Want to retire...just so I can get a dog again!

[Hellodarknessmyfriend]

I'm 43 so at least another 30 years yet! 😞

I miss my rescue so very much (she was old when we got her but such a huge past of my life for the 5 years until she passed).

Cats are just not the same.

Why do you have to wait 30 years if you recently had a dog?

@BigWillyLittleTodger She passed 4 years ago and I have to work more hours now. We're out most of the day.

The first dog I had in adult life, I seriously let heart rule head

Lived in a flat in London with no private outside space, we both worked full time and were out the house from 7 - 5. Bloody mad or what?

Luckily the full time carers in the flat across the landing helped in the early days till he was fully vaccinated then I employed a dog walker. I got up early to take him for a good walk before work and as soon as we got home , we would take him to a good open space to exercise him, on top of the 2 or 3 hours he was out of the house with the dog walker

Second dog, I did only work part time and could work around DH

This lad, the dog I have now, again I work PT but my hours are decided by work , I cant choose, so again its a question of arranging my day around the dog. DH leaves before me so I do the early walk - couple of miles, DH takes him out again when he gets home ( hour before me on the days I work ) When he was a pup and I and DH had fixed working days there were 2 days a week when both out the house so he went doggy day care

You dont need to be retired, you need to think about outside help and if you can factor that in

@suki1964 I now work 4 days a week and hubby ft. Neither of us can wfh; particularly not me as I'm a teacher!! Ultimately I don't think it's reasonable to leave a dog more than about half a day at any time (the rescue place stated no more than 4 hours) so it's just not going to be fair on a dog until one of us retires.
Breaks my heart but I know it's for the best.
I guess a cat would be the next best thing?

I thought that when my last lad died, we have two cats now but a dog found its way to us and we made it work

All rescues say 4 hours, thats why we used a mixture of day care and dog walkers. The last two were spaniels, high energy dogs but we never saw any display of boredom - destruction or toileting , and this lad we have is a pug cross and he just wants the sofa , even on my days at home, hes snoring on the sofa. Knows what time his walks are, knows when its playtime, rest of the time hes sleeping on the sofa

If you can’t factor in daycare /dogwalker then it’s a shame, but the right decision I think. I don’t think a dog should be left more than 4 hours a day, maybe 5 if they’re getting on.

There’s other factors like dog sickness/illness, who would have the dog then? Who is cleaning up?

I feel your pain though.

We both work full time and agonised long and hard about getting a dog. We've made it work as I wfh one day a week and DH wfh a different day. But mostly as my lovely in laws on days we are in the office swoop in at about 9.30 and take her away for a day of walking and snoozing and then drop her back knackered at 5pm. We get a tired wag of the tail and she disappears off to bed.

As she's older I think we could make it work if we had to, early walk, someone home at lunchtime, and big walk in the evening....

but the life she has now is amazing!

There are options but it's hard work! Our last dog was left for 4 hours mornings, then I'd come home for 1 - 2 hours for lunch then she was left another hour in the afternoons term time only (school worker here!). Outside those times we did loads with her and so we had no issues at all. She was an older rescue.

Current youngster is very different! My OH WFH as much as he wants so term time he does this then goes into the office when I am off. We are building her up to be left for 4 hours but she's a way off yet.

I have teaching colleagues who use various options for their dogs and it works ok. Ultimately we have both stayed in our jobs as they are dog friendly when we both could have done more but our dog (and cat) is a priority and we can pay the bills and enjoy life.

It's hard but not impossible.

Thanks all. My school is a 25 min drive one way so coming home at lunch wouldn't be an option. Hubby also office-based 😞
Guess I just miss having a dog so desperately.

@Newpeep I'm guessing you don't teach in the UK? My hours of work are 7.45 - 5pm earliest!

When we lost our last dog we said we would get another one when I retire, and in the meantime we got a couple of kittens. I’m now retired (almost) and am so over getting a dog! Our cats are amazing, and so much less of a commitment that dogs.

