Help me live with this: I hate having a dog

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope every person who's on the verge of caving into demands by the rest of the family for a dog reads this.

I have a dog, I love my dog, and he is very easy but the best imaginable dog is still a ton of work

I totally agree - unless you have a very very deep well of patience, willingness to sacrifice for others, and some doggie daycare money, do not cave. That said, I’ve been reflecting on whether I “regret” getting the dog. If I could go back in time and not get her, would I? And I think on balance the answer is yes, but I have to admit I hesitate on that a bit. My kids love her so very much and she brings a lot of joy to our family. She’s funny and gives us something to talk about. And I have met many new friends and neighbors because of her too. Can you tell I have been working on looking at the bright side haha.

But seriously, I have an easy dog and it adds at least an hour to my dad of pure focusing on the dog with walks or playtime plus just a million minor inconveniences all day ever single god damn day.

[Anonymous]

Thank you sharing this cautionary tale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel the same way as you. My husband wanted a dog and does the bulk of the work but dog is worse than a newborn.

We adopted a 1yo dog a few years ago. She definitely has never been as much work as a newborn. Not even close.

My 3 year old dog still wakes me up in the middle of the night.

Our dog wakes up 1-2 times to potty. We don't feed after 6, watch liquids. Far more work. Walk 2-3 times a day. Freaks out being home alone. Has to be in a room with one of us despite small house. It probably depends on the breed and dog. Picky eater.

Also depends how difficult/easy the newborn you’re comparing it to is.

I had a newborn with medical and feeding issues who had many developmental delays until late elementary school who needed daily therapies. Still far easier.

We must have had extremely difficult newborns and a very easy dog because honestly the dog isn’t anywhere near the amount of work our newborns were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel the same way as you. My husband wanted a dog and does the bulk of the work but dog is worse than a newborn.

We adopted a 1yo dog a few years ago. She definitely has never been as much work as a newborn. Not even close.

My 3 year old dog still wakes me up in the middle of the night.

That’s extremely unusual. Our 13 week old lab puppy is in a crate in our bedroom from about 10:30pm-6:30am. Once she’s able to sleep outside the crate, we will get an auto feeder and set it to put out her kibble at a reasonable breakfast time. Then we will be able to sleep for as long as we want to. Potty is taken care of because we have a doggy door that goes out to a fenced in backyard.

Point being, your situation is not typical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel the same way as you. My husband wanted a dog and does the bulk of the work but dog is worse than a newborn.

We adopted a 1yo dog a few years ago. She definitely has never been as much work as a newborn. Not even close.

My 3 year old dog still wakes me up in the middle of the night.

That’s extremely unusual. Our 13 week old lab puppy is in a crate in our bedroom from about 10:30pm-6:30am. Once she’s able to sleep outside the crate, we will get an auto feeder and set it to put out her kibble at a reasonable breakfast time. Then we will be able to sleep for as long as we want to. Potty is taken care of because we have a doggy door that goes out to a fenced in backyard.

Point being, your situation is not typical.

Your situation doesn’t sound typical either. Labs are notoriously mischievous as puppies and keep a puppy mindset for 2-3 years. I would never trust a young lab to be unsupervised roaming around inside or out while we slept. They also want to be with you. They’re not great at occupying themselves independently when they’re young unless they’re getting into something they shouldn’t. Also many labs are adept at fence jumping so until you know about yours, I wouldn’t leave it unsupervised in your fenced yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog will slow down a it ages. It' still young and energetic and demanding. After about 5 it will settle down in the house but still need exercise (tired = good, as I'm sure you've heard). After 7 or so its exercise needs will start to decline. My 15 year old dog basically sleeps all day, although having a very old dog comes with other challenges and we really can't board her anymore at this age.

Anyway, you are approaching the sweet spot of a mature dog that is fun but not as needy.

I’m guessing OP shudders at the thought of the dog reaching 15 years old. We have a 16 year old dog and are in the same boat - can’t board him. But OP, it’s pretty uncommon to have a dog that reaches such an old age, so don’t think about that now. Outsource care, find a dog sitter that can come on short notice, and feel good about all benefits to your kids. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but with a dog, familiarity leads to affection, so I bet one day you will realize that you love the dog. You are a good egg for taking care of the dog and being a good dog mom.

Can you and P-PP explain why you can’t board your senior dogs anymore?

I have an 8-year-old Bulldog, and she still boards. I’m wondering if there is something I’m missing. (Bulldogs aren’t long lived, so 8 is quite senior.)

[NP]

[Anonymous]

OP, I sympathize. It might help to keep in mind that at least dogs represent a shorter long-term commitment than, say, cats or cockatoos.

You could think of this as one more annoyance that you have to tolerate while your kids are growing up, but that'll likely be over sometime after college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog will slow down a it ages. It' still young and energetic and demanding. After about 5 it will settle down in the house but still need exercise (tired = good, as I'm sure you've heard). After 7 or so its exercise needs will start to decline. My 15 year old dog basically sleeps all day, although having a very old dog comes with other challenges and we really can't board her anymore at this age.

