Do you regret getting your dog?

[mildlysweaty]

NC

I can't comment as don't have my own experience (yet?), but interested in anecdotes as feel it could help our decisions. There are some doubts lingering.

Thanks!

I also got shredded on here last year, someone said tell me the truth about getting a puppy and I did. I basically said it's a baby but not in a cot or nappies,it will pee,poo,chew cry,boy did they come down on me, until the poster said oh well,they go to the beach every day and didn't think they would bother,I got some apologies. I have never had any puppy blues. When 3 of my 4 DKs were young, I worked ft nights nursing,we got 2 border collie bitches 6 months apart! theleafandnotthetree,it's very unlikely your collie will live another 6/7 years, their average life span is 12, that's when all of ours went apart from the last one which was a fluke. Today is fun day,DH and I are going to the vet for their annual jabs and check ups, the 9 year old will be cowering under my legs. There seems to be a lot of farty dogs on here, what on earth are you feeding them!

@Nannyfannybanny mines gets wainrights puppy food and he's had an egg once when he wouldn't eat anything.

That is exactly it, it is just another responsibility that weighs heavy some times.

Today Dd23 is at uni, Dd22 is doing teacher training, Dh is off to work.

I have dog at home... had a procedure on Friday, wearing cone of shame. I get to put him out to wee, feed and water him, take off cone for his walk (or he won't go and I'll be unable to do anything all day), medicate him... anti bionics, anti scratch, painkillers... all with different timing instructions... with food/empty stomach... 4 different times etc.
Have to take him for a wound check, move his grooming appointment which was this week, and book kennels for next May (so many dogs round here bought in lockdown that we can't book kennels less than 6 months out to get the dates we need!). As his grooming is moved also have to arrange vet nurse to clip his nails/claws... can they do it same time as checkup... noooooo, of course not.

So today, instead of going into town for coffee and cake with a friend - I have another dog day. Another mental load day, another day I knew I'd be having, but didn't say no 13 years ago, so it's my own bloody fault, and that is what rankles.

And tomorrow will be similar... (and for another 4 days of medication).

So many unloved dogs that seem to be viewed as a burden.
It's very sad.

I have only had one brief spell of my life without a dog of about 7 months and it was hell. I've had them my entire life, we have working gundogs and it's a way of life.

Don't get me wrong - it's hard. You will never have the same freedom as people without, but it's worth it. My boys are by my side the entire time I'm at home. I've had moments of despair (this week actually, when my young spaniel in training decided to regress a year or so 😂) but I've never wished I didn't have them. They are part of our life, we are country people and the entire family shoot and our life revolves around the pattern of the seasons and the countryside calender. It's all consuming. And wonderful!

The 2 are not mutually exclusive. You can love a dog whilst regretting getting it. It can be a well cared for, well loved burden.

We had guinea pigs 15 years ago... again I gained the responsibility for everything. They were extremely well taken care of ... so much so that they lived beyond 10 years old. If I'd not loved them, I'd've neglected them and they would probably died much earlier, releasing me from that never ending burden of care.

It's the whining I really struggle with. He whines when I'm not entertaining him. I ignore it the best I can but it wrecks my head. I don't want him to be bored or sad, but I don't have it in me to entertain all day.

In the first year that we had him I regretted it very badly a lot of the time

We rescued him at an awful developmental stage (around 9 months) without realising what we had got ourselves into. He was a huge ball of hormonal fluff basically!

He chewed up my whole house including 3 TV remotes and 2 wallets, dug huge holes in the garden, stole food off the counters, he tried to hump everything and everyone, he pulled me over, mouthed me, ran off including into the road and was generally a massive PITA.

These days he has calmed down an awful lot and he doesn't do any of those things any more (well maybe a bit of humping other dogs) and I no longer regret having him. I enjoy walking him and cuddling him and his greeting when I get home.

Yes it's a tie. We have to think about care for him if going away or out for the day but he has no separation anxiety and is happy to be left for a good few hours after a walk. Overall I think the day to day good outweighs any inconvenience. Not sure if DH feels the same.

I knew someone would take issue with my comment 😆

I do understand what you're saying, but I've had 9 dogs and never considered them to be a burden or regretted getting any of them.
They have enriched my life so much that all the work involved and the sacrifices made (because I'm talking about a giant breed that is costly to feed) has been 100% worth it.

She is yes. Sasha just turned 2 and looks like this now....

I will never ever regret my dog. No amount of time is enough with him. The joy & love he brings is off the scale. He doesn’t ask for much & gives tenfold in return.

Very very much so. The house is SUCH hard work to keep on top of, and I know it smells - no matter how often she is bathed and groomed, there is now always that dog smell, and I have not become inured to it like most owners seem to be. There is hair threaded into all of our clothes. I feel grotty. To be fair, I wasn't keen on getting a dog, but dh was, and convinced me I'd grow to love dog ownership.

The expense is crippling, and non stop, and we all don't feel the rewards are worth it. Even DH now. The walks are now a chore (DH does them all now, but I resent how long he is out of the house when he could be having quality family time with the children and me, or helping with the drives to the afterschool activities, but the dog is a bind and has to be walked, obviously), she brings us no joy, just hard hard work. She is not a prolific barker, but has barked occasionally, and the neighbours have complained because it is a loud bark, and I feel a resentment from them. I had a behaviourist in for the barking, they said it was normal and did not constitute a nuisance. Even so, I feel bad we have brung this noise upon our neighbours. I find it annoying too.

So 100% big big regrets.

