Hello OB, I need your advice. My family and I want a dog. My wife and I had two cocker spaniels that lived to be 12 & 13. The last one died about six months ago. Both deaths were heartbreaking. All that said we are ready for a new dog...kind of.
We have two kids ages 10 and 6 who are both in school. They both want a dog. We want a dog that the whole family can enjoy. Our dogs that died were very temperamental and never really bonded with our kids when they were born. Cockers can be that way I've read.
My wife and I work and are not home during the day. Is it wrong to have a dog only to leave it home by itself during the week? There are So many opinions on this.
More to the story. We recently brought a rescue puppy home, a Schnauzer Yorkie mix. After two nights of not sleeping and cleaning up messes, my wife and I decided to take it back. It just never felt right from the beginning. My wife went to meet it and was talked into taking it home which wasn't the plan. The foster people were not going to be home for a the next few days after and they convinced my wife to take the dog to meet the family. I felt like they took advantage of my wife. Neither her nor I bonded with the dog. For me, it just wasn't what I had in mind as small dog and the timing was a bit off since we were in a busy time period with baseball and vacation. For her, the dog wasn't potty trained so she had to come home and let it out every three hours. Nights were long too. Is it possible to skip the puppy stage and bring home a trained dog? We had totally forgotten the work involved with pups.
Taking the puppy back was hard but we knew he still had a chance for a great home. We just didn't feel like he was one that would've been comfortable being home alone.
We do want a dog but maybe I want one that is trustworthy to roam the house while being home alone or be left outside. I think I want a Brittany Spaniel. Kids don't really care. Wife wants hypoallergenic. Would love a dog that is house and crate trained, wants to swim with us, travel, RV camp, jog 2-3 times per week for 3-5 miles, go to kids baseball games etc. must love kids too.
Is this possible? I'm okay with putting our family and a dog through some training.
Cliff Notes: want a house trained family dog that is comfortable being left alone while we are at work and skids are at school. Is this possible?
Update.
We met a mini schnauzer today. He is about 1.5 years old. Already house and potty trained, can use a dog door and very friendly. We will introduce him to the kids this weekend and see how it does when we bring him along on our weekend activities.
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Update. We brought home Lucky (kids renamed him from Bogey) from Mini Schnauzer Rescue of Houston in May. He is well trained and a great fit for our family.
We have two kids ages 10 and 6 who are both in school. They both want a dog. We want a dog that the whole family can enjoy. Our dogs that died were very temperamental and never really bonded with our kids when they were born. Cockers can be that way I've read.
My wife and I work and are not home during the day. Is it wrong to have a dog only to leave it home by itself during the week? There are So many opinions on this.
More to the story. We recently brought a rescue puppy home, a Schnauzer Yorkie mix. After two nights of not sleeping and cleaning up messes, my wife and I decided to take it back. It just never felt right from the beginning. My wife went to meet it and was talked into taking it home which wasn't the plan. The foster people were not going to be home for a the next few days after and they convinced my wife to take the dog to meet the family. I felt like they took advantage of my wife. Neither her nor I bonded with the dog. For me, it just wasn't what I had in mind as small dog and the timing was a bit off since we were in a busy time period with baseball and vacation. For her, the dog wasn't potty trained so she had to come home and let it out every three hours. Nights were long too. Is it possible to skip the puppy stage and bring home a trained dog? We had totally forgotten the work involved with pups.
Taking the puppy back was hard but we knew he still had a chance for a great home. We just didn't feel like he was one that would've been comfortable being home alone.
We do want a dog but maybe I want one that is trustworthy to roam the house while being home alone or be left outside. I think I want a Brittany Spaniel. Kids don't really care. Wife wants hypoallergenic. Would love a dog that is house and crate trained, wants to swim with us, travel, RV camp, jog 2-3 times per week for 3-5 miles, go to kids baseball games etc. must love kids too.
Is this possible? I'm okay with putting our family and a dog through some training.
Cliff Notes: want a house trained family dog that is comfortable being left alone while we are at work and skids are at school. Is this possible?
Update.
We met a mini schnauzer today. He is about 1.5 years old. Already house and potty trained, can use a dog door and very friendly. We will introduce him to the kids this weekend and see how it does when we bring him along on our weekend activities.
*************************
Update. We brought home Lucky (kids renamed him from Bogey) from Mini Schnauzer Rescue of Houston in May. He is well trained and a great fit for our family.