Calling all dog owners!

iamthepreston

Heres my 2 cents worth.

1) Get a dog from a rescue or shelter. You may want to check out Cesar Milan's getting a puppy/dog guide. It addresses what energy level to look for regardless of breed.

2) Your dog will adjust to your schedule. Eight hours alone a day is common for most dogs. A nice fenced in area will make those 8 hours apart better for both of you. Plus 8 hours alone is better than a lifetime of chained to a fence or euthanization.

3) If you live where it is cold and you are worried about the dog get a good dog house, and/or select a breed designed for cold weather. Bermese Mountain Dogs are awesome.

In regards to to the poster above me who said no large dog should be left alone for 8 hours. Thats not necessarily true. Many of the guard dog breeds that was their job. A Mastiff is a good example of this.

My last dog was a Great Pyreness/OES mix. I got him at a year old from a shelter. He was by far the best dog I have ever had. He slept while I was at work and patrolled the house at night. YES HE WAS A 150 POUND INSIDE DOG.

Now I have a Boxer. I would not recommend a Boxer be left alone for 8 hours. He is a little 70 pound monster, but he always makes me laugh when I feel down.

FYI PEOPLE WITH DOGS LIVE LONGER, AND IF YOUR DOG IS OVERWEIGHT THAT MEANS YOU NEED MORE EXERCISE!!!!!

loriefolk

I just wanted to chime in and say I think it's great that you are really thinking this through and encourage you to adopt

My husband and I have one dog ( the most adorable mutt ever ). He was left in a makeshift box at the mailbox as a puppy. We took him in and "adopted" him. Our county is very strict on dogs running loose and he would have surely ended up in a pound.
His name is Bowzer and he is our outside dog. We tried to keep him indoors and he wasn't having it! He just loves being outside in the open though

We just adopted two more (pups) from an owner who was going to have to take them to the pound and are currently waiting to pick them up! Their names are Caesar and Atlas

Good luck to you!

weaklink109

I own three dogs. The "Three Little Pigs" consist of a Lhasa Apso, who thinks she is in charge, a Shih tzu, who doesn't care who is in charge as long as he gets to sit in their lap; and a Yorkshire "Terror" --the Patriarch--smallest of the three and HE is DEFINITELY in charge. I live alone and I work, and labor under the delusion that I AM IN CHARGE, but that is a matter of opinion.:ohwell:

I have a doggie door, which goes out into my fenced backyard. My "babies" always have water available, and kibble for "nibbles." Contrary to what "RoadDog" posted, most dogs will not pork out and make themselves sick. It depends on the dog. My guys have regular meal times, but I always leave some nibbles out in case they get the munchies when I am gone.

I have been around home more for the last year, but for 5 years I was gone for 9 - 10 hours per day, and while I always got a warm welcome when I came home, I would often find that no one had touched their snacks and very little water had been consumed. My sleepyheads were off in dreamland while momma was out slaving over a hot computer.

Do your breed research. In my case, none of the dogs I have are "shedders." They do have to be clipped every 6 - 8 weeks. I can do it myself, but I don't like to have THAT much fun. LOL They get along reasonably well. The Yorkie is the "loose cannon" of the bunch. I inherited him from a friend, after the death of her MIL. He is 15 years old, but shows no signs of slowing down.

The Lhasa is 13 this year, and I have had her since she was 5. She came from a shelter. Her first "momma" had a stroke and couldn't keep her. My Shih tzu was a Christmas gift from some close friends two years ago. He just turned 6 in January.

Before I lived where I do now, I had one dog, another Shih tzu, and he had no trouble being left alone for 8 or 9 hours at a time. We didn't have a doggie door, but he always got walked just before we left and as soon as we got home. He did fine.

Unless you have a very anxious animal, I do NOT believe in crating a dog when you are out. I have never restricted access to any part of my home to these three. The only trouble I ever had was the Yorkie, who proved to be an acrobat when he first got here. He actually jumped high enough to knock a package of sandwich thins off the kitchen counter, and he and his two "buddies" polished them off.:laugh: :laugh: I learned not to leave things on the edge of the counter, and haven't had anymore problems.

