[Eastling]

I agree only get a dog if you can really commit to one. breed, Vet costs, insurance, exercise in all weathers etc all need to be considered. When I was in practice as a vet nurse the times people came in wanting to rehome their dog as they had a new baby and the dog was then a inconvenience!! wonder if you would get away with it the other way around.  We chose not to have children, so all our furbabies are treated like kids.
I am sitting here with my 13.5 year old lab who is probably going to be put to sleep this week. Which has been a hard decision to make, it is something else which would need to be considered.

[Raine]

 
I have had dogs for years now.  As I don't have children (or other pets at the time) I got my first dog from the local pound.  I was so lucky with Timber.  She was a great dog, well trained, able to be left whilst I worked and great with people.  She hated children (would try to herd them away from us) and refused to pee on concrete.

Our second dog Amy is a greyhound rescue.  She is a wonderful dog now, but she took years to become confident.  She was terrified of everything when she arrived.

Now we have just got a Lab called Bess.  She is still learning what is right and wrong.  Means that we have to clean up each time we come back from being out (she doesn't like being left).  She is great with all the animals on the farm.

If you are planning on getting a dog, you have to realise that they will take time and effort to train, care for and money to pay for vets fee's (or insurance).  They benefit from consistency.  Puppies take a lot of time to train, rescues (if not vetted properly) can have hidden issues.  If you do decide on a dog, choose the breed to suit your needs.  Don't choose a dog that needs lots of exercise if you don't have time.

[ellied]

Interesting, I don't often check out the dog section here because I don't have a dog..  I grew up with a Cocker Spaniel who eventually died of old age when I was about 7 or 8 and I was bereft, he'd been bought to teach my older brother and sister about responsibilities and to not be afraid of animals and a whole load of other reasons, not because they "wanted a puppy".  I think we're in a different era where animals are seen as accessories and purchased/discarded as quickly as a new season handbag or upgraded iPhone or XBox but those of us that grew up with animals tend to yearn for and eventually get them back in our lives by hook or by crook somehow, eventually!

I never had a pony but similarly grew up around them and eventually took on a loan at 24 and bought her for my very own when I was 25, sometimes I wish I hadn't but my life has been that of pony owner for the last 24 years  and now I can't imagine life without but I need to start thinking and then doing exactly that pretty soon, it's horrific to even consider but so is going on as I am now.  I should have stayed with working riding schools, livery yards and trekking for others, helping their studs rather than setting up my own, but I just had to have my own and then more..

On the other hand I wanted a dog of my own from the day I lost our spaniel and had to make do with friends and mum's friends' dogs, walking them, playing with them, doing agility training with them, sitting them as a student, but it all showed me that working full time wasn't the right life for having my own.  I'd done walking at dawn before a full day, walking in bad weather when I'd have preferred not, but I knew I could if and when I had no day job.  Now I have cats and chooks and ponies that might well all object, but it's the money I can't justify on an animal that isn't "earning a living".  But if and when I am loose of all the animal ties and feel, as I know I will, bereft, then I'll find a way back by volunteering at a shelter or walking dogs for someone else or sitting or whatever, just not every day, not my own, not now, still not now.

I think maybe both you and your OH and kids might all benefit from helping with dogs somewhere in this decision making space.  OH to get the dog company and prepare himself for the realities, the kids to get experience of what dogs are so they know and aren't afraid nor stupidly overconfident with a species they will inevitably come across, you so you do it together and so you really can say you're going in with eyes open and willingly, not to fit in with someone else's wishes or out of non-readiness.

Just my (lengthy as ever) ramblings on a subject I know too little about.  I know in fantasy puppyworld I have a black lab and a blue roan cocker because they're what I know best, a great dane and/or an irish wolfhound or one of the huge hairy mountain dog types because I've always wanted a really big dog, or some kind of malamute/husky/wolfy kind which is pure fantasy as they're way too demanding for my capability now I'm sure!  Those are breeds I've looked at time and again over 40 years coming back to, and possibly a border terrier as I love their cheek but realistically I won't have a terrier, if I have anything it'll probably be a cocker or a lab, the breeds I grew up with, or an extra large I always wanted or the fantasy wolfy kind just because I've regained the fitness I want back and don't want to let it go again!

Actually I'd probably end up with a rescue I felt sorry for and had to rehab all kinds of baggage, just because I'm a sook and did exactly that with ponies in between my Highland history that was originally going to be a black Sec A Dales mare.. my childhood again you see..

[doganjo]

If you weren't on that busy fast road you could have borrowed any of mine!