Ask Carrie: Getting a Puppy

As a pet person, I always think it’s a good idea to get a puppy. In fact, I just recently gave up (at least temporarily) trying to talk my husband into getting another dog. However, there are a lot of things you need to take into consideration before you make a big purchase like a pet. Here are what I think are the most important:

Frank (pictured left) is a Wheaten Terrier,
Ruby (right) is a Chocolate Lab

Make sure you have enough time to train a puppy. Lilly and Reid are four and two, and I don’t know how I’d teach a dog what I’d want it to know. I just don’t think I’d have the time.

Does everyone in your family want this pet? A friend of mine bought a puppy last summer even though her husband wasn’t into the idea. The puppy has now spent the last couple of months on the back porch because no one really had time to train her and she can’t be trusted in the house. She will soon be sent to relatives. It’s hard to train a pet when not everyone is into it.

Do your research. Do you want a dog that doesn’t shed? Does constant barking drive you absolutely mad? Certainly as a young family you want a dog that does well with small children. We got our dogs, Frank and Ruby, before we had kids. Ruby just turned seven, and Frank will be six in a month. We’ve never had any problems with them, but we did a lot of research before we got them to make sure we got dogs that are known to get along with kids. A web site like www.dogbreedinfo.com can give you a lot of information on breed personalities.

If you or anyone in your family has allergies, it’s best to select a dog that doesn’t shed excessively. I do fine with our lab and our terrier both, but put me in a room with a golden retriever and it’s all over. Dogbreedinfo.com lets you search breeds by categories like low/high exercise demand; reliability with children; hairless breeds; allergies; and even lap dogs.

If you do decide to go ahead and get a dog, watch your children carefully. Don’t let them pull tails, grab ears, or climb all over your dog unless you know the dog doesn’t mind it. My children sit on Ruby’s back, dress her up in all sorts of crazy ensembles, and crawl all over her, and she is completely fine with it. Our terrier, however, wants nothing to do with any of that, and they respect that in their own little ways. Lilly and Reid understand that it’s not nice to pull their tails (though Reid still likes to try it when he thinks I’m not looking), and they don’t tease either dog. You can’t expect a dog to take the high road when he just got hit over the head with a Tonka truck.

This dog will be a member of your family for the next 10-15 years (the average life span of most breeds) so choose wisely and enjoy!