Anyway, you are approaching the sweet spot of a mature dog that is fun but not as needy.

I’m guessing OP shudders at the thought of the dog reaching 15 years old. We have a 16 year old dog and are in the same boat - can’t board him. But OP, it’s pretty uncommon to have a dog that reaches such an old age, so don’t think about that now. Outsource care, find a dog sitter that can come on short notice, and feel good about all benefits to your kids. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but with a dog, familiarity leads to affection, so I bet one day you will realize that you love the dog. You are a good egg for taking care of the dog and being a good dog mom.

Can you and P-PP explain why you can’t board your senior dogs anymore?

I have an 8-year-old Bulldog, and she still boards. I’m wondering if there is something I’m missing. (Bulldogs aren’t long lived, so 8 is quite senior.)

[NP]

Not the PP, but our previous dog had mobility issues, failing kidneys (needed to go out every two hours during the day), and unpredictable bouts of diarrhea during her final year. Most other dogs worried her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog will slow down a it ages. It' still young and energetic and demanding. After about 5 it will settle down in the house but still need exercise (tired = good, as I'm sure you've heard). After 7 or so its exercise needs will start to decline. My 15 year old dog basically sleeps all day, although having a very old dog comes with other challenges and we really can't board her anymore at this age.

Anyway, you are approaching the sweet spot of a mature dog that is fun but not as needy.

I’m guessing OP shudders at the thought of the dog reaching 15 years old. We have a 16 year old dog and are in the same boat - can’t board him. But OP, it’s pretty uncommon to have a dog that reaches such an old age, so don’t think about that now. Outsource care, find a dog sitter that can come on short notice, and feel good about all benefits to your kids. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but with a dog, familiarity leads to affection, so I bet one day you will realize that you love the dog. You are a good egg for taking care of the dog and being a good dog mom.

Can you and P-PP explain why you can’t board your senior dogs anymore?

I have an 8-year-old Bulldog, and she still boards. I’m wondering if there is something I’m missing. (Bulldogs aren’t long lived, so 8 is quite senior.)

[NP]

Because you can only board housebroken dogs and old dogs have accidents

[Anonymous]

My DH brought home a puppy that is now 110lbs. I literally despise this dog. The mess, the hair, the constant supervision because she’s untrained per my DH. After 2 years she still annoys the F out of me! I completely ignore her when I walk in the door but she still barks her lungs out at me. I hate having guests over because she has such bad manners. IVE TRIED TO TRAIN HER BUT MY DH IS NOT ON BOARD SO MY TRAINING IS WORTHLESS. He’s the type who allowed his dogs to sleep in bed with him, feed from the dinner table and basically run the house. I’m the opposite. It’s been a real strain on our marriage. Just this week I’ve had my sleep interrupted 2 times because she starts barking at 3am. The only positive is her life expectancy is about 10 yrs.

[Anonymous]

I felt the SAME EXACT WAY when we pet sat a friend's dog in our home for 2 weeks. I would HATE having a dog, and my kids have begged and begged. I just let them get whatever other animals they wanted and kept saying no. There is a level above with a dog that I'm not willing to go and it interrupts your life in a way that no other animal does. So we've had lizards, snakes, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, and cats, and we don't have one tenth of the trouble that a dog would be. We can go on vacation, stay out too late, etc, and not worry about it.

I felt bad initially, but my kids love their cats and other animals, and know they can have dogs when they have their own homes.

[Anonymous]

Give the kids more responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your dog will slow down a it ages. It' still young and energetic and demanding. After about 5 it will settle down in the house but still need exercise (tired = good, as I'm sure you've heard). After 7 or so its exercise needs will start to decline. My 15 year old dog basically sleeps all day, although having a very old dog comes with other challenges and we really can't board her anymore at this age.

Anyway, you are approaching the sweet spot of a mature dog that is fun but not as needy.

I’m guessing OP shudders at the thought of the dog reaching 15 years old. We have a 16 year old dog and are in the same boat - can’t board him. But OP, it’s pretty uncommon to have a dog that reaches such an old age, so don’t think about that now. Outsource care, find a dog sitter that can come on short notice, and feel good about all benefits to your kids. Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but with a dog, familiarity leads to affection, so I bet one day you will realize that you love the dog. You are a good egg for taking care of the dog and being a good dog mom.

Can you and P-PP explain why you can’t board your senior dogs anymore?

I have an 8-year-old Bulldog, and she still boards. I’m wondering if there is something I’m missing. (Bulldogs aren’t long lived, so 8 is quite senior.)

[NP]

Old dogs are unhappy in boarding. Like old people. They don’t like their routines and favorite things disrupted. - n p

[Anonymous]

I hated having a dog, then my DH and I had to live separately for awhile to deal with a job relocation. I was so lonely and that dog glued herself to me- honestly went from being a cute annoyance to the best friend I've ever had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I ever get a dog, its going to be a cute cavapoo. I cannot imagine taking care of a pitbull. Especially if you have a baby or kids in the house.

I have a cavapoo. He’s adorable, but has been a nightmare to house train. He’s way more trouble than our larger dog.