To get a dog or not?

[Anonymous]

And I thought cat people were crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does everyone who owns a dog work from home or not have a commute?

Probably not. But not everyone who owns a dog is a good, responsible owner, either.

[Anonymous]

No. Have a child - the payoff is much better.

[Anonymous]

I will go out on a limb here and counter what some pp's are writing. You may be able to find a couple of rescue dogs that have been raised together or are good with other dogs. While I agree that it is not ideal to leave a single gog alone for long stretches of time on a daily basis, two dogs together don't get as lonely. There are lots of rescue dogs out there that need homes! You may be able to find a couple of housetrained, grown dogs that don't need the same attention that puppies do and can keep each other company. My mother has two rescue dogs that are sweet, loving dogs that love spending time together and as a result don't need tons of human interaction.

[Anonymous]

one warning with rescue dogs--you usually don't get them as puppies, and so it is harder to train bad habits out of them. Also, they are RESCUED dogs, so they have likely been in a bad home situation or in some other trauma, and can sometimes be ill-behaved.

just a warning that it's not always easy to deal with a rescue dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:one warning with rescue dogs--you usually don't get them as puppies, and so it is harder to train bad habits out of them. Also, they are RESCUED dogs, so they have likely been in a bad home situation or in some other trauma, and can sometimes be ill-behaved.

just a warning that it's not always easy to deal with a rescue dog.

I just got my dog from Washington Animal Rescue League, and at least half of their dogs are surrenders -- people just decided they couldn't keep their dogs, were moving, had kids, had a lifestyle change of some sort. Nothing to do with trauma, behavior, or bad living.

[Anonymous]

Mid atlantic pug rescue. Sr dogs are the best! So grateful and they sleep all day.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I would never get a puppy b/c I want a dog that's already house-trained. Agree that WARL has lots of surrenders - I've already talked to them and not every dog is from a puppy mill. Lots of their "mill" rescues tend to be pit bulls or pit bulls mixes and I would never allow a pit bull anywhere near my child. Yes, I have a fenced in back yard.

But, I do worry about the dog being cooped up all day. If I lived in some safe suburb I'd be more comfortable with a dog door and a doghouse in the yard, but I don't want anything that gives people anything remotely like easy access to my house living in DC. And I don't really want to pay $300 a month for someone to walk my dog every day.

So yeah, I'm gonna wait until I can move away from DC - too much of a damned hassle here like most everything else.

[Anonymous]

People are being a little crazy in this thread, I think.

My husband and I have a dog and we work outside the house, are gone about 12 hrs a day. We and the dog are all pretty psyched about our arrangement.

I walk the dog for about 30-45 minutes in the morning. (From 8 until 8:45 or so.) We go to work. We get home between 7 and 9. Dog has been sleeping all day. No different from the days when we do work from home.

One of us walks him for another 1/2 - 1 hr. Another walk around the block before bed.

If we're not going to be home until later than usual, we have a dog walker come in the afternoon. It's about $20 per visit; dog LOVES the dog walker. They're out about 1/2 hr or longer together.

We got our dog when he was about 1. I worked from home then, but I don't think it'd have made much of a difference. He's just a big easy dog.

Yes, we do consider the dog every time we're working out our schedules, and it's true that we do a ton of dog-related activities on the weekends, but that's cause we enjoy it as much as he does; I think he'd be pretty happy even if we walked him less and let him nap more.

Anyway - not to say you should get a dog. But there are a lot of dogs in shelters who'd sure love to have a home, even one where the conditions aren't 100% ideal according to the standards I'm learning about on this thread. Consider the alternative: the dog has no home.

Given what you've said about your schedule, try to get a dog that's a bit older and already housetrained. If you like long walks and have time in the morning and when you get home, get a dog that likes long walks. There are a LOT of dogs who need homes and don't like long walks, so that is also a possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are being a little crazy in this thread, I think.

My husband and I have a dog and we work outside the house, are gone about 12 hrs a day. We and the dog are all pretty psyched about our arrangement.

I walk the dog for about 30-45 minutes in the morning. (From 8 until 8:45 or so.) We go to work. We get home between 7 and 9. Dog has been sleeping all day. No different from the days when we do work from home.

One of us walks him for another 1/2 - 1 hr. Another walk around the block before bed.

If we're not going to be home until later than usual, we have a dog walker come in the afternoon. It's about $20 per visit; dog LOVES the dog walker. They're out about 1/2 hr or longer together.

We got our dog when he was about 1. I worked from home then, but I don't think it'd have made much of a difference. He's just a big easy dog.

Yes, we do consider the dog every time we're working out our schedules, and it's true that we do a ton of dog-related activities on the weekends, but that's cause we enjoy it as much as he does; I think he'd be pretty happy even if we walked him less and let him nap more.

Anyway - not to say you should get a dog. But there are a lot of dogs in shelters who'd sure love to have a home, even one where the conditions aren't 100% ideal according to the standards I'm learning about on this thread. Consider the alternative: the dog has no home.

Given what you've said about your schedule, try to get a dog that's a bit older and already housetrained. If you like long walks and have time in the morning and when you get home, get a dog that likes long walks. There are a LOT of dogs who need homes and don't like long walks, so that is also a possibility.

OP here - thanks for being the voice of reason. Of course we know we would need to choose carefully for our situation, and I'm glad to hear a normal person speak up. I think the PETA people are on this board today.

[Anonymous]

I agree that one or two older rescues might work well, and something that doesn't have a ton of energy, eg Lab. Older mutts are the BEST!

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you are posting about this before you get a dog. My heart breaks for dogs home alone all day (and I think it's criminal to keep them in a crate all day once they are trained).

We have a neighborhood dog walker who charges $12 a walk but they live really close by.

I am a stay at home mom. Having a dog is a huge responsibility. Our dog is low maintenance but we can't go away when we want (drive 6-7 hours to drop our dog off with my parents before we go away).
Kennels are tough on dogs. Our dog had bites, rashes and chewed his paws off another time (and he has no anxiety issues but the strong chemicals they use at the kennel irritated his paws so he ate them off!)

I would suggest waiting if you have small kids.

That said, they are full of love and a wonderful addition to a family who is ready to take on the commitment.

Our dog took 10 months to be fully trained (and I was home with him and dedicated). He didn't have frequent accidents but we couldn't really trust him for almost a year.

Oh and you have to walk dogs once a day (or pay the dogwalker for a long walk).

Try dog sitting for a weekend for a friend to be sure you are ready.

Good luck - you sound like the type of person who will make the right decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Try dog sitting for a weekend for a friend to be sure you are ready.

That is a great idea!