hoping to adopt a dog

buggirl

I have been waiting years to adopt a dog until I owned my own house with an enclosed back garden. however my partner and I will be out of the home four days a week, nine hours each day. We want to adopt a dog who will deal well with this separation.Exersising the dog morning or night will not be a problem as we are active ourselves! does anyone have any advice about what type of dog is happy in this lifestyle. A medium to small size breed would be ideal. There are no children in the house either.:rolleyes:

mary123

I think u would prob be better with a older dog than a puppy as u wont have the time to house train him.

Glowing

buggirl wrote: »

I have been waiting years to adopt a dog until I owned my own house with an enclosed back garden. however my partner and I will be out of the home four days a week, nine hours each day. We want to adopt a dog who will deal well with this separation.Exersising the dog morning or night will not be a problem as we are active ourselves! does anyone have any advice about what type of dog is happy in this lifestyle. A medium to small size breed would be ideal. There are no children in the house either.:rolleyes:

A couple of older retired greyhounds would be happy to sleep the days you are out. They're very quiet and calm and have lovely temperaments. They'd need to have access to the indoors because of their thin coats, they feel the cold (hence why you see them with little coats on all the time)

You should have a read up about them online - www.paws.ie dedicate their resourses to rehoming these darlings - I have two of them myself and would never be happy with any other breed, they're fantastic pets!

charlesD

I agree that an older dog might be a good choice. One of my friends got a boxer from the shelter that was probably 4 or 5 and it has been a really good dog for them.

I would suggest spending as much time as possible with the dog before you take it home. Many older shelter dogs have had a very rough life and will take off running as soon as they get a chance, so be careful in your choice.

buggirl

thanks for the advice. I've checked out the animal care society web page and west cork animals. how are the facilities at the new CSPCA in Mahon. I would like to save a dog thats days are numbered, but my partner would prefer to support an independent group.

Glowing

Edit: And fair play to you for adopting a dog - not enough people go down this route but it will be SO rewarding!!!

kerrysgold

Congrats for wanting to adopt
I think for the days you'd be working, you'd need to hire a dog walker to come in during the day and take your dogs out, it would really break up the day for them and of course they'd need a "bathroom break"!

I also think you'd be better off adopting a pair of older dogs, a pair so they can keep each other company and older because a puppy really needs somebody at home all the time to keep up with training etc.

If you want to save a dog from being put down in the pounds, maybe you consider fostering? then you'd be saving dog(s) and if you were fostering one you really liked you could keep him/her and then continue fostering until you found another dog that both you and the first dog liked and keep him/her as the 2nd companion dog?

you can find out more about fostering, and also have a look at dogs currently in the pound and needing help on the http://petsireland.invisionzone.com forums.

Good luck anyway! It's great that the future dog(s) will be getting plenty of exercise anyway.

anniehoo

I also agree with poster above about rescuing a greyhound...supberb pets. Basically any stereotypical image you have of them, think the opposite!
http://www.ameurogreyhoundalliance.org/avalon.html

Glowing

anniehoo wrote: »

I also agree with poster above about rescuing a greyhound...supberb pets. Basically any stereotypical image you have of them, think the opposite!
http://www.ameurogreyhoundalliance.org/avalon.html

They're not called the 40mph hour couch potato for nothing!

anniehoo

Glowing wrote: »

They're not called the 40mph hour couch potato for nothing!

he he...never heard that before...soo true! Great dogs and for the size of them how they manage to curl up and make themselves so tiny is hilarious and they dont need as much exercise as people think...theyre sprinters so need a big run around for 30mins and theyre knackered for the rest of the day and rarely bark either :P

Vel

I can support the greyhound recommendations too!! I have a lurcher and will be adopting my 10 year old greyhound in the next couple of weeks when I move house. They make great pets and generally do not require that much exercise. In your circumstances they would be ideal.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Before making the step and adopting a dog (and weldone on your decision to adopt and not buy from a breeder) have you considered short term fostering?.

There are few dis-advantages to fostering, the only one I can think of is growing to love a particular dog and the parting with them when you send them on their way to their 'forever homes'.

Advantages are many.

First you save not one dogs life, but many. Once a dog is fostered from a pound it rarely ends back up inside, and you start a cycle of dogs moving from the pound - through you and onwards, and that cycle continues for as long or as many dogs as you foster.

SEcondly, it allows you a 'test drive' of various dogs, and you get to know their habits, charactors and ways.

Third, if you decide a particular foster dog is the one you want, you have the option of keeping it. But then you only save one dog's life!.