Did you choose a specific breed of dog?

[Chitoshi]

I absolutely chose a specific breed of dog. We tried not to and go to the shelters, but we had 8 months of not being able to find a dog. Why? Because we were in an apartment that had breed and weight restrictions, I have low-shedding restrictions because of my allergies (no pomeranians, no golden retrievers, labs, pitties, anything that sheds). Dogs that have fur closer to "hair" is better for my allergies.

So we had to choose small to medium sized, with low shedding. After 8 months of looking for that in the shelters and not being able to find a dog that we had first pick on (they go just as fast as the puppies, I would say), we went with a breeder.

We chose a Havanese because they're peppy, happy, and generally eager-to-please.

We were unable to choose our gender as the breeder had 16 puppies on accident and 11 of them were boys, but I wouldn't trade my boy for the world. She was a small pure-breed breeder that was AKC registered and I followed up on references and asked her like a million questions to make sure she wasn't a puppy mill. I also had to go through an interview process with her with a phone interview, then an in-person interview, and sign a contract saying if I couldn't take care of him I would give him back to her first, so I felt better about it.

My husband and I still get people who like to talk about how we're filling up the shelters by not getting a dog from the shelter, but we tried, and my quality of life goes down with big shedders even though I love the big floofy babies. We don't regret it.

As far as space in bed, I'd go with @siniang 's suggestion, because my 10.5 lb puppy takes up like half of my side of a queen size bed when we let him on it. SOMEHOW he needs to be in the middle of my space and I end up crowding my husband for space, so he's crate trained now and we are ALL happier. ?

 

[Friday]

My husband and I still get people who like to talk about how we're filling up the shelters by not getting a dog from the shelter

These are the people I used to like to tilt my head at, blink confused, and ask that I thought they were all about supporting small local businesses with sustainable & highly ethical practices?

NONE of the shelters in 3 counties are kill shelters, and the few kill shelters in the state have organizations that clear them out to no-kill shelters on a weekly basis. The only way a pet is being put down in this state is by animal control, or the owners themselves. So getting a pet from a shelter, in this state, is NOT rescuing them. Unless you consider “saving” them from a family who can only afford shelter adoption fees, and not private adoption fees. I don’t happen to believe that poor people make bad pet owners, so, since I had the resources to support a small local business, with excellent practices? It seemed incumbent upon me to choose to support my local community in every way that I could.

Just a Locavore doing their part to build a strong, diverse, and vibrant community, at every socioeconomic strata, for the betterment of us all. I’m so very surprised that they don’t agree?

:sneaky:

Oooooooh I can SPEAK super-entitled luxury-lifestyle guilting-snobbery twiddle-twaddle. But mostly it just tells me that the person I’m backing down with it? Is a twat.

 

[Lionheart]

When I was a young boy I had a black lab whose coat was so black that it had a blue sheen to it. She was the most loyal dog I ever had the pleasure of sharing time with. She would follow me around the neighborhood and when she didn't, she was never far away. She would always go out into the fields behind the row of houses on our street and retrieve things (bring me "gifts"). She was a sweet and loving animal, smart and a joy to have around. I did fall in love and I miss her to this day. She was a medium sized breed, but not so big she couldn't fit in a bed. :)

 

[Chitoshi]

Hehe, hopefully a reeeeally big bed, too @siniang , because frankly my 6kg shih tzu? Takes up waaaay more space in my bed than the laws of physics can explain!!

I wonder if it's the small dogs! Haha. Mine too.

 

[rightkindofme]

I have been looking for a dog for months. I have been in touch with the local shelter and they have told me repeatedly that they are not too hopeful of finding a dog that will fit our needs (lots of little kids in the house that are here all the time plus two cats). I am starting to look at puppies for sale.

This will be my first dog ever. In the states I never had the slightest desire for a dog and since I got to Scotland I want one so bad it isn't funny. I exercise a lot here and I like going pretty far into the woods and frankly I don't know many people yet and I'm a little skittish. I want a dog who can be there in the "Don't mess with my human" capacity. Not threatening! I will not encourage the dog to be aggressive. But I want a dog who will be upset if someone hurts me.

We have a large house and a fairly large fenced yard (by far the biggest yard I've ever had) so I think I could provide a reasonable home for a big dog. I like big dogs. I like happy. I want a family dog instead of a one-person dog. My toddler has been asking for a dog since she could talk. I strongly suspect that a dog will be my responsibility but her best friend. I am definitely up for a ton of exercise and if I had a dog that needed it I would be more diligent about meeting my own needs as well.

I am watching the for sale boards. We don't have a car so all of the ones I see 60+ miles away are not great options. I'm sort of praying I find one in a reasonable range for me to go visit first on my bike. I have an excellent, massive bike trailer so if the dog is within 15 miles going to get it won't be a problem at all without a car. Farther than that... I'll have to rent a car.

I think it is really weird that now that I feel like my family is fully complete in terms of children and we have the two cats we've wanted for a long time... there's a hole for this dog. I can't wait to meet them. I may never travel again. ?

