Maybe getting a dog - am I missing anything?

seamus

Right, the missus is enamoured with the idea of getting a dog and an opportunity has come up that there might be a young (2 years I think), three-legged Staffy bitch going grabbing in the near future.
We've both had animals for most of our lives and are mad about them, so we're not concerned on that front that we'll get bored or freaked out or anything.

I'm just trying to make sure we've logically covered all the bases before committing to anything.

We live in a duplex - a terraced house without a garden effectively. The plan is that the dog will live in one of the rooms; I want a crate ideally. It'll otherwise have general free roam of the house though except for sleeping time and so forth.
My work is a regular 8 hours-a-day affair, my wife's changes a lot, but in any case my sister-in-law is going to take the dog to work every day. Then we'll take it for a walk in the evenings - my wife is determined to get out and walk, hail, rain or shine
Apparently it's small and with 3 legs it won't need epic 10-mile jogs to keep it fit.
There's usually someone around at the weekends, and never an occasion where we'd go out drinking and not arrive home for 48 hours, so that's no problem.
We own the house and management company rules are not a problem.

There'll be children around in the near future (nieces and nephews) and some of our own no doubt in the medium-term, so we'll be checking out the dog's temperament very closely. Since it'll have to go to work every day with other dogs around, obviously it'll need to get on with dogs. My parents have two of their own and any dog would be spending christmas in my parents' house with me, so how it gets on with them would be very important.

Primary costs I see at the beginning are:
Crate & Car transport
Leads/bedding etc
Food
Toys
Training

Anything I'm missing?

Toulouse

Sounds like a lucky dog!

Have you scoped out local vets? Maybe if you say where you are people can give recommendations.

Best of luck with it

Paul91

as she's on restricted list, muzzle

lead no longer than 2 meters and can not be of lead in public

vets bills - pet insurance

dog licence

joyce2009

vet fees,,they add up,,,,,make sure the doggie has its vacs and you might want to look into pet insurance too,,
best of luck

seamus

Vets, yes! Forgot that. We can get plenty of recommendations. We're in South-west Dublin, so I'd be inclined to go to Bainbridge in Dundrum, only because we used to bring a dog there when I was younger.

seamus

Paul91 wrote: »

lead no longer than 2 meters and can not be of lead in public

Probably been plenty of discussion on this, but what constitutes "public"? Public land or any place where the public normally has access?

Paul91

not sure on the exact detail, but i would say anywhere the public have free access to, so parks, streets, beach's - all the fun places, private i would say was secured garden of the owner or secured land i.e. fenced off private land which you of course have permission to be on

star-pants

Seamus - I too would say Argyle & Bainbridge -they're great, I'd my little Daisy up there yesterday, Mr Argyle was on his lunch but he saw us.

Up to date Vaccs - flea treatments - worming
Pet insurance is a big one - it'll pay off if anything happens
Dog license - easy to get at the post office

As mentioned the muzzle & lead - http://www.ispca.ie/Restricted-Dog-Breeds.aspx
I would assume if you're walking around the area / in a local park etc, unless you have a closed in private area, you need to be careful if/when you let it off the lead.

Oh and routine of feeding/sleeping etc. They're good for getting dogs settled if they have the comfort of a regular routine, and some good exercise

00112984

Just on the whole having a dog without a garden bit- we have an apartment and a Cavalier King Charles and it has worked very well. We don't have a garden either and as there are very strict rules in our place surrounding pets in communal areas, nipping out with her for a quick pee isn't an option so we have her trained to go in one place, on an odour-absorbing puppy pad. We're also careful to regulate her meal times so we know exactly what times she's likely to poo and it can be removed immediately, pee pad changed and air freshened. When you have an indoor dog, you learn very quickly to not sneak it titbits from the table
(Edited to add: on the peeing thing, it's easy to train a dog to go on command so you can sand there, instruct the dog to go, clean up immediately if needed and you're sorted for a few hours if you're going out or whatever)

Luckily, I work from home so she's very seldomly on her own and my in-laws are near enough that she can stay with them overnight or for a weekend if needs be.