While I agree cats aren’t the same I now have two house cats. One In particular , a Birman, is the most affectionate cat ever. Not sure if it’s a breed thing or the fact they’re house cats. They both follow me round the house and are keen for cuddles.

Cats are underrated as pets IMO, I have dogs and I’m on my second cat.

They’re so much lower maintenance than dogs and they’re much more affectionate and interactive than people make them out to be.

All that - cats are only interested in food and don’t get attached to people stuff is nonsense.

I do actually. A boarding school. 8-5 sometimes 6. Shorter terms though and I have a five minute commute on foot.

My OH works different hours and before WFH we staggered things so dog wasn’t left too many hours.

As I said I gave teaching colleagues with dogs who use sitters and daycare to manage things. It can be done but it’s not cheap or easy.

I have both dogs (3) and cats (3) as well as the horses that form my username (4!)

Try looking at a breed like the Norwegian Forest cat if you can't have a dog until then. They are very very people orientated cats. Two of mine are currently, and so was one we lost not long ago to cancer. They follow me around, chat to me and are just so human-centric.

That said, obviously I have dogs as well!

Thanks all. I'm considering a rescue cat as a dog not an option from a work pov (can't afford pet sitters/walkers). But my big worry is him/her getting ran over like our last cat did. I personally don't agree with keeping cats indoors.

I retired early in 2017 when I was 50 mostly because of our dogs and getting more dogs!

I also had my last remaining horse then and wanted to spend more time with him.

@TheHuntSyndicate Lucky you! I mean I could retire at 50 but somebody's got to pay the rent!!! I'm 43 so many years of work yet ahead of me and DH...

if you have a garden you can put an avairy type construction up so they have access to the outside but in a contained area, Im not sure what they are called but they are very popular here where I live. You dont need a door, you can build it around a window

End of the day its you yourself thats putting the blocks on getting a dog. Get a greyhound rescue and you will be fighting to get it off the sofa for example.. Its perfectly feasible to have a dog as full time workers, but you do need to prioritise the dog over everything else.

We did, all three of our dogs come first, We dont have holidays or have days away unless we can arrange and budget in doggy care. Im not saying its easy but here you are , posting on how much you want a dog and seeing only retirement. Its not the case, you can do it whilst working if having a dog is so important to you

Catio.

i have one for my house cats, they access it via a hole in the wall (we knocked some bricks out and put a cat flap in).

@suki1964 Unfortunately our budget wouldn't stretch to doggy daycare and we both work ft without the option of wfh. It simply wouldn't be fair on any dog.

OK. So if having a dog is a priority then there are things you can do. Move closer to work. Downsize. Adopt an older dog and employ a walker or sitter. Change a job. Take a sabbatical. I don't know what your OH does but ask for flexibility for a year. Etc etc.

I know lots of people, ourselves included who have done any number of the above to make it work. Dogs aren't dissimilar to children in that if you really want them life has to change.

I know we could have done a lot more with our careers (early 40s) but it would mean we sacrifice our pets so we don't as they bring us more joy than jobs ever will.

You may not live to retirement. A lot of people don't. So the facts are you change things to make it happen or you just wait. Both are fine.

As for cats, a cattio is a good option. We have cats and IME they NEED to go outside unless you adopt a house cat. One of mine was a house cat by choice once she had become an adult.

If you're a teacher then the summer holidays would give you 6 weeks to settle a new dog in. If you got a dog that was older and already toilet trained this would help.

So it would only be 4 days you'd need to sort. If you walked dog before work, had a dog walker at lunchtime could that work? That's what we did and dh and I were in the office. There's also borrow my doggy, which I've not used but I know people who have.

@circular2478 Hubby and I both work ft so unfortunately out of the house 7.30 - 6pm five days a week. We also take all of our holidays in the six weeks as of course can't go in term-time. Even with someone to walk a dog at lunchtime the reality is this just wouldn't be fair on a dog 😞
We are considering a cat but terrified we will again lose him/her to an RTA. Our cat had only just turned one when he was hit so it was really tricky to come to terms with.