Reply to Weighing pros and cons to adopting a puppy to add to our family--what is the tipping point to a yes?

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[quote=Anonymous]We went over the puppy cliff one year ago.

One year later, it is hard to imagine our lives without him but it's not a decision to be taken lightly.  The housebreaking was not a big deal with this dog - it was relatively painless.   Also, there are a lot of things that money can solve (dog walker, doggie daycare, dogsitter) to make your live run more smoothly.

The hardest thing has been trying to find consistency in training.  Our pup is sweet, but can get over-excited and go overboard while playing (we had to ban tug games).  He still tries to hump legs and nip at ankles; chew on shoes; steal & shred tissues and napkins.  All of these things are for attention - he actually gets LOTS of attention and exercise but yet he still wants more.  Having all members of the family (different ages) react consistently for training purposes is an ongoing challenge.  That said, now that he's over a year he is chilling out a bit, and I've heard to expect more chilling out in the next 6-12 months.

Also, we went in with eyes wide open.  We did not expect that the kids would take primary responsibility for the dog.  They have actually pretty much done as promised (older child walks him once per day); occasionally we have to remind/nag but not all that frequently.  We did extract iron clad promises in advance from both kids about what their responsibilities were going to be.

He sleeps with one child or the other every single night.  Cuteness overload.[/quote]

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