Will have to go pour a second cup of coffee before I start this one.
Adopt, DON’T shop. There are so many great dogs in our rescues and shelters, just loooking for loving homes.
Don’t get a dog for a 16 year old; only get a dog if YOU are ready to commit to being its long-term family.
Puppies are a tremendous amount of work. And destructive. Go for a 1-2 year old. You can know their temperament, are past the chewing/ potty-training stage.
Where’s the LOVE button. I can not stress this enough. Please please please everyone consider adopting. I am not shaming anyone . When we decided we wanted a dog and we wanted to be sure of temperament we went to a reputable Labrador Retriever breeder. We did so much research on the kind of dog we wanted and we ended up with a wonderful dog that we live with all of our hearts. When we had him about 2 years I would stand at the school bus stop with a woman who had a puppy. She hated the dog. She was nasty to it, called it stupid repeatedly, yanked it around. One day I could not stand it anymore and said something .. I was constantly trying to her help her understand the puppy (lab mix) and explain they needed training. She angrily replied “ fine.. then take him.”
I talked to my husband and we had a new dog less than 48 hours later . She never looked back .. just dropped him off. He’s not stupid at all and we love him to bits. That experience started opening our eyes to the idea of shelter animals and unwanted dogs.
Fast forward I follow a couple of rescue groups on Facebook. One that I became aware of because of an article in a national newspaper work they were doing to help the horrible stray dog problems in Northern communities. The abuse, neglect, atrocities, I have seen would hurt anyone to read. They roam in packs.. they freeze, they starve, they fight eachother. It’s unbelivable and heartbreaking.
Long story short, I own a purebred dog and I will never ever make that choice again. So I present the alternative to anyone who is considering dog ownership. Shelters are full and overwhelmed. The right dog will show up. Any good trainer can test for tempermant and a good rescue group will do that before they ever consider adopting the dog out.
Please consider adoption.
Photo above, not mine, it was on a shelter's Facebook page the other day with this caption: "Guys this dog was put down today due to lack of space!
This is what it looks like when dogs die. We tell them we love them and give them one last hug. "
I'm definitely not trying to "guilt" you into getting a shelter dog either. But if you do decide to get a dog, I think you would be SO happy to know you saved even one dog from the fate above! And there are all kinds of dogs in shelters and foster homes (personally I prefer the foster home route, because the foster person can tell you all about how well trained the dog is, if they get along with kids, other pets, etc. And the price of adoption almost always comes with neuter/spay and vaccines. We adopted our second dog from a GREAT foster rescue, she was only $200 which I almost felt guilty about paying that little, because she was spayed, microchipped, and had all the first year vaccines. She was only a year old too and a gorgeous dog, I still can't believe she was in a kill shelter before the foster group got her out of there. I was the first to call on her when her post went up on Petfinder, and the rescue group received so many calls after that they had to take the photo down.
When I read your first paragraph I was trying to picture a dog that would fit for your family of first time dog owners with older kids, and being used to more laid back dogs growing up, and then I read "Samoyed" and said out loud, "NO!!!" lol. Beautiful dogs, my brother had one, but terrible for what you are looking for I think, and they shed like a sweater a day.
What is it that your DD is most wanting in a dog do you think, a lap dog? A dog to exercise with?
If you want a lap dog, our other dog is the perfect dog for first time owners in my book. She's a shih tzu bichon mix. She doesn't shed at all, not even a little. She loves to cuddle. She is smart and learns tricks easily. She is cute as a button. She can be a stinker about getting into things, but we keep her in her crate at night or when we leave the house and she loves her crate, so she's easy that way. I am home all the time though, so she's usually not crated much during the day except if I'm running errands. She will take walks and loves to play, but is mostly lazy and a cuddler so she's very easy that way. We did get her as a puppy though, unlike her sister that we adopted at a year old, it took awhile to house train her but now she is great with that too, she barks at us if she needs to go out. I would 100% recommend looking for a dog to adopt that is a year or two old, it's the perfect age. Puppies are SO MUCH WORK.
I think you received a lot of good advice on everything else, but that was just my two cents to add to the mix
I believe in the concept of adoption, as well. I also follow many adoption and rescue groups online myself and donate and have volunteered to foster, etc. Just the other day I offered to take a sad, overbred dog in rescue with breast and ovarian cancer as a hospice type situation but the dog had already been placed. One group actually posts pictures daily of dogs that are to be euthanized the next day and I cry and get a pit in my stomach every day looking at those poor faces and souls who generally find themselves in these dire predicaments through no fault of their own. I can only hope that they are going somewhere better when they leave this cruel world.
