eyes wide open and probably worse case scenario if I’m honest.

I think we’ve been very lucky with her that she picked up toilet training and asking to go out into the garden within a week or two. She was already crate trained when we got her and has slept through the night without accidents since week 2. We’ve had her away on holiday, to cafes, on the train, on the school run etc and she’s been a bit unsure at first but now has no issue. We’ve had her to 1:1 training classes so she’s fairly well behaved. We’ve left her in her crate for 4 hours when we were at a friends and she’s been fine. She’s brilliant with our kids and they absolutely dote on her and our eldest has totally stepped up to taking some extra responsibility so will look after her if we’re out for half an hour etc.

I just want to say thanks again to everyone for their honest advice though and hopefully it will help other people in the same boat if they come across this thread in future :)

PS she’s only 5 months now so I know she might still turn into an annoying and badly behaved teenager!

Ah that’s great news, OP 😊

I always love hearing about dogs who are house trained so fast - makes me so pleased (I have no idea why, just does!)

But where is the photo?!

Fabulous news!