Lifestyle question: is this the right time for a dog?

Although I absolutely agree with all the comments about how flippin' difficult a puppy is, I'm inclined to agree with @Emily - once you have a routine it gets much better, and puppyhood is a relatively short amount of time.

The thing is, you could spend years dithering about when the right time to get a dog is - and never actually do it! We talked about it for nearly 5 years, and always put it off because we weren't in the right jobs, right house, enough money, etc.

When we did finally get Monty, within 6 months, our 'ideal' circumstances had changed again (OH changed jobs and worked 70 miles away) but we just made it work - we had never expected to use dog walkers, day care, etc, but they just became normal - because the dog is your family and you want to do the very best for them. I never expected to spend so much on a dog either (he has some health issues, I estimate we spend around £3000 each year on our dog) but again, we just do it and other things are sacrificed - I'm very happy to buy my clothes from charity shops

So what I'm trying to say @Euan McGarvie , is that as long as you go into this with your eyes completely open, that the first 8-10 weeks are pretty much sacrificed to your puppy (and it will be that bit more difficult for you living on the 1st floor, no doubt about that) and are prepared to /can afford to pay for walkers or day care if the novelty wears off for your friends and family, then yes, I think you should go for it. Because Labradors are just brilliant

 

Pretty much agree with everything that's said here. We are 9 weeks into our Lab adventure and it's hard work but very rewarding.

My wife works from home and I am home half of the week on average. We are just about functioning but it's had a huge impact on our working lives and not something that can be sustained. Whilst we are expecting him to get easier to deal with over the next few months, he starts a regular daycare thing tomorrow for half days on Tuesday and Thursdays to help take some pressure off.

This all sounds a bit negative but he's very much part of our family now and we wouldn't change him for anything.

One thing I will say is that pups can be noisy, we live in a detached house so it's not a problem but you'd want to be on good terms with your neighbours!

 

Agree with everything people have said. The right daycare can be fantastic. Our boy goes to a family type daycare now that we are back at work.

Also, we forewarned our neighbours about the puppy, and then contacted them when he arrived, along the lines of "The puppy is here and you might hear some noise. We are wprking on it, please be patient." We live in a townhouse and no complaints so far.

It's hard, but every week is a little better than the last

 

Not all Labs are noisy. Ours hardly ever barks, but the Jack Russells nearby are truly appalling. I would worry about the stairs, though. I think I would use puppy pads initially, certainly at night. There is a world of difference between standing in your own garden in night attire and doing so for all to behold. There is no way you would be able to carry a Lab for long - 4 months tops, I would say. It is not just that they get heavy but they want to get their nose to the ground, and will squirm. You really need info from someone else with your domestic set up. At nearly 8 months my puppy now weighs 28kg, and that is still within the growing phase. Let us know what you decide.

 

We lived in an apartment, which had two sets of outdoor steps to get up to it when we got our puppy. We didn't do a whole lot of planning, and honestly we just rolled with the puppy stage. I carried her up and down the steps until she was too heavy (4ish months) in the cold Canadian winter, potty training at night. When she was spayed, OH carried her up and down as well (6 months). We had a decent set up, where I worked Mon-Fri 9-5 and OH was working evenings and weekends, so for the first 6 months didn't need any help except from dog walkers/daycares except for sitters on nights out. Compared to some puppies I read about, we had a fairly easy go. We bring our dog everywhere we can and our lives just kind of flow around dog needs. Now she is 2.5 and we have a dog walker for the days we can't arrange our schedules and the issues of puppyness are in the distant past. I think if you are doing your research now and planning for the puppy stage where they can't really be left along for long then that's half the battle. The puppy stage for us was so cute and fun, and once she was about 11 months she was pretty low maintenance!

 

Talking to the neighbours will go up on the list of things to do after a visit and we know for sure puppy is on the way! Hadn’t thought of it though, cheers!

 

Thanks for being one of the first truly positive responses! Not many people are actually encouraging in the decision to go ahead.

I think we’re aware of major hurdles that are going to be in our way - stairs, noise, toilet training, separation anxiety, socialising, biting, chaos, loss of social life - and frankly I think we can handle the lot, we have a fairly introverted lifestyle and I’m going to have the time off work to get the basics of toilet and socialisation training done.

Looking like we’ll be going for it as soon as we find the right breeder

 

That doesn’t sound too undoable to me, thanks for the information!

 

I don’t think people have purposefully been negative - of course having a dog is brilliant, otherwise so many people wouldn’t have one.

But we also get a large amount of people coming to the forum and questioning what they’ve done etc and the amount of dogs needing rehoming speaks for itself - usually at around 8/9 months when the cute puppy has grown up but is still requiring a LOT of work.

You asked for the truth about getting a Puppy and people gave you their experiences on it. It wouldn’t be fair on you or the puppy if we all told you it was easy peasy, no work required and we hadn’t for a second regretted our decision. And I really wish people had been more honest with me, because I definitely would’ve thought twice!

If you do decide to get a Puppy - great! I hope it works out for you and you stick around and let us know how you get on

 

I have a new puppy every year, soon to welcome number seven. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it.

But you also have to be realistic. The comments above are far from negative, they are real life with a new puppy. It’s utterly exhausting, ties you in and takes every minute of your time, you really do need to be prepared for the hard graft if you take a pup on - to be fair to the dog.

