Thinking of getting a dog? Tip 1

Tip 1: Age of your future dog

Depending on what dog you get, you can count on it being with you for the next 6-20 years, all depending on the breed and of course medical and external circumstances. The oldest dog ever, Bella, lived for 29 1/2 years!! I bet no one expected that one... She was a Labrador mix, their average age is 10-12 years, well she just three-folded that, no big deal, right?

Except, it is a big deal. Watson, dog n.8 was given up by his family at the age of 9, because the "kids are off to college and no one is taking care of him any more". He's 9. That's below the average age of a Labrador. Are you telling me you didn't look into how old this type of dog can get, when you first got him? Did you not consider "What will we do when little Jill and John Doe go off to college?" Because you should have.

Of course, anything could happen and you may have to surrender your dog for different reasons. I guess Watson is better off with us and a possibly new home later on, than with a family where no one will walk him all day. However, I believe that it shouldn't get to this point in the first place.

Even if you decide to keep your dog, but it is alone all day (10 or more hours), this is not ideal. This can cause separation anxiety and with it destructive behaviour (not as much of an issue with small dogs). More than that, separation anxiety stresses your dog out. When your dog has separation anxiety, it is actually suffering, it is anxious and in distress - I will make a post about that another time.

Possible Solutions:
If you rely on someone's help to walk the dog (be it your kids or parents), you need to keep in mind that they wont live with you forever. You need to start looking into future solutions, what are you going to do when those people can no longer help out?

There are dog-walkers that can walk your dog (in Toronto those charge up to $25/dog/day) and some even watch them all day long - kind of like an after school play date for dogs.

If you know that you will be gone 10 or more hours because of work, there are different ways to deal with that. Of course a dog walker/sitter, you could take the dog with you, if your job allows that. You could try to come home during breaks, you could get a doggie door so the dog can go outside, or you could keep him outside in a dog house in general. Some people do this, it makes the dog more used to being alone for some time, but others don't like keeping their dog outside all the time. One thing you definitely need to do (the earlier the better) is train being gone and your dog being alone. In a post on separation anxiety I will explain good ways of doing so.

I am not saying that if you are gone 10 hours a day you cannot have a dog. I am saying that a dog has needs too and you need to keep those in mind, you can't walk out the door and not be back for 10 hours or more. Especially if you are getting a puppy or young dog, you need to keep this in mind.

When you decide to get a dog, remember that it will live with you, it will love you for its whole life and surrendering it for the reason that Watson was surrendered, should be considered way beforehand and avoided.

Be fair to your dog.