Adopting a dog

[scoolbubba]

Wait until you're married or you have a support network close by that can take it, not necessarily squadron mates. If you find a buddy who's got a dog and work out a lend lease pup agreement, that can work too, but make sure it's close to 50/50. I got my dog after I was engaged, and we got our second dog right before I went on deployment.

They get plenty of attention between our different work schedules, but not as much exercise...mostly due to it being too effing hot in Jax in the summertime to do much of anything. If we go anywhere for more than one night, we put them up in a boarding kennel, which generally runs about 50 bucks or more per day, for 2 dogs. Plan accordingly, especially with an active breed like a GSD.

 

[yak52driver]

It also helps having a second dog. I have two and they are very easy to handle when I'm home. When I'm away from home, all my wife has to do is let them outside, and they will run and play until they are tired, giving her time to focus on our son. Every situation is different of course, it could totally backfire with somebody else.

Totally agree. It's like two siblings playing with each other until they are tired and want to take a nap.

 

[Pags]

which generally runs about 50 bucks or more per day, for 2 dogs. Plan accordingly, especially with an active breed like a GSD.

Good point. Kenneling is one of the "hidden expenses" of dog ownership. Even at $20/night, which is the cheapest I've ever found, it adds up quick.

Also, make sure you have an emergency dog fund to cover the inevitable vet trips. Dog medicine is expensive. I'm a senior O-3 and I cringe at the price for the tick stuff. Cutting a dog open to extract something they ate that then got lodged in their gut is even more expensive. And it's pretty awesome if they decided to get sick. The Brown Dog got giardia (when I was on det, of course). He had it coming out both ends every 2hrs or so for a week. Mrs. Pags had to get up every couple of hours and take him out and had to come home from work in the middle of the day for that week. The only other thing we've ever had to maintain a schedule like that for was when my daughter was a newborn.

 

[Lucy]

Second Pags,

Tuck has been sick three times since we adopted him a year and half ago, adding up to about $500, and that's not food, brush, replacing things chewed, etc. We now carry "dog insurance" which is more like preventive care than insurance, and our last trip was still $100. With shots, cleaning, etc our estimated costs without having the insurance is well over $1000. Although that is nothing on the cast my mothers teacup poodle when he was 3 months old and broke a leg. $1500 later poor little thing was running around in a leg cast bigger than he was! Dogs are wonderful and I love ours, but it is a good idea to think of it as permently having a 2-5 yr old. Old enough to entertain itself to an extent, but also old enough to get intself into trouble. Although easier to have a dog than a kid as far as the dating market goes :-D

Pags-Giardia is bad stuff. Hope poor Brown dog ended up alright.

 

[jtmedli]

Old enough to entertain itself to an extent, but also old enough to get intself into trouble. Although easier to have a dig than a kid as far as the dating market goes :-D

Someone's a pessimist!! On a related note, I got the privilege of chasing my Welsh Corgi down the road today because he thought I was playing one of those "catch me" games with him where he takes off every time you get close to him. Dogs are fun, but sometimes they will drive you crazy and cost tons of money.

 

[Lucy]

Pessimist? How so? Not saying it would not be a possibility if I wasn't married, but a guy in his early-mid 20's with a kid who is going to be gone for extended lengths of time is a lot less appealing than a guy who is gone but has a dog. Nobleness can only outweigh practicality to a certain degree.

Corgi's rock btw. Bravo.

 

[Pags]

Pags-Giardia is bad stuff. Hope poor Brown dog ended up alright.

He made it through Giardia just fine. When we rescued him he had only recently recovered from Parvo without the help of meds. This dog is pretty much indestructible.

 

[jtmedli]

Corgi's rock btw. Bravo.

He's really the family dog moreso than he's 'mine', but he's pretty cool so far. Just turned 1 year old so he's still bouncing off the walls with puppy energy. Here's a pic of him at about 4-5 months so he's a little bigger now...

 

[yak52driver]

Our neighbors across the street have a Corgi. Cool dog. If I'm not mistaken their considered a working breed and like to herd. Our neighbor's dog likes to herd their kids, no sheep being available...

 

[...aywkubttod]

Haha, yeah, mine would always do that; they're pretty fearless when it comes to walking between your legs mid-stride... the only time we were "allowed" to walk behind her was while she was outside, on the leash, looking for something else to herd/hunt. Best dog I ever owned.

I had a Corgi for about 5 years and still feel pretty guilty about having to give her away but, to echo what pretty much everybody else is saying, having a dog with a normal job is a huge pain in the ass. Now add future deployments and the generally long/weird hours I'll eventually be working, and it was really just a matter of time before the dog had to go.

 

[jtmedli]

Our neighbors across the street have a Corgi. Cool dog. If I'm not mistaken their considered a working breed and like to herd. Our neighbor's dog likes to herd their kids, no sheep being available...

That's them to a T. They love to herd no matter what it is...Kids, other dogs, whatever they can play with. I just take him into the backyard and let him try to wrangle me for an hour if I wanna wear him out.

 

[Lucy]

Glad to hear that Brown dog was good. Our pup had parvo right before we adopted him too. Gotta love tough dogs.

jtmedli- Very adorable, we have thought about getting a corgi as our second dog.