Two Things to Consider Before You Get A Dog

Take a look at the photo. That’s Clover less than an hour after I got her.  You can see the attraction of buying her… or any puppy for that matter. A cute, perfect, innocent puppy… right? Wrong. No puppies are innocent, it’s just not in their nature. Don’t be fooled by the puppy dog eyes- that’s how they get you! They lure you into a false sense of security before reigning chaos over your household for years to come.

I can see how it’s tempting to just go online and look at puppies for sale, find hundreds of cute photos and buy one without much thought or preparation. Unfortunately, it should never be as easy as that and if it is, I’m afraid you’re doing it wrong.

In order to answer whether or not you should get a dog, you need to honestly answer other questions first…

1) Why am I looking at getting a dog?

It’s not enough to just ‘love dogs’ and it’s certainly not enough to just buy one for the sake of it, or because it would make a nice Christmas present.  It has to be more than that. You have to be selfless, committed and patient. You have to have the time, the energy and the money to give this dog the best life you can. You have to be ready for this dog to change your world.

Equally, “I’m going to buy a dog because I really want one” just doesn’t fly. Yes, you might want one… Christ I wanted one so badly for so many years that it actually hurt some days. But that wasn’t enough. I knew I needed to wait. To wait until I was financially more stable and  to wait until I was mature enough to look after another living being. 29 years later and I’m not sure I could class myself as mature, but I’m trying my best and I always put Clover and her needs before mine… and I think that’s a good start.

A lot of your dogs behaviour, energy levels and social skills will boil down to the training you put in, how well it is cared for and brought up by the breeder, and how you bring it up after your dog is home. You also need to bear in mind the dogs genetics as these play a big part. You cannot simply rely on the result of a google search to tell you exactly what sort of dog you should get based on a quick quiz. Further, you can’t even be confident that the results found in your search is accurate (as I found out the hard way!).

2) Am I ready for a dog?

Picture it… its winter and you’re driving home from work. You’ve had a crap day and you’re stressed and tired. It’s freezing outside and the air is bitter and damp. You can’t wait to get home to your warm house, to put your comfy clothes on and lay on the sofa for the evening… and then you remember. The dog that you so desperately wanted, the dog that you chose to bring into your life. The dog who has been home alone for hours, and whose favourite part of their day is seeing you and going out for a walk. You can’t let them down. So what do you do?

You have two options. Option one (the preferred option) is you suck it up, you put your coat on, you layer up and you take the dog for a walk in the artic conditions. You may not enjoy it but you’re dog will thank you, and you may get a peaceful evening afterwards.

Or option two, you entertain your dog at home with games and toys and give them your undivided attention for nothing short of an hour. It’s not as good as a walk, but you’re dog needs some form of stimulation. Either way, you’re not going home to sit on your sofa straight away and watch tv for the evening. If that’s what you want to do then that’s totally fine… but dog ownership isn’t for you.

My ‘ruff’ reality of dog ownership.

A perfect example of the reality of dog ownership happened to me just yesterday. I woke up to the sound of heavy rain. Heavy rain which continued non stop. Clover has two walks a day, every day. Waking up and hearing the rain, my heart sank. Clover genuinely hates the rain and cowers from it. She needs a walk but to walk her in the torrential rain is unfair on both of us. So what do you do?

If you’re me- you anxiously check out the window consistently all morning, hoping for a gap in the rain clouds, and praying Clover doesn’t wake up and start needing attention. As early afternoon rolled round, it felt as though the rain was subsiding. Seeing my chance, I threw on my rain coat, put Clover’s coat on (yes, of course she has a coat!) and we headed out. Ten minutes later and the downpour was crazy again. I could barely see, Clover was huddled up by my leg to shield herself from the rain and I knew we need to get home. “I tried pup” I said to her as I towel dried her once we got through the front door.

It’s now nearly 3.00pm and of course, Clover hasn’t had a proper walk (you can’t count the ten minutes of sheltering under a tree from earlier!). This is what I like to call “kicking off time.” Clover’s bored. She’s not even three years old yet and although she has got better at entertaining herself, she’s not mastered it yet and she wants my attention- so she “kicks off.” Barking and foot stamping until she gets what she wants. I’m working. If we’d have gone our for a proper walk there would be no problem, she would be peacefully asleep until the end of my working day. But the rain stopped play and here we are. I hide some treats around the house, I give her a bone to gnaw on and eventually and reluctantly she settles again.

The end of my working day rolls round and I’m exhausted. It’s Friday and to say my week has been bad would be an understatement. I feel mentally and physically drained. The weather is still miserable (despite it being July!) and what I want more than anything is to pour a glass of wine and have a warm bath. What I get instead is my floppy eared girl nudging the back of my legs with her nose and pawing at me. She wants to go back out. So that’s what we do. Not a single part of me wants to take Clover back outside again, but her needs come before mine. This time the rain is more of a drizzle and we manage a full hour of walking before it’s time to come home again. By the time were back and dried off, I feel too tired to even run a bath. So I head to bed. Another rainy day battle accomplished and another day as a dog owner is complete.