Dog adoption

RickyT

Hi all

We are a couple thinking strongly about adopting a dog.

We both grew up around animals and have our own home (semi-detached, North Dublin), with a relatively big, wall-enclosed garden. Our intention would be to buy a kennel (which the dog might not even use), give the dog access to the shed out back, walks in the mornings and evenings, and devote weekends to him. The dog would sleep indoors (in the kitchen / diner) at night. As regards the dog him/herself, we would be looking at a small - medium sized rescue, 1 - 2 years old. It's something we have thought about for a long time, and take quite seriously.

Here's the issue - we both work full-time. We leave the house at 7.30am and my partner gets home at 5pm each evening.

Would like to hear from anyone else who had a similar situation and adopted from a rescue centre / shelter, and whether the organisation even allowed the adoption? From reading online, it would appear that animal agencies such as <snip> or <snip> don't allow you to adopt if you work full-time. Unfortunately, we haven't won the lottery yet (!), but our view is that the dog would be better off in a home being cared for and looked after than being in a pound or worse. Dog-walkers are an option, but that's expensive. Also a lot of shelter animals are slightly older (say between 1 -5 years) and we have decided that a more placid, settled dog of about 2 yrs old would suit us. Breed or looks is of no concern, we would be open to what suits our lifestyle and that of the dog.

Any feedback or similar stories are much appreciated.

Cheers.

ShaShaBear

RickyT wrote: »

Hi all

We are a couple thinking strongly about adopting a dog.

We both grew up around animals and have our own home (semi-detached, North Dublin), with a relatively big, wall-enclosed garden. Our intention would be to buy a kennel (which the dog might not even use), give the dog access to the shed out back, walks in the mornings and evenings, and devote weekends to him. The dog would sleep indoors (in the kitchen / diner) at night. As regards the dog him/herself, we would be looking at a small - medium sized rescue, 1 - 2 years old. It's something we have thought about for a long time, and take quite seriously.

Here's the issue - we both work full-time. We leave the house at 7.30am and my partner gets home at 5pm each evening.

Would like to hear from anyone else who had a similar situation and adopted from a rescue centre / shelter, and whether the organisation even allowed the adoption? From reading online, it would appear that animal agencies such as <snip> or <snip> don't allow you to adopt if you work full-time. Unfortunately, we haven't won the lottery yet (!), but our view is that the dog would be better off in a home being cared for and looked after than being in a pound or worse. Dog-walkers are an option, but that's expensive. Also a lot of shelter animals are slightly older (say between 1 -5 years) and we have decided that a more placid, settled dog of about 2 yrs old would suit us. Breed or looks is of no concern, we would be open to what suits our lifestyle and that of the dog.

Any feedback or similar stories are much appreciated.

Cheers.

Most rescues would be relatively laid back with regards to people working if you showed intent to have the dog put into Doggy Daycare or had a neighbour/friend to let the dog out to the toilet at lunch time. Most rescues will not consider you if you plan to leave the dog locked outside from 9-5 due to the obvious fact that you have no control over things like the weather, the dog getting at something that could hurt it (simple example being a cat or a stick) and the unsavoury people that will see nothing but Euros when they look in your back garden and see an easy target to be ripped to shreds at their next dog fight.
Most of your obvious small breed choices would absolutely not be suitable for long-term outdoor stays, despite what people would try to tell you about their coats and hardiness. Obviously you are right - the dog would be better off at home being cared for, but they can either take your word for it (which I'm sure you agree would be very stupid and not at all in the interests of the dog's welfare) or set up a strict list of requirements which would be confirmed by a home visit to ensure both your commitment and your suitability to giving the dog a better life than the one they currently have in rescue centres.

Roaster

OP I have 4 rescued lurchers and 1 terrier. My wife and I travel to work from 7am and don't return home until 7pm most evenings. If for whatever reason, I might be running late I can contact neighbours (who have dogs themselves) and they'll let them in and feed them for me. My dogs stay indoors at night too.

