Hi, Sad old sod, I know - but on impulse, and with about a year of longing - I might drive 2oo miles on friday, pay £300 and pick up a labrador german shepherd cross puppy. There have been dogs in the extended family before...but WE have never had a dog. Is this foolhardy, what mistakes might I make? Are you supposed to discuss these things on and on and on...or just do it. The guy selling the dogs runs dog training classes so seems respectable. I need a pal to run down the beach, y'know, 'n swim n play with, laugh at my jokes...girlfriend is not option. Any advice gratefully received, the time is now - 43, kids are college age, plenty of dog time... Mat
No table food. Seriously. It's a mistake you cannot undo. Once they know how yummy people food is you will never get him/her not to beg.
Thanks Wreybies. I'm feeling foolish now, foaming on the internet about puppies, oh dear. I'll go stick it on the bicycle website next... Ach...it was funny - what you said. No, I'll be stern and masterful, growly
If you have the time, and the space (big dogs like a lot of room - we had Newfoundland dogs when I was growing up, but we had ten acres), then dogs are PERFECT. Go for it! Make a dog happy!
These are just the things that have come up for me. Consider what it takes to board them if you go on vacation. Friends are tricky, it's the only time my dogs got fleas. It's costs a lot to board dogs at the doggie hotel for a week or two and I've yet to have my dogs not catch a cough in a kennel. Nothing serious and they did have proper vaccines but just like kids in day care they spread stuff to each other. Big dogs need a big yard, small ones need protection from big dogs. Mine was almost killed by an off leash lab, $4200 was needed to pay the surgery bills which fortunately the other dog's owner paid. Get the dog spayed/neutered. I will always wonder had I done it sooner if my dogs would be more social with other dogs. Grooming becomes a chore after a while. Especially if they fuss. Only one of mine is nice in the tub, the other is a pain. Professional grooming is expensive. Dog hair will be everywhere if you get a lab/shepherd. There's just no avoiding it. All in all, I'm happy with my two dogs most of the time. They're worth it.
Oh thank you GC, I need to make my play soon tho' before she gets the shitzapoodle. I've visualized before - being the guy with the little dog on the beach - it's not that I couldn't carry it off...I'm thinking...depressing myself now...this is like end of life talk...man and dog...processing information...
Kids going off to college is the perfect time to get a dog. We had a dog before kids and we gave her so much attention. After the kids, it was hard. She died a couple months ago and we were all very sad. But, and I never thought I'd say this, for right now I'm enjoying being pet-less. With my kids, it's too much work, although we'll probably get a dog in the next year or two. (I'm 44, and I have 9 years and 14 or 15 years before mine go off to college.) If you have the time for one, dogs are awesome. Go for it!
@Wreybies said exactly what I would have. Tidbits pave the road to hell. I think it would be worthwhile to enroll in Puppy training classes, as much for your benefit as for the pups. It's good to get them socialising with other dogs early... makes it much less likely that they'll get into scraps later on. I've always used 'clicker' training and find it effective. Ignore bad behaviour....don't be raising your voice, it's the worst thing you can do, (you could end up with a dog with a drippy bladder.) Instead go out of your way to 'click' when the pup gets it right, and back it up with positive reinforcement by way of a tasty treat. (What the dog doesn't know is that the same amount gets removed from it's feeding bowl later, so you don't end up with a pudgy pooch.) I actually used the same technique to house train my ferrets, and teach them not to bite... worked really well, all my fingers are still intact.
I feel such a pillock saying I need a dog to go walk the hills and explore the shore, I mean animal love aside :/ I'll do the right thing Obsid...and probably be one of the best dog poets around, a couple of photos in my books...any day now the contest results pfffffff, back to dogs
I hope you'll at least give some thought to rescuing a poor unwanted pooch from the rspca, instead of buying one, mat... think of how happy you can make some bundle of furry love by saving him/her from being 'euthanized'! love and hugs, maia
Fair point, there so many dogs need good homes. As long as you have a reasonable idea of breeding, so you have some idea what you'll end up with. I used to foster and adopt hounds, more specifically, ex racing greyhounds. (Though I did take on two Wolfhounds and a Whippet/Saluki cross too.) They make exceedingly good pets, don't need a lot of space or walking either. They are so chilled as to be nearly horizontal. They are docile, calm, sociable creatures and make excellent companion animals. Pity some people seem to think the worst of them just'cos they are skinny. Truth is, they love a bit of a wrestle. I saved one in the nick of time. It's owner, resentful of her lack of success at the track, had tried train her to hare course, but she wasn't interested. Because she was of no value to him, he simply stopped feeding her. It took a year before I could let her of the lead because she would run off and forage through people's garbage. She couldn't put her trust in me to feed her, she'd been so hard done by. Once she settled and learned to trust me, I couldn't have asked for better. I still miss her and she passed nearly 20 years ago.
Hi Maia, Obtrix - there was a programme on the telly last night about people who were driven to keep 30 cats in the house, or 20 dogs, or 12 pigs, 8 ducks, 3 donkeys, 11 ravens type people. It was kind of moving, and the conclusion you were left with was 'good luck to them' - these amateur sanctuary folk. Y'know project dog is vetoed til I wrench the power back off wife, win a special case writing bursary or something. Ideally...and keep this to yourselves, my poem '2 Piggies' wins the £1000 Sussex Writers' Prize. I shall be transformed, just hope they don't spot the repetition, all the best loves, love, oh and these damn cats of the wife need to shuffle along, can't be long now, need to - that's another story
Sorry Mat... laughing right now. Silly thought—I was just wondering how long it would take you to refer to me as Obstetrics... lol. Good luck chasing after the prize. Put the dog on the back burner, (not literally, of course... that would be cruel.) If you are waiting for the cats to shuffle off their mortal coils, you could be in for a bit of a wait. One of mine lived to the grand old age of twenty three.
Yeh, I fed my lab pup a teeny scrap of butter one day. Next day I found the punter on the table grazing on the butter dish.
@Fitzroy Zeph Okay, okay ...that's cute. Strange, but very cool eye colour? Will they eventually darken or is that the colour they'll remain?
My dog has a religion and she is a devout and dutiful follower. She gives obeisance, prostrations and genuflections to her god without fail. Ever you will find here there, giving worship, and should you walk by she will look at you and then back to her god and then back to you as if saying, "Get thee hither and with a quickness. Thy lack of faith pains me." Though her god is silent save for an occasional susurration and hum, the bounty that issues forth from its brushed stainless steel body is all the evidence she needs of the righteousness of her path.
Assuming that's a lab, do I have it correct that there's a gene thing of which lab owners are aware and discuss when it comes to the eye-fur-nose color permutations in a chocolate lab? It's a thing, yes?
