Help with New Dog

[Freedom]

Hm, that's a long time for a dog to be alone. A puppy would need to use wee wee pads, and a small dog needs to go out every 4 hours. So maybe a medium sized dog that is already trained would be the best thing for you?

When I adopted Sugar last December, the adoption program suggested a baby gate so the cats had a place to get away from the dog (Sugar can't jump over it.) Well, after 2.5 hours it bacame clear that we didn't need the gate, she had no interest in bothering the cats. By the 3rd night two of them were sleeping with me on the bed, with the dog as well. But the foster home had cats, so we knew that ultimately she would be OK with cats, just a question of how long she needed to get to know THESE cats.

I have never crate trained, I can't comment on that.
Sandra

[mruffruff]

I would recommend an older dog from a shelter. There are many who are already housetrained and have some house manners. You will know how big it will be. The people at the shelter should know something about the dog, such as it's energy level and anything that needs to be worked on. The dog can wait to go out better than a puppy. With your work schedule, an older, settled dog would be your best choice. And a shelter dog is very grateful.

I don't think you would want a puppy. They are high energy and need a lot of training and time. Even a pure-bred puppy can develop health problems.

I have three mutts and a bunch of cats. I keep the cat food on the dryer and the litter box in a room with a gate.

[Taz_Zoee]

I don't want to speak on behalf of kallisto4529, but I happen to talk to her outside of PT and she is not buying a dog, she is definitely going to rescue.
I just thought I'd clear that up before anyone started giving her a hard time for it...oh wait, there isn't anyone on here that does that anymore. hee hee

[pitc9]

I just thought I'd clear that up before anyone started giving her a hard time for it...oh wait, there isn't anyone on here that does that anymore. hee hee

ZING!!!

Good one!!

With your scheduled... IMO... a puppy would not work out. Unless you or your hubby could come home a few times a day. If you just left a puppy with pee pads in the house to let them go whenever, housebreaking is going to be hard.

I use crates, I've been lucky because when I adopted both of my dogs they took to the crates with no problem. They are not in crates all the time, but they are today because we are expecting thunder and Buddy freaks out and will tear my doors down and/or break windows out of my house. So it's for his own safety. Otherwise, they have free roam of the house.

I think it's easier to crate train a dog in the beginning instead of waiting to see if there will be behavioral problems, THEN trying to crate train. If the dog doesn't have any problems and can be left with free roam of the house, then great!! You don't need to use a crate all the time, but it's a good thing to have them be used to it when/if it ever were to become necessary.