Getting a dog..?

[andyoxon]

Children do progress through the "I want a dog" phase - although it is residually present but tempered with the acceptance that "Daddy won't let us". Then they move on to the "can you buy me a pony?" phase.

Older mini already has a 'Daddy I want a Pony' T-shirt...   Periodically after a 'we want a dog' campaign has gone on the back burner, they'll try a 'cat' tack for a while... But this recent dog 'push' for a dog is the biggest to date.

[Kathy]

I spent my childhood wanting a cat.  Make of that what you will.

I spent my childhood wanting a cat. I now have two: I am living the dream!

[Feline]

I am living the dream too, I have 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and a hamster! 

[andyoxon]

I would say if you don't have a dog flap, then they need letting out for a toilet visit at least every 5 hours. if you have a dog proof garden like I do then you can fit a dog flap and solve that problem partially. They still get bored if left alone all day though!

You are more than welcome to borrow my 2 vagabonds if you ever want to test drive any mad dogs!

'Google' 3 year old Cockapoo (I've had him since a pup)
...

Nice dogs (were you about to throw a ball?)  Last night I had 'daddy come and look a this golden labradoodle'...  In Africa we had a Saluki + a bit extra, which went back to the farm it came from when my parents left (it wouldn't have coped with quarantine)...

Re dogs outdoors, that's helpful.  Our garden's not huge, though about  40x60'-ish, but he have an informal shrub boundary with one neighbour - so not 'secure' really.   I guess a dog flap, for a larger dog, also potentially doubles as a person flap...though I suppose one can lock it while away...

[andyoxon]

Thanks.  Up to seven hrs away/empty on various days for our place.

My husband and I used to both work full days but still had a dog (and, for two years, two dogs). The dogs weren't left on their own all day until we knew they were fine with it - we used to spend a lot of money having the first dog with a dog-sitter all day whilst we were at work, until the sitter said all the dog did was slept and he might as well stay at home. The second dog, our Weimaraner Lucy, was a second-hand dog whose owner said she could be left all day - which she could. 8am - 6pm each weekday they were left at home (without access to the garden) and all was fine.

However, it's very unusual to get dogs that can adjust to this and not mind. I wouldn't expect most dogs to be OK with that length of time alone. As Lucy isn't used to being left for that long now (we both work from home) if we go out for over six hours we get a neighbour to walk her around lunchtime so she gets a chance to be outside. So although it's possible to leave dogs, we were exceptionally lucky to have dogs that were OK with it. Our new puppy, Poppy, hasn't been left for more than 4 hours so far. She's still in a crate so we're thinking a maximum of 5 hours ever (which will be Christmas Day in fact); once she's out of the crate at about a year old we can maybe leave her longer, but I doubt we'll ever want to leave her all day as we did with Lucy and Ben as she's much more alert than the other dogs.

[TimO]

... I guess a dog flap, for a larger dog, also potentially doubles as a person flap...though I suppose one can lock it while away...

You can get cat flaps which only respond to the RFID chip in the cat.  Talisker has one of these, which stops the neighbours cats wandering into my house, and also lets him escape trouble, should he be chased by someone!

I guess that could be adapted to work with a bigger dog flap, but I think I'd want a much more rugged lock mechanism to make a flap "human proof", so significant mechanical and electronic engineering would need to be undertaken.

[Feline]

AFAIK they don't yet make a microchip flap in dog sizes. However it would be a pretty brave burglar to stick their head through a dog flap into a house with 2 unknown hounds Squidge was waiting for me to throw her ball on that pic. They both seem to have mighty long tongues though!

It is surprising how small a  flap you can get away with, mine is a medium which would not accomodate the shoulders of an adult person, they would have to send a kid in first and since all my doors are mortice locked and the keys are hidden, they wouldn't be able to get all that much stuff out through the flap 

If I was ever away for long and took the dogs with me then I would simply lock the flap and set the house alarm. I cannot set the alarm with the dogs at home unless I cover the lounge, dining room and kitchen sensors so I generally don't bother!

[finch]

We've had Buddersbe for 2 1/2 years now and after an initial spell of chewing he's been fine ( I think it's while their teeth are growing ) with a little discipline in the right way.

Bud also stays in the house between 8.30am and 4.30pm and even then doesn't go for his walksies till about 6pm and he copes with that no problem

Being a golden Labradog he's also extremely cute n cuddly and loves to play