Having a dog who is primarily indoors is a lot of hardwork and you'll get used to it. For us it has loads of plusses- we never have to worry about her running out the front gate and in front of a car, it's easier to monitor her health as you'll know immediately if she vomits or anything, she's not likely to roam and we don't have to worry about other dogs coming in and upsetting her.

lrushe

You sound like you have all the bases covered, not having a back garden shouldn't be a problem so long as the dog is walked enough, Rottie's are generally quiet lazy indoors if they get enough excerise. Don't let the fact that she has 3 legs fool you about the amount of excerise she'll need both mentally and physically, most 3 legged dogs don't realise that they have even lost a leg. I'd definately have your dog insured, Rotties suffer with hip and elbow problems with four legs so the extra stress your new Rotties joints will be under will mean she will almost certainly need attention in the future. Best of luck, they are just the best breed, but then again I'm just bias!!:)

seamus

I just realised I said Rotty in my OP That's cos I really wanted one of them. It's actually a Staffy. A rotty would be like having an entire other adult human in the house :eek:

Maybe when we buy a bigger place...

00112984

seamus wrote: »

I just realised I said Rotty in my OP That's cos I really wanted one of them. It's actually a Staffy. A rotty would be like having an entire other adult human in the house :eek:

Maybe when we buy a bigger place...

We had Rotties when I was a small child and they were brilliant with kids but from what I've learned on this board, Staffies are complete nanny dogs. No shortage of Staff owners on here willing to tell you how good they are with kids.

votejohn

research done in a canadian university found that, out of all dog breeds, staffies were the only ones you could trust 99.9% alone with a child (obv. im not telling you to leave the dog alone with kids, but its a good sign!)

Best of luck, and pist pics when you get her!!


Also, with her spending so much time with your sis, maybe take a few days off work to bond with her, training, etc.

dont let the fact that she's an older dog let you think she will already be programmed, from day one pretend shes a new pup, and let her know all the rules from day one.

ghost_ie

Just to warn you that the fact she's missing a leg doesn't mean she won't eventually need epic jogs. Our middle dog is a three-legged jack russell cross. We got her when she was 2 from a rescue centre and she must have only recently lost the leg as she was very wobbly and couldn't walk far. After two months she was walking to the park (20 mins away), chasing a ball for an hour with the speed of a miniature greyhound and then walking home. She's 7 now and is still a devoted ball chaser, although the youngest dog (5 years younger and having all four legs) occasionally beats her to them

heno86

em as it was already said staffies are absolutely great with kids,but some can have some dog aggression, by no means do they all have it just something to be aware of with a bull breed, i have a pitbull which has very similar genetic makeup and she is fine with dogs(even have another on the way) anyway best of luck with her:)

bernard0368

Good luck with the new addition.
One thing people always forget with a dog. Good walking boots and rain gear.
Nothing worse than walking a dog like a drowned rat.

Howitzer

^^^ Good advice that ^^^

surely as this dog is a little older you'll get an idea of temperament from current owner?

sounds like you have it all covered.

Wondering: Does lack of a leg in a dog not mean it will have more energy - as it can't go for an all out run?
Maybe it needs to go swimming to get it tired out?

seamus

votejohn wrote: »

dont let the fact that she's an older dog let you think she will already be programmed, from day one pretend shes a new pup, and let her know all the rules from day one.

Yeah definitely, it's like moving to a new school - she doesn't know the new rules and will be testing them from day one!

Howitzer wrote: »

surely as this dog is a little older you'll get an idea of temperament from current owner?

She's a rescue dog, being surrendered by her owner. I don't think she's been abused, but probably not given as much attention as a dog should be given, so she might have possession or abandonment problems (IMO).

Wondering: Does lack of a leg in a dog not mean it will have more energy - as it can't go for an all out run?

My thinking on it was that more energy would have to be burned in a walk because of the extra effort expended by the single leg. Maybe I'm wrong.

bernard0368 wrote: »

One thing people always forget with a dog. Good walking boots and rain gear.

I was thinking umbrella - but you're probably right, I've never seen any committed dog walkers using an umbrella. I have great raingear for cycling, but my wife doesn't.

Paul91

seamus wrote: »

I was thinking umbrella - but you're probably right, I've never seen any committed dog walkers using an umbrella. I have great raingear for cycling, but my wife doesn't.

Umbrella's tend to get broken in bad weather, personally I go for a High Viz waterproof/insulated "builders" type jacket, made by Mascot http://www.safetyshopdirect.com/acatalog/SAVONA-YELLOW.jpg with a decent hood, snowboard pants which are waterproof and let my legs "breath", waterproof boots, goretex gloves and me flat cap (I am from yorkshire) - oh and have two huge towels ready to dry the dogs of when i get back

Orla K

Not quite the same but I've a three legged cat and she nearly needs more excercise than the 4 legged one. I have to watch her weight because if she gets over weight it would be more of a strain on her legs, since she has more weight on each leg (if that sentance makes sense). She can get problems with her legs easier and if she's overweight it can be even worse.

tk123

bernard0368 wrote: »

Good luck with the new addition.
One thing people always forget with a dog. Good walking boots and rain gear.
Nothing worse than walking a dog like a drowned rat.