 

[lambchopp59]

I'm just wondering if you chose a certain type of dog. And why? Or did you just fall in love?

We want to get a puppy so we can train him/her as we need to. I'm unsure if we will need a "service dog" (I can't see J taking a SD into a restaurant although stranger things have happened) or just a highly trained "pet".

We're thinking a Labrador but I feel they might be too big because J will want him/her in bed with us to help with his nightmares. (They're considered a medium sized dog.)

Also, did you choose the sex of your dog? And why?

Thanks in advance. xo

Yes, I chose the yellow labrador specifically for their trainability. He's 110 pounds of mellow pup, now getting into his aging years and difficulities associated with that. I had him thoughout the time I was going through PTSD intervention and discovered how calming he could be. I have some physical circumstances that brought all my troubles surfaced, related to a hate crime, and for a while I had issues with vertigo when I was walking. My PCP was glad to write me out the prescription, and he had some training, although Caleb is a bit headstrong, he was trained well enough to behave well on public circumstances, transit and such. I have little doubt I could have been re-victimized in my vulnerability without Caleb there. Caleb knew once the service jacket was removed, he was free to play, and run like wild he did at the dog park as soon as let loose.
I didn't take him into indoor restaurants. Most of the outlets I've been near had delivery anyway, and I would only eat out when I had a service human companion to go with, exception of a couple sidewalk cafe's I'd bring him with me to.
Now that he's going on 12, some extraordinary measures have been taken for his health, he grew some cancerous tumors, likely attributed to the fire pollution we couldn't escape here in north bay California. So I have a rental place with a large yard, he's had two tumors excised, but still a spry dog! It was quite an ordeal caring for him after surgery, but it was much like returning the favor for being such a supportive and unconditionallly supportive animal.
He does sleep at the foot of the bed, but climbs off down the doggie steps when it's too hot. I usually feel a cold nose nudge when I'm having restless sleep. He actually wasn't specifically trained for that, he's simply highly empathatic dog.
Hope that helps. I do suggest the service dog certification, I got one at the local shelter and haven't bothered to renew, I simply laminated the original prescription and that paperwork that stops cold any questioning about his full service dog status. That has come in handy at some hotels and other venues where some persnickety individual was questioning his presence. Become familiar with exactly what they can and cannot do, because some really are pieces of work about "animals".

 

[anthony]

Reminding myself to answer this later when home.

 

[Freida]

One thing to think about if your going to have a dog out in public is the reactions you will get from everyone who thinks they get to have an opinion. People stop me all the time to ask about SD because he is unusual looking and that can be a huge problem some days. But it also makes me happy that I didn't get a rottie because even though I love them and know they are great dogs the public is not so sure. Same with pit bulls. Great dogs with a bad rep. My friend has a pit for a service dog and people are horrible to her -- she's been yelled at more times than she can count for "bringing a dangerous dog into public".

My trainer said "you will never be unnoticed again" and it was so true. It has been the hardest thing to get used to. EVERYONE sees you when you have a dog and they feel it's their right to question you. Learning to navigate how to respond to that was the hardest part of training - even with SD. Having to do that with a dog breed people don't "approve of"? That would have been a nightmare.

So even though I would have felt much more confident with a rottie when it came to protecting me it would have upped the negative interactions - which would have made it that much harder to go into public. A no win scenario. :(

 

[Rainman8772]

One thing to think about if your going to have a dog out in public is the reactions you will get from everyone who thinks they get to have an opinion. People stop me all the time to ask about SD because he is unusual looking and that can be a huge problem some days. But it also makes me happy that I didn't get a rottie because even though I love them and know they are great dogs the public is not so sure. Same with pit bulls. Great dogs with a bad rep. My friend has a pit for a service dog and people are horrible to her -- she's been yelled at more times than she can count for "bringing a dangerous dog into public".

My trainer said "you will never be unnoticed again" and it was so true. It has been the hardest thing to get used to. EVERYONE sees you when you have a dog and they feel it's their right to question you. Learning to navigate how to respond to that was the hardest part of training - even with SD. Having to do that with a dog breed people don't "approve of"? That would have been a nightmare.

So even though I would have felt much more confident with a rottie when it came to protecting me it would have upped the negative interactions - which would have made it that much harder to go into public. A no win scenario. :(

Found some great patches on Amazon you can put on the vest about people staring. The reactions they get are hilarious.

 

[Rainman8772]

I wear one of these sometimes just for fun too.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Freida]

I wear one of these sometimes just for fun too.

Dead Link Removed

Oh I must get that!

the two I want to get for SD are "it's a dog not a unicorn" and "my service dog is smarter than your honor student" but hubby says people stop me enough as it is - I don't need to add fuel to the fire :laugh:

 

[Rainman8772]

Oh I must get that!

the two I want to get for SD are "it's a dog not a unicorn" and "my service dog is smarter than your honor student" but hubby says people stop me enough as it is - I don't need to add fuel to the fire :laugh:

I got the Frozen ones from Etsy for mine”

“I know you want to pet me....but you CANT just Let it go