posted
Ever since I was a little kid, I had a dog. For those of you who read my post about my dog Buddy, you know he was the most important being to me while growing up. He died last summer at the ripe old age of 13. But, he was a good dog.
Anyway.
I really, really miss having a dog. I mean, I missed having one before, but now it's really getting to me.
Is it worth moving to a new place so that I can have a dog? I mean, I even have a friend who will share a place with me, so rental costs could go down.
Even considering a third friend and renting an actual house.
Thoughts? Advice? Am I being stupid?
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I've never had a dog, but considering how much I love my friends' dogs, I wouldn't blink an eye at moving just to be able to have one. Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Well I'd get your job situation more stable, before you get a dog. Jake had an emergency with dehydration and bloody diarhea, while I was still in college that required a week at the vet's, and cost me almost $1000, which was a huge stretch for a college student.
You need an emergency fund for them like you do if you have kids.
AJ
(but if you get that straightened out I'd say go for it! )
posted
I spent too much time lurking at Ornery in my youth, I guess. I thought this said "Pete at Home."
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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As an acknowledged dog person, I'd caution you to make sure you can provide a stable home environment for the dog before trying to bring one into your life.
Are your friends aware of what life is like with a dog? Have they lived with one before?
I had to give up an absolutely adorable rat terrier to my buddy because I don't have a stable home at the moment. On the bright side, the dog has adopted my friend absolutely and completely.
Since I have three of each, kids and dogs, I'd say the kids would definitely win in the expense department, of course.
Dogs can be quite a drain on the wallet. They give back love galore, yet they can be quite expensive.
You know this already Jamie...you've already loved and lost one.
If you're able...move. You need a puppy. Puppy's give so much love and they take up so much of your time that you can easily forget your other concerns and worries.
You can also tell your pet anything, and they usually keep it to themselves. There are some yappy dogs though that you have to watch out for.
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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We had dogs early in our relationship. It cost us dearly in mobility and money.
However, it helped us end up out here in the country.
As Banna said, I would wait until you have your job-school situation more settled. What if a school offered you living accomodations, and you couldn't make use of them?
Playing the hard line, here. I loved my dogs to distraction, and though it has been four years since my last big baby died, I miss him every single day. I have wanted a dog ever since, but we are holding off.
(My gut is now screaming "Go for it, Jamie! Go for it!" when I think of you in the woods with your pup.)
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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And, even if you have good roommates who don't mind pets, you will likely have to foot the bill for the pet deposit if you are the one with the dog where you are renting. They can vary. I have no idea what they run in NH, but they normally range between $200-500 as I recall.
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I saw my cat being killed by a pack of dogs. I hate dogs.I hate them all. Except golden retrievers of course...
Posts: 3389 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Wow, that must have been traumatic Altariel. But rather than hate the dogs, I would hate the people who let them loose to run in a pack to begin with.
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I love dogs. They are delicious. That said, I think having a dog limits your options a lot. Most people won't want to rent to you. Some people won't want to live with you, though I think that may be somewhat less of a problem.
But dogs are the #1 crime deterrent.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Also, they are better people than most humans you could hope to meet. Better companions, too.
For me, living with a dog (two, in my case) is worth every sacrifice. I say, as long as you (and your roommates) are willing to accept the tradeoffs, then go for it.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Mack, I think you are a pretty smart person. There are many positive things to having a dog, and there are, as you know, not so positive things as well, such as cost and not being able to just get up and go when you feel like it. That said, I think if you weigh both you'll find the right answer for you. Good luck in whatever you choose, and Max says to tell his godmother that he loves her and would happily drool on her were she here.
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Mack, Space Opera is right. You will know what to do. Once you get the dog, though, no fair turning back, you know? Really, think about it. I didn't, and I wish I had. At the same time, and with the same fervor, I am glad I had my dogs. They were very, very special and loved. Good heavens, I totally cancel out my own advice.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I'm an admitted dog lover to the extreme. And I can't imagine living without a dog.
However, that said, I agree with what AJ and others said above. About really have the finances and stability to support it just as if you had children.
My ex-husband seems to have a revolving door with pets. He claims to love animals, and so he will go get a cute kitten or puppy. However, he has little income, and after a few weeks of having a pet, he will start complaining about the cost of feed, and litter box stuff, and fleas, and how he can't afford to get it spayed/neutered, or give it medicine when it is sick, or how it keeps him awake at night etc. etc. So he will end up taking it down to the animal shelter to get rid of it.
Then a couple months go by, and he gets lonely for a pet, and starts the whole cycle again. I always remind him that he has no way to provide for it, and that pets are expensive, but he won't listen.
Do think of it much like the commitment to having a child.
posted
Hmm....Changing residences to have a dog? Yes, of course. However, changing from living by myself to having roommates so I could have a dog? That I'd have to think about very long and very hard.
Yeah, dogs are like kids, sort of. They do require lots of responsibility and care. As to quality of life, an adequately-fed dog with safe room to run (which includes at the end of a leash, if that is all that's available) and companionship of someone who loves him, even if the owners are very poor is much better off than a perfectly healthy one that is spending the last few days of it's life in a shelter. Yes, there are times when a vet is necessary, and costly. But animals are not meant to have perfect lives any more than we are.
So, yes. I'd get a place safe for dogs, then adopt a nice fully grown spayed or neutered dog from a shelter or someone that couldn't care for theirs anymore.
In most places I've been, there is help for low-income people whose animals need vet care or euthanasia. Liscences and vaccinations don't cost all that much. Don't let monetary issues stop you from giving one a better life than he would have had.
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That said, I think having a dog limits your options a lot. Most people won't want to rent to you. Some people won't want to live with you, though I think that may be somewhat less of a problem.