Every case is different I suppose but in THE REAL WORLD people cannot be expected to say at home when they have to earn a living. I love my dogs and I would never put them in harms way. They have a full sized shed converted into a kennel for them. They have total run of my back garden which would be mid-large size.

Lurchers (you can get mid-sized one btw ) are so laid back and contrary to belief don't need much exercise although ours do and they do love it.

I cannot recommend adopting highly enough. Most importantly you are more than likely saving a dog's life.

For what it's worth we rescued our 4 from <snip> who do great work and do perform home checks before handing rescues over.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

jayobray

Hi, we have two medium sized dogs. We walk them for 30 mins every morning before leaving for work at 7.30. Home about 5 and they get walked for an hour. They have access to the garden while we're there, but sleep in the kitchen diner area during the day. It's a big area so they can move to a more sheltered area if the sun is too bright, for example. We know they sleep and play a bit during the day as we've a camera set up for security. They were both shelter dogs, although one was young when we got him, and the other was two years old.

One of ours loves being outside, especially at night, and it can be difficult to get him in (we never leave them out at night), but the other likes her comforts and hates the cold, so she'll stay in most of the time.

We've both had cats and dogs for years, and indeed have a couple of cats, so the rescue centres we got them from were happy that we knew what we were doing and they'd be well looked after. The first one visited to see our set-up and was happy with things, the second didn't as we brought our first lad to the rescue centre and they could see how happy and well-looked after he was.

meathenterpr

No matter who says what you should look upon a dog as a child so you will need to ensure that dog is looked after while you are away. Consider this if you have a dog and you go for a 2 week holiday you will make sure someone will look after your dog while you are away. The same logic applies if you are away for the day.
We have two dogs (both rescue dogs) a border collie and great swiss. There is always someone present.
With regards about the age of the dog.
For us the border collie was 3 and the great swiss was 1 when we took them in.
Maybe we got lucky but both settled in within a couple of days (mind you we had another dog to lay down the law when we took in the collie who in turn did the same with the great swiss).

I would suggest that first you look at the dogs, pick a couple that you like, go away discuss it for a couple of days and then make your choice.

DBB

Folks,
Five posts in and I've already had to edit two of them to remove named rescues and links to rescues.
Please be aware that it is,against the forum charter to discuss or link to individual rescues.
Thanks,
DVB

Roaster

Sorry mods.

Vel

Roaster wrote: »

Lurchers (you can get mid-sized one btw ) are so laid back and contrary to belief don't need much exercise although ours do and they do love it.

I cannot recommend adopting highly enough. Most importantly you are more than likely saving a dog's life.

For what it's worth we rescued our 4 from <snip> who do great work and do perform home checks before handing rescues over.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

No way in hell I'd be leaving lurchers in a garden unsupervised. They are such a prime target for theft.

Not getting personal with you, but am curious to know if the rescue you adopted from knew going in to the adoption that you would be leaving them out when you go to work?

RickyT

I appreciate all the responses here.

Gives us plenty to talk and think about!

blackbird 49

Vel wrote: »

No way in hell I'd be leaving lurchers in a garden unsupervised. They are such a prime target for theft.

Not getting personal with you, but am curious to know if the rescue you adopted from knew going in to the adoption that you would be leaving them out when you go to work?

Why what's wrong with leaving a dog outside, I had a dog for 12 yrs and was at home all day but it never got into the house.

ShaShaBear

blackbird 49 wrote: »

Why what's wrong with leaving a dog outside, I had a dog for 12 yrs and was at home all day but it never got into the house.

He just said - dogs are getting stolen from outside and because people are at work all day, by the time they get home and realise their dog is gone, the thieves are long gone with it.

Reg'stoy

Hi, from my experience Dogs are very social creatures and so for me to think of a dog left alone for the entire day worries me.
There might be two dogs that need rehousing together and so would be company for each other.
Our two are never left alone for more than a couple of hours as luckily my Wife works from home and I am lucky enough to work shifts so would be home a minimum of three if not four days a week.