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I agree. Rather be realistic and be pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't swop Harley for another dog in the world. But if I asked me that when she was 12 weeks old I would have easily done it. I didn't know the wonderful dog that she would grow into. You don't know what you don't know when you get a lab type for the first time. Or sometimes the second or third as all puppies are different.

 

We possibly had a slightly easier puppy than most - the biting wasn't horrendous, nor a destructive chewer, he wasn't a big barker, - and unlike lots of people on the forum we decided to use puppy pads and a pen wrapped around his crate at night, as we were fortunate he didn't chew the pads or newspaper we put down. (We had an offcut of lino which we taped down to our laminate floor, and then put the crate and pen around this, with newspaper and pads in the pen, not the crate.) I'm not sure if I'd do it again, as I think it slightly slows down being fully toilet trained, but it did mean we were less sleep deprived.

 

Hi and welcome from me and 4 year old girl, Harley. Apart from crate training (which I failed at miserably) I had quite an easy time with her as a pup. Toilet training was quick for us, biting faded quite quickly and I fell in love with her when we went to choose her. I tried crating her at night which didn’t work, but she sleeps upstairs with us and I quite like that. She was created for short periods when I worked, but had full access to the whole house by the time she was 6 months old. She has never been a chewer either.
The only issues we had was she had a very sensitive tummy which made her have constant diorrhea for months on end. I’m not sure how I would of managed that if I was in a flat, so that’s the only thing that I can suggest that might be worth looking into.
Good luck and let us know how you get on seeing the upcoming litter.

 

Our Honey after her afternoon walk.

All the sacrifices are worth it .

 

UPDATE

Going to see a breeder this weekend!

Black dog, with a full family history for 3 generations. Working parents, so a conversation is going to be had concerning how suitable the home environment is likely to be for the pup.

DAM:

• HNPK : Clear - 24th April 2018
• Elbow Score : 0 - 6th July 2017
• Hip Score : 4/6 = 10 - 6th July 2017
• Eye Examination : Unaffected - 30th May 2017
• EIC : Clear - 20th October 2016
• prcd-PRA : Hereditary Clear - 6th May 2016
• CNM : Hereditary Clear - 6th May 2016
• SD2 (dwarfism) : Hereditary Clear - 6th May 2016

SIRE:

• Eye Examination : Unaffected - 23rd March 2018
• Elbow Score : 0 - 21st February 2018
• Hip Score : 3/4 = 7 - 21st February 2018

These scores all look good to me. any comments?

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Health results are fine but what is the COI (coefficient of inbreeding) of the breeding in relation to the breed norm? Health results on siblings/offspring/parents etc. Info can be gathered from the KC website.
What are you looking for in a pup? Do you want to work the pup? If you want a 'companion pet' dog a pup from working stock may not be ideal due to breed drives - a pup from 'show line's might be a better option. I'm looking for my next pup and in all honesty even as an experienced trainer/behaviourist I steer clear of working line bred pups, but that's just me. Were the grand parents/Great grandparents working dogs? Why is there only 3 generations of history. The norm is 5 generations.

 

Has anyone considered using a harness for lifting a pup as he walks up and down steps? I’ve seen therapeutic harnesses for adult dogs that can’t walk properly - padded and with handles like a suitcase that you hold to lift the weight off the dog’s legs. This would be much easier than carrying a heavy pup in your arms. You’d just need to be careful about where the pressure is, ie on the ribs and not the soft tummy, or evenly distributed.

When Snowie dislocated his front paw when tearing around on the mountain and catching it on a tree root, I had to support him for an hour down the mountain. I only had his flimsy harness, but he was most compliant (it was sometimes a very difficult path) but at least we got down without further hurting his paw. (He made a complete recovery at the bottom - trotted off!!!)

Best of luck. I wish everyone took getting a puppy as seriously—so many lonely dogs without the care discussed here.

 

The COI was quoted as 6.7%

The genetic lineage I can see seems to be the standard on the ChampDogs profile for the litter

I'll definitely be having a talk with the breeder concerning whether or not, keen training, and lots of outdoor activity including eventually munro bagging, will be sufficient to keep the dog happy.

 

I wondered about this too, but Ive got some experience of safety harnesses for working at heights (for humans I mean) and hanging about in that for even a few minutes with the pressure around my legs was DEEPLY uncomfortable, so a harness that didn't evenly distribute the pressure, and couldn't fit all the way through the pups growth would be less than I could really be comfortable with.

 

I guess I am opppsite to most, health scores were lower on my priority list. I mean, yes we looked at them, but only after we'd decided on the breeder. Both parents scores were perfect but that was not as important to me as their temperments and personalities. We were not able to meet the sire as he is in Poland but we did have a big chat wuth the breeder about him and looked him up online (haha doggie social media profiles!). Breeder had a few videos on his phone of him interacting with him as well. We spent a lot of time with the mom to see what she was like - sealed the deal when she sat outside at the door with her big stick in her teeth, waiting patiently, and when they opened the door she went right to my son and dropped the stick at his feet and waited for him to throw it (awww!). My son said "we'll just take HER!" Bless!
But really, it was more important to me to read their Conformation reports and read about the parents' personalitites and to see the breeder's home and puppy socialisation.... those were a bigger factor than health scores.