Oh, and one of DC's friends stopped coming over because they are allergic (we didn't know), and it has totally altered the dynamic of that blossoming friendship as it has just changed how they hang out (friend's house overrun with siblings so they'd come here - but now they can't.).

You will lose spontaneity - no staying out for a drink after work, no random trips here and there, as you have to get back to the dog.

DH lost out on a chance for a great promotion because it meant too many nights away, and we couldn't juggle that with the needs of the dog.

It has cost us tens of thousands of pounds (not even counting the lost promotion) - vet/trainer/behaviourist/grooming, pet sitter the one weekend we tried to go away but the dog played up and we had to try kennels, another fail, dog was miserable, so now no more trips as a family - I regret this so so much. Suppose we've saved money not going abroad! Yeah great. DCs have been on a couple of school trips abroad, and one with my parents. It is not the same.

And I am SICK of the dog poo in my garden (DH toilets her there, rather than on the street as we consider that unfair on pedestrians who didn't choose this life, even picking it up, there is trace, isn't there.). He does pick it up, obviously, but I hate seeing her take that shitting position, and spoiling my garden.

And occasionally she has vomitted in the house, and boy, does that spoil the day. NOTHING like when DC would throw up, AT ALL.

Oh wow she is gorgeous! We love GSD’s. It was a husky or a GSD for us and ds has been obsessed with having a husky since he was about 3 years old. He was 17 when we finally got him 4 years ago.

A friend has, yes. They'd get rid of it except the kids love it. Finding time to walk the dog is another chore in a busy life. The dog can't travel for more than an hour in the car without being sick so it has really constrained their movements. Having to think about the dog before making any plans to go anywhere or do anything.

Much as I love dogs (we had a couple of old rescues) they are a lot. Never being able to just go out for the day without considering them, having to organise dog sitting if you want to go on holiday and the cost of that, vet bills and the cost of all their vaccinations, flea and worm treatment, food etc, having to take them out for a walk at least twice a day no matter the weather, dealing with a wet dog and dog hair, getting fox poo off them, picking up all their poo.

I would also never get a puppy as I would find toilet training and the hyper bitey, chewing everything stage too difficult. I would say if you're not sure then don't do it. It's a huge amount of work and commitment - 15 years potentially - and you have to really want it IMO.

Hi @Cavalierchaos, that can definitely be sorted out by working with a good trainer.
The principle would be to never respond to the whining but to give him attention on your terms when he is not whining. Sounds impossible I know but he will soon learn that whining gets him ignored and being quiet gets fun attention and games.
He doesn’t need entertaining all day, you could try mixing things up with some mental stimulation as well as exercise.
I hope you can give that a try or find another way to sort it out as you obviously love him. Good luck xx

I love GSDs too. We lost our crazy, gorgeous GSD boy when he was 13 and still miss him two years later.

That is really reassuring, thank you. Gives me a bit of hope.

We are on our second retired greyhound, having got the first at the start of lockdown, hugely encouraged by our DSs, who were then at home.

The downsides: constraints on what we can do and places we can go to together, how easily they seem to get a limp or a scratch, arranging minders for holidays abroad, being stubborn when they want to be (more like cats), being utterly gutted when the first one was put to sleep with bone cancer.

The upsides: companionship, acting as a de-stresser, exercise from walking (and going on different walks), meeting with and chatting to people when you have a dog, the greyhound "community", being surprised at how many places you can take them to, how quickly dog 2 settled in - not as a replacement, but in his own right, watching them run, how aesthetically pleasing they are, great photos to share on the family whatsapp, how much both have made us laugh, how much they sleep.

No regrets.

Not at all, I couldn't imagine a life without dogs. They make a house a home and are true family members.

However, having a dog means a change in lifestyle. Whilst they are puppies you need to get up with them in the night to toilet, take them out to toilet every 30 minutes during the day at first to toilet train them and can't take your eyes off them around the house for a second. You have to puppy proof the house and of course spend a lot of time training them. As they grow up and settle (around 2 years) a lot of that is done but you still can't leave them home alone for more than 4 hours and if you have active dogs like us (springer spaniels) you are out walking two or three times a day (at least an hour at a time) in all weathers. There is a lot more house work to do, poo patrols in the garden and unfortunately for our first dog lots of vet visits from being a puppy as he has lots of joint issues. Our first dog has cost us sooooo much money in operations, pain medication, hydrotherapy etc and insurance worked out even more expensive. Good quality food isn't cheap either plus monthly prescription wormers/flea treatment (off the counter doesn't work well). Also we pay a dog walker twice a day 3 days a week. Our dog with joint issues causes a lot of heart ache seeing him in pain and unable to be as active as he would like. Our second dog died suddenly and unexpectedly at 2 years old which has been difficult to deal with.

We got a third though so you can see it is worth it!

What are you feeding the pup? Maybe change his food to a better quality food? (And can we have a picture?)

She rolled in dead rat today - so yes I regret getting her.

I'll love her again tomorrow though.

I know 3 families who have dogs that are extremely anxious and severely restrict their lifestyles. One of the dogs will only walk in very specific places so they are spending hours driving it about each day.

Another can’t be left at home alone at all. It has also required £££££ of vets treatment

The third barks very aggressively, so that limits the kids in that family being able to have friends to play and the dog can’t be walked off the lead, can’t be taken anywhere like a pub / cafe or on public transport

I strongly suspect all three families kind of regret the dogs, although they do love them

Typical naughty behaviour of our youngest (18 months)