Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8yo dog. She is my first ever dog. Not a day goes by that I don’t marvel at how much work it is.

I have a small geriatric dog and a large breed pain in my butt puppy. Plus a grand dog I spend a lot of time with, a boxer. I keep the bowls full, walk them once a day, let them in and out of the yard.... what is all this work you are talking about?

I pill them once a month for heart worm, flea tick etc. trim their nails once in a while. Vets yearly after the puppy stage. Not getting where all this work comes from?

I will go one better. I had a cocker I rarely walked. We had a dog door so he let himself in and out.

He lived to be 15.


So if you arrange your life properly dogs don't have to be a ton of work.

My kids begged for a dog for years but we avoided it due to lack of time and too much work. We finally relented at the very start of the pandemic—I think we started the wave of pandemic puppies.

Our dog is a ton of work, it all falls on me, and it’s well worth it. My family complains that I love the dog more than them!

We have a Goldendoodle. He’s sweet, playful and snuggly. He doesn’t shed, but grooming is expensive and yet another errand I don’t have time for. And he did destroy many pieces of furniture. And he’s a barker. So far from perfect.

But I love him. Best thing ever.

Robot cat

A dog is more work through various periods of their life. A puppy is a ton ofnwork. Adopting an adult dog you'll still need some work to acclimate them even if it was a well trained dog.

Even a lower maintenance adult dog can be a ton of work when they get old. My mom's beloved terrier went blind after an illness and my mom had to teach her to negotiate the house and help her out more. The dog lived another 4 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Foster a dog.

My BIL Nearly died from blood poisoning after being bitten by a dog that he and my SIL Fostered.

Oh no - what happened? How did that come to pass?

This is horrifying!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Foster a dog.

My BIL Nearly died from blood poisoning after being bitten by a dog that he and my SIL Fostered.

Oh no - what happened? How did that come to pass?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m considering a dog for my three boys. They want another sibling. I think it would be good for companionship and for them to learn responsibility. However, I’m not fond of all the work. Is there a breed that would be easy? Doesn’t shed much?

Our first dog when DH and I had no kids was an 1 1/2 y.o. rescue. Fortunately the dog was housetrained, so the work was the morning and evening walks - had a dog walker in the day. Dog loved to play fetch on occasion, but was not an overly active dog. Absolutely gorgeous, but shed up a storm!

Sadly, the dog died at 14 and I just couldn't bear to get another dog because I missed it so. The kids really wanted another one and I put it off for four years, but they were both miserable in HS, so I relented. This time I got a 6 y.o. non shed rescue. He has had his own challenges and that took up a lot of time in the beginning, but he is completely house trained and never any worries on that front. And the behavioral challenges were really nothing compared to getting up in the night and being available during the day to take a puppy out for house training.

So perhaps less work with a housetrained non shed older rescue, but really it is so worth and I wonder why I waited!

14 year old is pretty good!

Yes, so true. Her passing just came so quickly - woke up one morning and really couldn't walk. Within the week, we had to put her down. Maybe I would have never been prepared, but the sudden loss just jolted me to my core.

OP, GL with your decision.

Nope. Don't get a dog. Really, don't. It's a 24/7 responsibility and ultimately, you are the adult and it's on you to make sure the dog is trained, fed, walked, taken to the vet, given attention/love, washed, and kept safe. And those are the bare minimum a dog needs and deserves. Kids are not ready for the 24/7 nature of this care and there needs to be realistic expectations of their abilities to provide consistent care for another creature.

There is no specific breed that is easiest. Each individual dog is different but mostly, their behavior and ease-of-care depends on the effort you put into training and caring for them. Our dog is so low maintenance now but it was a LOT of effort for the first 1-2 years after we adopted her. Some dogs take longer. You have a lot on your plate. Think really carefully about the commitment. Once the novelty wears off for your kids, will you be there for the dog?

The “easiest” dogs still need multiple veterinary appointments per year, need to be groomed regularly, need to be fed and walked multiple times daily, will sometimes wake you at night or very early in the morning, will occasionally vomit or have diarrhea (always on rugs or carpeting), will steal food they shouldn’t have, and will have more health and hygiene issues as they age. Dogs can be very expensive. Caring for your dog should be a labor of love. If you don’t love your dog, it can turn into a huge source of resentment. Your kids may help with the dog, but you will bear the weight of responsibility.

Having said all that, greyhounds don’t shed much, don’t bark much, don’t need much grooming, and don’t need a lot of exercise. You can get a retired racer for much less money than the average purebred dog, and it may be out of the puppy stage, have some leash manners, and be nearly housebroken. There won’t be a long waitlist.

For those saying 'Get a cat', I found my cat to be more work than dogs, and he was a REALLY GOOD cat! He shed just as much as the dogs, but the fur was so fine, it was all up in the air, and settled everywhere. He got into and onto things that the dogs never did. That includes the top of the stove, and knocking down the food that was cooling up there, then walking through it, well, everywhere. He was very smart and trainable (knew sit, down, roll over, paw, over, under, place, etc.), but it was always on his terms, and I never could get him to get on top of the counters, and into food.

Cat poop and pee STINK. And it is in the house, so now you have an area of the house that permanently stinks (my cat's litterbox was in the cubby under the stairs in the basement; it still stank). This is with me being diligent about scooping, checking at least 3x a day. And the idea of poop just sitting around in the house, is just not something I really liked.

In the end times, after he developed stomach cancer (we suspect), he would vomit and have diarrhea everywhere. He was a fastidious cat, and really did try to make it to his litterbox, but couldn't. He remained friendly and joyful until the very end, and while I miss him terribly, I will never get another cat again.

I’m another poster that will say get a cat. I am a lifelong dog person but I’ve also owned cats. Cats are by far the easier pet. You don’t necessarily have to board them when you go out of town. You can have somebody come just one time a day to ensure that they have fresh food and water and the little box is clean. You don’t need a potty trying to cat. You don’t need to take a cat on at least one good walk today. You don’t need to take a cat out to go to the bathroom multiple times a day. The only reason I do not own a cat today is because my husband is highly allergic. That’s fine, I have a wonderful little poodle and, as I started out with, I am a lifelong dog lover so the extra work that comes along with dog ownership it does not bother me. I have a super easy, well-trained dog and he is still much more work than a cat

A dog that is the least work? Its probably a dead dog, or a stuffed toy dog, not a real dog.

It all depends on what you consider “work.” For example, I like walking and running with my dog and missed doing that after my first dog passed away. I don’t love the potty training stuff, so I got a 6 month old lab mix from a rescue and he had about 2 accidents total and then was trustworthy. There’s also an initial investment of work that calms down later, especially if you get a young dog. I spent my whole summer training our guy, but now he is chilling out and becoming a great family dog who has a set routine and spends a good deal of time sleeping. But if you don’t enjoy walking,training, bonding on some level, then the hassles won’t feel worth it.