Graces7

OP well done for your great intentions.. so much need.. But I agree totally with not leaving dogs outside when you are out. My two, both rescues without any organisation involved, love to be out but when I am out they are always safe inside. Having had even gas bottles vanish there is no way I will leave anything as precious as my dogs vulnerable. We left ours in the house alone for long periods from small and they never come to harm. They seem to have a different sense of time?

Roaster

Vel wrote: »

No way in hell I'd be leaving lurchers in a garden unsupervised. They are such a prime target for theft.

Not getting personal with you, but am curious to know if the rescue you adopted from knew going in to the adoption that you would be leaving them out when you go to work?

Vel,

My dogs are securely fenced off. I have two large side doors and built up fencing on top off 7ft concrete walls. Obviously, I cannot guarantee 100% that some scumbag won't try and rob them whilst I'm out but they'll have some work to do before doing trying.

I am involved with the rescue organisation from which we got our dogs on a part-time basis (we got involved after rescuing our first) so they know me very well and they knew of my work arrangements too. They're realists and understand that people have to work. I can tell you (and my friends will too) that our dogs quality of life does not suffer one bit. As I said previously though, every case is different and you cannot judge everyone by the same standards.

Hope this clears up things for you.

deadwood85

OP I have two rescue dogs.They get a nice walk in the morning before work,then they stay outside with lots of toys chew bones etc,til 5/6.
Then they get a min hour walk and they are indoors the rest of the night.
I recorded them to see what they get up to when I am away. They sleep ,play for a while sleep again till I get home.No problems.

I would recommend getting two dogs as 1 will surely get lonely.Most rescues have 2 dogs that are brought in together and need to be rehomed together.

You can work and have happy dogs.

Gael23

People have to work, thats the reality that some rescues have yet to grasp onto.
Once you exercise the Dog and spend some time playing with him with his toys or a ball I think thats sufficient.
When we got ours, my parents worked shifts at the time and for a few years after so it worked out that 6 hours was the longest he was outside but after that things changed and they started working regular daytime hours so he would have been alone for a bit longer until we came home from school.
My mum hasn't been working since January 2011 so was at home with hm almost all day. By then his health had started to decline a little so it helped having someone there, and he lived for 4 more years until 3 weeks ago.
Yes he did have some separation anxiety issues later on but I think that was only because he was so used to having her around all the time and just grew to dislike being alone. We live in a built up estate so he was always secure in he garden and lived to be 15 so it never harmed him a lot in my view.

aonb

Absolutely people who work can have happy dogs.... its not ideal, but a rescued dog, taken care of in a home with food and love is better off for sure. I would only reiterate that if you are going to leave your dog home all day, it would definitely be happier indoors, with its bed, waterbowl (and a radio playing for company!) Ideally it should be walked in the morning before work - that way, no accidents in the house. In a perfect world, someone would come and walk the dog during the day...

I help with an animal rescue, and the number of dogs being stolen from their back gardens is truly frightening. Im not scare mongering but its something every dog owner needs to be aware of

Gael23

aonb wrote: »

Absolutely people who work can have happy dogs.... its not ideal, but a rescued dog, taken care of in a home with food and love is better off for sure. I would only reiterate that if you are going to leave your dog home all day, it would definitely be happier indoors, with its bed, waterbowl (and a radio playing for company!) Ideally it should be walked in the morning before work - that way, no accidents in the house. In a perfect world, someone would come and walk the dog during the day...

I help with an animal rescue, and the number of dogs being stolen from their back gardens is truly frightening. Im not scare mongering but its something every dog owner needs to be aware of

We live in a developed area so he would have been outdoors in a walled garden. Although as he got older and less healthy he was inside almost all day. Thankfully, I haven't heard of dog thefts in out immediate area but I know it happens. We could probably have walked him more than we did I know but on days where he wasn't walked we would pay with his toys or whatever.