Ok. I need all you relatively new puppy moms to talk me down.
I keep considering getting a dog. Mainly to keep me company during my 50% of the time when I'm home alone and don't have the kids around. I've never had a puppy. My family adopted an adult dog while I was a teenager, so I have helped take care of a dog before, but never had to actually train a dog or anything like that. I do not want a big dog that requires a ton of exercise. I want a cuddly lap dog to hang out with me while I watch TV. Maybe take a walk around the block. If I could get a cat, I probably would. But allergies.
So, there's a girl at work who has a Malti-Poo up for adoption. He's 8 weeks old. Super cuddler, loves people so far. Not going to get big at all, perfect size for what I'm thinking.
But I have two kids. I work full time. I have never trained a dog in my life or come remotely close to that. What does this entail? I'm insane, right? I do not need to add more responsibility to my life, right?
Remember that newborn phase when you never slept. Add that back to your life. Puppies need to go out every 1 to 2 hours all day. Who is going to let the dog out while you are gone all day? Puppies have bigger vet bills as they are still getting all of their shots, need to be fixed and at least in my area vet office may or may not be taking new patients. A Malti-Poo mix is going to probably need to be groom every 2-4 weeks and that is with you doing brushing/grooming on the off weeks. My groomer friend has most of her little fluffy dogs in every 2 weeks for a bath and trim. So unless you will be grooming it 100% yourself I would add at least $50 for each visit.
If you really want a dog I would look at adopting an adult dog. If you can get a greyhound they are great lap dogs, can hold their bladders a long time, and get tired out really fast so limited exercise.
FYI DH wants to get a puppy as our dog is now 10 and he thinks she is going to die any moment. I do not want to deal with everything that comes with a puppy: piddle puddles, poops, wake ups, chewing, chewing, and chewing, teething, etc. So no puppy here yet. Right now my dog ripped her toenail completely off like red bleeding exposed nailbed. She is on limited duty as we wait for the nail to grow back. She was so excited to see me Saturday night she ran zoomies around the back yard and broke open her toe. When I was drying her wet feet and the towel was bright red when I pulled it away. Yelled at DD to grab me her gym tape and had to bandage her foot to stop the bleeding to avoid bloody dog feet prints all over the house.
Maltese are stubborn dogs to train. If you haven’t trained a dog before, it’s probably not a great breed to start with.
I would recommend you go to a rescue or the pound and find an adult. They are a ton less work and they need good homes! Plus, you know the size they will end up because it’s the size you see. Same with personality. They’ve already developed theirs.
I haven’t had a puppy recently at all but my understanding that the 3 main issues are disturbing your sleep kind of like having a newborn, potty training and behavior training. I think since you had twins you could probably do this.
Our dogs (when I was growing up) were only allowed in 1 room of our house, our garage and had an outdoor large pen to go to the bathroom off the garage, so that wasn’t the biggest issue for us. But I think most people don’t have that kind of set up and it requires multiple trips out to the bathroom, training and running home during lunch maybe type thing. Maybe you can hire a dog walker. I know a lot of people nowadays put their dogs in doggie daycare which again was unheard of when we had dogs. This might be your hardest thing. Keep in mind you also need someone to watch the dog when you go on trips.
Behavior training was pretty easy for us. We knew how to do it but you can always take a class. I think you could make great progress working just 15-30 minutes a day on skills like sit, heel, come when called etc.
ETA- we had labs which are pretty great to train. On the flip side the black labs have greasier fur due to water repellent so that’s why they weren’t allowed all over the house- the fur issue.
Post by librarychica on May 20, 2019 13:55:14 GMT -5
I currently have a puppy. She’s sweet and adorable but I am exhausted. I actually wanted to get a grown dog but gave into H’s desire for a puppy. I have mild regrets.
Let’s start with the cons, cause I’m optimistic like that. Puppies take a lot of training, which takes a lot of time. House training — do you have someone to let the dog out midday? This is top of my mind because I had to hire someone to do so this week because my work-from-home spouse is out of town. The rule of thumb is a pup can hold it an hour for each month of age, I think. Maybe a few extra hours at night. Mine wakes every 3ish hours atm. If you’ve never trained a dog, you’ll want a training class. Probably true of any age, but definitely a puppy. I’m taking one myself since it’s been so long since I trained a puppy. Puppies nip. I think my girls might prefer a grown dog over a nipping puppy. Yes she’s adorable but more than once there have been tears and laments and that this puppy isn’t like our mellow old dog, who passed last year and was all they knew. Energy. Puppies need play and exercise. Less cuddling, more wrestling IME. Chewing. Hide all shoes.
Pros They’re adorable. Watching the dog grow is fun. Fewer bad habits to break.
I will say, a small dog like that you might be able to litter box train if you don’t have someone to exercise them midday. My boss did that with her Maltese.
Post by covergirl82 on May 20, 2019 14:35:47 GMT -5
+1 to what mommyatty said about adopting/rescuing an adult dog that is already trained. I love my dog (we got her as a puppy), and I like that my dog keeps me company when I'm working from home, but I don't know if I would have the time to train a puppy again.
What would you do with the dog during the day? We would not have gotten more dogs except I work from home and that’s the long term plan. If that changes we have a retired neighbor we could pay to exercise them mid-day.
You will have a ball of craziness if the dog is alone all day - Unless it’s an older dog used to that.
Thank you all for the reality checks. A friend actually knows someone trying to get rid of a 9 year old, super well trained, used to being home alone dog. But it's a lab. That's a giant dog to be feeding and caring for so I turned it down.
I also figured out I could either pay off a student loan or buy this puppy. So that's a solid no on the puppy.