Better to get a puppy before or after a move?

[Anonymous]

We're moving to a new house (new construction, being built now) in about 6 months. We've also promised our kids a puppy sometime "soon".

Do you think it's better to get a puppy NOW (but then we'll have a dog when we move, which will be more challenging both for us and the dog), or a few months after we move (but then I'll probably be much more paranoid about the puppy damaging our brand new house)?

I don't have any experience with dogs as an adult and I don't know how difficult moving is for them, especially if they're still young, and I also don't quite know how much damage to expect from a puppy (but I do know I'll be heartbroken if things in our brand new house are scratched up / chewed on, whereas I wouldn't be in our current house).

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

What breed?

[Anonymous]

I say before

[Anonymous]

after

[Anonymous]

I vote for after your move because we are currently in the middle of a move and our 7 month old energetic pup definitely complicates things. We love him to death, but there have been times where the move would be so much easier without him.

We never had issues with him destroying things, but we also watched him closely and corrected or redirected him if he started to get into something. It also depends on the breed you get, some are more destructive than others. The other factor you should consider is that it is so much easier and more enjoyable to handle the training of a puppy during the spring and summer. No fun to potty train in the cold.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We were thinking of a poodle or bernadoodle.

Also I heard it’s better to have a puppy in the winter because you’re not supposed to take them for walks until they’re older?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We were thinking of a poodle or bernadoodle.

Also I heard it’s better to have a puppy in the winter because you’re not supposed to take them for walks until they’re older?

Just realize you're going to be spending a lot of time in the yard begging it to go potty. You're not supposed to take it on long walks until it's older, but you still want to get it out and expose it to the outside world as much as possible when it's young. We would take our puppy to the park and just sit with him to expose him to the sounds, smells, bikes, strollers, and animals. Look up everything you're supposed to expose your puppy to before 12 weeks. The later you wait to expose your dog to something new the higher the chance it will be scared or reactive towards things. You basically want to get your pup out of the house as much as possible, and that is hard and less enjoyable in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Also something to consider, our dog became more destructive during his teenage months which usually fall between 6 months to a year. We NEVER had issues with him chewing on things, but at about 7 months he started getting bored more and would start chewing on things he shouldn't because he knew it would get our attention.

I mean if you're going to be heartbroken if things in your new house get chewed on or scratched up, you should probably wait until you get over the newness of the new house. Chewing does get better with age, but dogs of any age especially big dogs like a poodle or bernedoodle can scratch things up. Dogs also occasionally vomit or get diarrhea. We had a dog that got into something he shouldn't and then he had diarrhea all over the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're moving to a new house (new construction, being built now) in about 6 months. We've also promised our kids a puppy sometime "soon".

Do you think it's better to get a puppy NOW (but then we'll have a dog when we move, which will be more challenging both for us and the dog), or a few months after we move (but then I'll probably be much more paranoid about the puppy damaging our brand new house)?

I don't have any experience with dogs as an adult and I don't know how difficult moving is for them, especially if they're still young, and I also don't quite know how much damage to expect from a puppy (but I do know I'll be heartbroken if things in our brand new house are scratched up / chewed on, whereas I wouldn't be in our current house).


How old are your kids? Honestly, I wouldn't get a puppy with young kids. I got one and my kids are young adults. The puppy is a lot of work. Now teenager and going through fear stage is still a lot of work. Get an older dog 2 or 3 years of age that you know is good with kids. So much easier! Our first dog was 2 and It was so much easier

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We were thinking of a poodle or bernadoodle.

Also I heard it’s better to have a puppy in the winter because you’re not supposed to take them for walks until they’re older?

I purposely put off getting a puppy until spring because I didn't want to have to be taking a puppy outside every 2 hours in the middle of winter. I made the right decision.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of your issues would be resolved if you got a dog that has already spent time in foster care and has been shown to be housebroken, you know how much exercise it needs, and the fosters can tell you about how to mentally and physically stimulate it so it doesn;t chew on everything. You can easily adopt a year old dog from foster care and bypass all the puppy issues.

[Anonymous]

OP are u set on puppy? If so why?
I want older one but my annoying kids are begging for a puppy... I know I'm the adult but I'm torn for various reasons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I also don't quite know how much damage to expect from a puppy (but I do know I'll be heartbroken if things in our brand new house are scratched up / chewed on, whereas I wouldn't be in our current house).

Dogs, too, can scratch and chew. Are you sure you want one? Or maybe you want to reconsider the new house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We were thinking of a poodle or bernadoodle.

Also I heard it’s better to have a puppy in the winter because you’re not supposed to take them for walks until they’re older?

A mini or standard? I have heard mini's are a handful.

[Anonymous]

I would wait until after the move.

We did a move with our 2 year old lab and it was very confusing and traumatizing for her. It caused some potty training regression.