Good luck with your search for the right dog.

Ilovenerds

I have a thirteen year old Border Collie mix. He's the best dog anyone could ask for. He's really gentle around babies. He lets them pull on his fur, just don't pull on his back legs. (He's got a lot of pain in his back legs) My advice to you is NOT to get a puppy. They are much harder to take care of and they're not so good around children. I got my dog when he was 7 and he was housebroken and could do simple tricks. I love Buddy to death.

FearAnLoathing

I have a black lab named scooby he is loving and gentle great with the kids.even good with the cat.he is the best dog i have ever had and is a very big part of our family

LorinaLynn

I'm not going to say my rescue dog doesn't have behavioral issues, but I do disagree that all rescue dogs do.

My Pekingese, Beavis, was found stray with one of his eyes popped out of the socket. The rescue group had to have his eye surgically removed, and he was in foster care for about two months while he recovered. I knew adopting him that he'd have issues related to that, and was prepared for them. But he's great with the cats.

Personally, I think adopting an adult or young adult from a rescue is the way to go. My heart breaks for shelter dogs, but rescues typically live in foster homes for weeks or months before adoption. Their foster parents know the dog's quirks and issues. They have a chance to start basic training, from housebreaking to leash training to the old sit, stay & come.

I've worked at a shelter. Not for terribly long, but long enough to know that dogs with major behavioral issues aren't very likely to make it to the adoption area. Dogs that show any sign of aggression are thoroughly screened and tested. I worked the "incoming" section, and was amazed at how sweet most of the dogs were, even under such stressful situations.

I worked at a vet for years and years. We saw a LOT of dogs from all sorts of sources. The shelter and rescue dogs had no more behavioral issues than the dogs from breeders or (booo! hiss!!!) pet stores. In fact, the pet store pups tended to be the hardest to housetrain since they'd been forced to poop and pee in their "den" when in the store kennels. Poor little things.

One of my coworkers fostered dogs for an Aussie rescue. I met all her fosters. Every one of them were delightful dogs. By the time they were adopted, they were completely housebroken, crate trained, and had gone through a full obedience course.

On the other hand, one particularly heartbreaking story that stands out to me was a client at the vet who had a young lab. Had him since he was a puppy, and already had another dog and a couple cats. When the pup was maybe 10 months old, they had a kitten who got too close to the pup's food dish. The dog grabbed the cat, shook him and broke the kitten's back. The poor little thing didn't die, but had to be euthanized when the extent of his injuries were known. We were all devastated. :sad:

There's no guarantee that any dog will never be aggressive. It's always up to the owner to minimize any risk. Giving the cats a safe place. Feeding the dog in a separate room or, even better, in his crate. Make sure the dog is well trained, and especially knows the "leave it" command. Making sure the dog knows the cat ranks higher on the totem pole... even if you like the dog more, you have to let him think the cats mean more to you.

neelia

I have 2 Yorkies and 1 Lab/German Shepard mix. Originally we only had 1 Yorkie and she stayed at home by herself during the days when my husband and I were at work. That's when we decided to breed her and we had 2 puppies, of which we kept one and gave the other to my mom. Now that they're together a lot she doesn't seem as lonely, and I come home during lunch to play with them and eat...and then my son is home at 2:30 from school so they aren't alone as much.

Our other dog, however, is an outside dog. We don't have a fenced in back yard yet so he stays in a large pen most of the time. He's HUGE (85+ lbs) and tears up everything when he comes inside. We're looking to sell our home in the middle of this year (hopefully) and will be looking for a home with a large fenced in back yard for him.

eleonoreOU

Hi everyone! :happy: Who has a dog? (Sorry it's so off topic, I'd just like opinions!)

I am so torn if to get one or not, my partner really wants one so it's basically down to me...

