I don't regret getting my dogs (well except for when they eat my favourite gadgets/ cushions from time to time anyway).
However I think getting a dog is a HUGE family decision, and not one to be taken lightly. I work with dogs and their owners as well as live with them at home, so can point out some of the issues you should consider before it's too late
1. Time commitment. Your dog will need walking and letting out for frequent toilet breaks day in day out. Days where everyone in the house are working or out all day are not exceptions to this. Sometimes you will find yourself walking your dog in the freezing rain and dark after work in the winter. If you fancy a day off getting cold and wet your dog might eat your stuff in boredom! Training classes are a very very good idea, more dogs are abandoned or destroyed every year because they have developed behaviour issues than any other reason. When someone takes on a cute puppy and things go badly over the first few months, the chances of that dog finding a good permanent home later are not exactly good.
2. Tied to the house. Spontaneous family days out such as 12 hour day trip to something dogs cannot go to become impossible unless you can enlist or pay for the help of a dog sitter/ walker/ friendly neighbour / relative.
3. Summer holidays suddenly become a choice between a limited selection of dog-friendly UK destinations or an expensive kennel fee and all the dropping off and picking up nuisance on each end of your holiday just when you are busy trying to do other important stuff. I have had problems sometimes when taking dogs and kids on UK holidays, where the weather is too hot to leave the dogs in the car even for a few minutes but a lot of beaches, cafes restaurants, theme parks, camp site entertainment doesn't allow dogs. Leaving your dog in a tent only works if you take a dog crate with you, and that limits how long you can be away and on a hot day really isn't an option anyway. If you get a wet camping trip then expect your tent to become a mud bath as your wet dog tramps in and out enjoying itself (dogs never wipe their own feet haha).
4. Cost. I have 2 small/medium sized dogs and spend £40 a month on their food. Their dental chews, toys and rawhide things to chew when I go out cost probably another £10 a month. Your new puppy will immediately cost you about £70 to vaccinate, microchip and worm. Flea prevention/treatment will add another £8 ish a month if you do it properly. Neutering will be needed in the first year and will range in cost between £80 for a small male to £350 for a larger female. It is amazing how much most new dog owners need to spend to get a decent selection of dog bedding, collars, leads, harnesses etc. etc. I reckon most of us probably spend £200 approx on this in the first few months. I also spend about £500 a year on their agility classes.
5. Health & insurance. There is no NHS for pets. Because we have an NHS for ourselves most people have no idea of what decent medical treatment actually costs. I am a vet myself, and yet I pay for pet insurance for my dogs. It gives them 3rd party insurance, which would be very handy if they ever escaped into the road causing death or injury to a person making me liable in theory for millions. It also covers them for their entire life for any medical condition they suffer from (minus a relatively small annual excess per condition).
Be careful how you choose your insurance policy. The most expensive conditions your pet could get are also extremely common and tend to be the chronic incurable conditions like diabetes, epilepsy, arthritis, skin and ear diseases. If you inadvertently buy a policy with only 12 month cover per disease then you are stuffed after a year. These conditions can easily run up costs of over £10,000 over your dogs lifetime. More if your dog ends up needing hip replacements, MRI scans and other specialist treatment. Beware of companies that load your premium the following years after you have claimed to try and get rid of you. Make sure the maximum cover per year or per condition is enough. You need more than £5000 cover per year really, preferably more. Once you have insured your pet and something has actually gone wrong, you are trapped in that policy because the condition would be excluded from any new policy. I deal with people all the time who thought they had got a good bargain on their pet insurance from some supermarket or online broker or other, only to find when they need to claim their insurance is virtually worthless and now they cannot change to a decent company. PM me if you want to know which companies are poor choices, I know who pays up and who employs a team of people just to reject claims all day long on the basis of any small print they can
There are leads of good things about owning a dog too, I wouldn't be without my guys, and they are trained to run by my bike for their exercise