Our pet overpopulation problem is out of control. There is a lot of irresponsibility out there on a lot of levels, and that, I believe, it what drives the problem. I do not blame responsible breeders. (Emphasis on the term
responsible.) I think people should be able to get a dog from someone who has taken the time to curb health problems and bring dogs into the world who are cared for and cared about, and who possess characteristics and traits that are predictable. People fancy different breeds for different reasons, and there's nothing wrong with that. I also, as I said above, believe strongly, almost more than anything else, that people welcoming a dog into their home should have the RIGHT dog, because that is what's going to drive the best relationship possible, and therefore the best care of the dog. Dogs that aren't liked very much may be tolerated, but not always cared about or for.
That said, I have been trying, as best I know how (and people who know me know I'm pretty resourceful), for literally years, to adopt a dog that's right for our family, without success, which really saddens me. I'm not being very particular, either, other than I prefer a female GSD and one without major behavior problems, and that doesn't include problems that I can fairly easily remedy with my knowledge and experience, love and patience. I have filled out over 35 applications and its getting tiresome, since it takes quite a bit of time and is very intrusive, and often nobody even gets back to me. (When and if they do, the pet is often gone. Some organizations won't even discuss a dog with you without a full application submitted. And I know they are volunteers, usually, and I respect that, but it doesn't help me with my problem.) I've traveled to shelters, too, only to find empty stalls - websites aren't always updated and phone calls go unanswered.
I've called on dogs in desperate situations that I've seen out of state only to be told they can't adopt out to my state. I mean, it's no wonder people give up and go elsewhere.
I've also told this story before but when I was last looking for a dog, we found one in a shelter and were all set to adopt and leave with the dog, when the dog bit my elderly dog on the face twice when I was holding her in my lap. Because my dog was invalid and nearing the end of her days, the shelter manager thought it was best (as did we) to not subject my dog to that in her final days. She actually said to the dog, "That's the second nice family you've lost in two days!", lol, but some dogs have behavior problems that may be why they're there in the first place, and often those are because they weren't trained and socialized correctly, or they were mistreated, etc. So ok, we'll keep looking. We then went to an adoption fair and were looking at another dog. DH asked specifically if the dog was lap aggressive and the woman said no. But a different woman who fostered the dog pulled my DH aside and told him that actually, the dog was lap aggressive. We thanked her for that. But why be dishonest? If you don't know, you should say you don't know. Dogs are sometimes going to homes under false pretenses and that's not good.
I knew an older lady with a kind heart who adopted a Lab. The dog was not the right dog for her, she was medically fragile and could barely handle the dog. Turned out the dog was a pit bull and they pushed the dog off on her even thought it was a disaster for both the lady and the dog. A vet once felt so badly about all the problems she was having with the dog that she wasn't even charged for some things. Eventually she brought the dog back to the shelter but she was heartbroken and deflated in the process. I think that sometimes shelters are so desperate to move dogs along that they might be placing them into situations that aren't right. And I do wonder sometimes if some of the dogs who are really traumatized in life in one way or another, although truly disturbing, are ever going to be right. I think it's smart to really question that when bringing this type of dog into your home, because you are totally responsible for it, and anything that happens you will be liable for. I've read stories where a dog came home from a shelter the week before and attacked the grandchildren or killed the owner (which happened just last week), and things like that. I think it's probably more the exception than the rule, but I think it's wise, especially when you have a young family or others susceptible around you (such as a 93 yr old that I have living with me), to bring in a dog that's stable. What that means may differ from situation to situation. I like having a dog where I either know the background or where the dog has demonstrated that it's a good canine citizen, such as in foster where the dog has been observed in different situations. But make no mistake, my heart truly breaks for dogs and other animals that are in bad situations.
I can tell pretty much by even just watching a video of the dog whether it may be right for our family or not, but I still want to meet the dog in person and see how it is with my current dog and around other people and places, etc. I met one GSD who was one of the largest and most beautiful adults I'd ever seen. When I got there and they took him out, the dog jumped up on the shelter worker, actually towering over him, had his front paws on the guy's shoulders and was staring him in his face. It was hard to say if the dog was being friendly or not. Possibly/probably not. I knew right away this was not the right dog for me; I said thank you and we left. DS was quite upset when we left and pleaded to bring him home. I had to put my foot down and help DS see that it wasn't the right situation for either us or the dog and that wasn't fair to anyone. It can be heartbreaking in the moment, but you have to look at the bigger picture. That said, we tease DS that he will have a houseful of one eyed, snaggletoothed, snarling dogs running around some day because he just loves them and has a warm heart for them - at least at this stage of his life - and that will be his choice later on when he has his own home, lol. Just my $.02.
But the cat is the cat. We love him, but he doesn’t feel like my other kid but a pet.
