Thinking of getting a new dog?

Hi and welcome to Doggy Bloggy!

I wanted to share my thoughts on getting a new dog. Many of us (including myself) have wanted a dog for a long time. I had them growing up but when I moved to London I spent a many years without a furry companion. I have always been a ‘dog’ person and I’m sure many of you feel the same way but I think it’s important that you really understand what you are getting into when thinking of bringing a dog into your home. It’s not just about ‘do I get a rescue or buy from a breeder?’ Both are viable options, but it really does depend on your circumstances.

For example my wife and I got our first dog (Mia) just before we bought our first house.

Actually we picked the house we have because it had a fair sized garden and was close to the local park. Mia was high up in our thoughts when we made that decision, that’s how important our dogs are to us. She wasn’t a rescue but our second dog, Chewie, is.

We knew we wanted another dog, but after our daughter was born we decided to wait, having a puppy and a newborn in the house is (in our eyes) crazy. I can’t imagine how you would be able to give the puppy the attention it needs when your own child is wailing for her next feed, or nappy change or just for the heck of it.

So we waited until our daughter started to go to reception. We wanted a puppy, one that would be a playmate for Mia and our daughter. We knew what size we wanted but other than that we were happy to browse rescue shelters online. It is very sad that there are so many pups that need adopting and this need fueled our determination until we found our lovely puppy Chewie.

She’s from Romania where she was a street dog. We were prepared for a puppy that might have some behavioural problems, one that might be scared or have had negative encounters with dogs or humans in the past. Chewie was none of those things, in fact I have never met a sweeter dog in my life.

The day we collected her was startling in two ways one, she was not a small dog as advertised and she was painfully undernourished. We didn’t care that she was going to be a medium sized dog and we brought her home, where for a full 24 hours she stayed at least six feet away from me at all times after that she settled in nicely. It has been immensely gratifying to see her put on weight.

She now is fully in love with Mia and follows her around as though she is her birth mother. She is gentle and loving with my daughter and will often grumble contentedly to herself as she lays at my feet in the evening.

We would have more if we could but our circumstances wouldn’t allow us to be good doggie parents to more than two right now and that is what I am trying to get across.

You need to be fully committed to get a dog, any dog is going to see you as the love of their life and you owe it to them to be there for them. I have seen people with five dogs or more who are no doubt dog lovers but who cannot look after their dogs properly.

Look at your life. Look at your job and commitments if you really can welcome a dog in and be a good parent then please do so. If you are worried about a rescue dog might be too much work for you then don’t get one but be aware ANY dog is going to be a lot of work, especially a puppy.