Financially I think we could cope as my best friend has a big dog and we've sat down and gone through everything, I know we have cats, but we'd get a puppy so it'd grow up around them, we love walking and can most certainly make the two long walks a day commitment (more at weekends), we have a decent sized garden, amazing relationship with our local vets, not phased by doggy-mess (!), and I can make my peace with being a little less house proud if it bites furniture etc when it's growing up AND we have all the love in the world for one... but although we can both work from home fairly frequently - there are inevitably going to be days when neither of us can stay at home and the dog would have 8 hours alone.... That really worries me...does anyone else also have this situation? Can you still have a happy dog?

I have looked into "dog-minders" and that sort of thing, but there doesn't seem to be anyone that could cover my area, so it isn't really an option. We could possibly look at having one of those fancy kennels with a dog run installed in the garrden (if I get super budgeting!) but I'd be worried about it being cold and lonely!!

It's not something I'm rushing into - I adore animals, so it would be a home for life - therefore I need to be super sure that it can work! I'm just interested to hear people's situations and whether you can have a dog still working full time?

Many thanks! :happy:

My boyfriend and I live downtown in a small apartment and we have a Bullmastiff.... Those are ginormous!
He takes quite a lot of space but is such a big baby, so sweet, and so nice. These dogs are big but dont need too much exercise.
Now, ours, does get plenty since he's my running and walking buddy....I take him everywhere. He gets all excited when he sees me putting my running shoes on. Plus, he's an extra help because he pushes me to go faster. Which is awesome.

I live the apartment at 630 and my boyfriend at 7. I'm usually home by 3. Goliath is always fine.
We've let him in as long as 12 hours. Not great but he can definitely hold it.
Now dont give me wrong he sometimes have "accidents" but that's why we have a carpet steamer....

We love our dog and are so happy he lives with us.... He's our little baby

milehighcritic

I have two dogs. A German Shepard dog and Greyhound(retired racer). I am at work 8 hours Mon-Fri but have a dog door to the backyard.

Do your research if selecting a purebred or even shelter dog. Too many time I see people get a dog without researching the breed. Then have complaints or issues about the dog. Example complaining about a Terrier who is digging up the yard when the breed is following instinct.

dalscruf

I have a yellow lab who just turned 3 on Feb. 25th- I got him when he was 3 months old and we were only in our house for less than 3 months. Even though i've always had dogs growing up, let me tell you it was (and still is) very challenging since it was the first time doing it on my own (and with my fiance, of course) but without my mom there to do everything.. welcome to the real world haha

Last January, a "friend" of mine had a mixed dog (a little over a year old at the timeand 35 lbs) that she "had" to get rid of for a million and one reasons, My fiance didn't want another one but I begged him and he gave in. 3 months later, my "friend" got a great dane, I'll stay off that sore subject..

So anyways, I work a full time desk job M-F 8:30 am-4:30p, and I'm also a massage therapist.. I work by appt only M-F 5:30p-8p and Saturdays 8a-1p.. My fiance is a union boilermaker, so he goes through periods where he is off work and then (like now) he's working 7 days a week, 10 hour shifts, an hour and a half away from home.

I will admit that we don't have enough time to take our dogs on regular walks but we do the best we can. When it was just the lab (Dallas), he was always in the crate when we weren't home but when we got Scruffy we stopped doing that and now they are always free to roam. We have a cape cod, there's a door for the upstairs so they are secluded to the downstairs only. They stay out of trouble for the most part except, you can't leave anything within reach of Dallas on kitchen counters and we have to keep all garbage cans in the bathroom with the door shut or else we will come home to trash scattered everywhere.

So anyways, yes it is possible to have a full time job and a dog. You just have to keep it on a regular schedule. I do recommend the first 2 or 3 days you should be off work and start figuring out a good schedule on everything according to your work schedule. The first few days will be hard, my lab had seperation anxiety that's why he had to be kept in the crate or he would destroy everything that he could sink his teeth into.

I treat my dogs like my kids and talk about them constantly.. some say i'm obsessed.. oh well, they are 2 of my best friends

Good luck and have fun!