+1 if you need to restrain the dog (our guy is a puppy and lunges at everyone to give him a pet :pac:) or even if the just brush off your legs you're all mucky and wet!

seamus

OK, we got her last night, she's in good form though a little nervous about the new place and all the strange sounds. She spent the last 4 weeks in the DSPCA though surrounded by loads of noise so it's going to be weird.

She had the rest of her leg removed last week and the wound is still weeping a little bit, so we're trying to keep her away from the carpeted areas. There's no door between the sitting room and kitchen, so at present we have the couch up against the gap to stop her getting through but obviously this isn't an ideal solution.

We really just want to keep her in the kitchen for the moment (except when we're taking her out obviously) and perhaps overnight for a while until she understands that she doesn't sleep on the couch
I've looked at extra-wide baby gates, but they're ridiculously expensive. The gap is about 1.5m. Any other ideas?

I'll take a few pics later.

Paul91

seamus wrote: »

OK, we got her last night, she's in good form though a little nervous about the new place and all the strange sounds. She spent the last 4 weeks in the DSPCA though surrounded by loads of noise so it's going to be weird.

She had the rest of her leg removed last week and the wound is still weeping a little bit, so we're trying to keep her away from the carpeted areas. There's no door between the sitting room and kitchen, so at present we have the couch up against the gap to stop her getting through but obviously this isn't an ideal solution.

We really just want to keep her in the kitchen for the moment (except when we're taking her out obviously) and perhaps overnight for a while until she understands that she doesn't sleep on the couch
I've looked at extra-wide baby gates, but they're ridiculously expensive. The gap is about 1.5m. Any other ideas?

I'll take a few pics later.

depends on how handy - fussy you are - could make a "gate" out of a piece of hardboard/chipboard? or maybe buy a fence panel from the DIY place - might be a bit cheaper

tk123

seamus wrote: »

I've looked at extra-wide baby gates, but they're ridiculously expensive. The gap is about 1.5m. Any other ideas?

I'll take a few pics later.

Argos do puppy gates for €50-60 that are extra wide - not that expensive when you look at what the dog could wreck if it's able to run amok! :pac:

votejohn

hOW ABOUT THIS http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8505239/Trail/searchtext%3ECLOTHES+HORSE.htm

stretched out flat?

Paul91

votejohn wrote: »

hOW ABOUT THIS http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8505239/Trail/searchtext%3ECLOTHES+HORSE.htm

stretched out flat?

i likes ya thinking

how about this one, if you have it flat an lean in across door - or is it too short - would be 1.7m across and 73cm high when flat http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8500368/Trail/searchtext%3ECLOTHES+HORSE.htm

might need some catch's to hold it on place, or something heavy wedged against it - and as with votejohn's example your money isn't wasted as you get a clothes horse to use later

seamus

Paul91 wrote: »

depends on how handy - fussy you are - could make a "gate" out of a piece of hardboard/chipboard? or maybe buy a fence panel from the DIY place - might be a bit cheaper

Thought about that, but a bit of a pain to be stepping over or storing long-term.

tk123 wrote: »

Argos do puppy gates for €50-60 that are extra wide - not that expensive when you look at what the dog could wreck if it's able to run amok! :pac:

Oh nice, there's an outdoor one there which looks like it might be just the thing.

votejohn wrote: »

hOW ABOUT THIS http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8505239/Trail/searchtext%3ECLOTHES+HORSE.htm

Actually have one of them. They're quite flexible though, I'd be afraid she'd hurt herself or get stuck trying to fight her way past it.

I like the idea though....

Thanks for the suggestions.

Paul91

ooooo - i have it - again depending on if you are able and willing - roller blind, fitted on door frame, pull it across and hook it other side - although she might be able to get under it - hmm will keep thinking

Paul91

slide this across http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9273900&fh_reftheme=promo_159030093%2cseeall%2c%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b9372016%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372049%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372274%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9392108%7d&fh_view_size=10&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b9372016%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372049%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372274%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9392108%7d%2fspecificationsProductType%3dlouvre&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=lister&ts=1259925634090&isSearch=false ?