Community Chat

[JeanLouiseFinch]

Good Morning, and Merry Christmas! I'm somewhat new to this forum, but could really use some guidance from the pet moms and dads out there - in particular if you live with a Golden. When our kids were small, we tried to have dogs a couple of times and it was not a good fit due to our schedules and the kids being too young to really take on the responsibilty of having a dog. Yes, we fell for the typical kid promises to walk and feed, but once the newness wore off they lost interest. I know, bad on our part. We found it easier to remain a cat family. Still, I've wanted a dog for years - not just any dog, but a Golden Retriever. My DH has firmly refused to bring a dog into the house while we still had cats. We're down to two, from four, and these two are likely to not be around a whole lot longer (age). DH also insists that any dog we get needs to be a little older and housetrained. Yesterday an awesome opportunity presented itself. We have a chance to get a purebred, 1 yr. old male, who is housetrained...for FREE, plus any toys, crate, dog food, etc. The dog belongs to my niece, who adopted him when the first owner was going through a divorce, has two small children, and had to change her living arrangements. While my niece would find a way to tough it out and barrel on through, she is finding this dog to be a large stressor on her. They already have the other dogs and a couple of cats. She has a young family, works, is a busy school mom for her kids, runs kids to sports, lessons, etc. and she just doesn't have the time to devote to getting the dog though this young and demanding period. I, on the other hand, do. I'm no longer working, can spend as much time as I want playing with and working with the dog so he learns his boundaries. I am so eager to say yes, sight unseen, but I want to be make sure it's the right thing to do too, for both us and the pooch. All that said, what am I in for? My niece is of the belief that he will be much better as the only dog in a household and that he could be a really good pet if someone can give him the time and training he needs. He's been through obedience training, but needs someone who can reinforce all of it with him. It seems like the perfect opportunity has been placed in our laps and I don't want to blow it. Any kind of advice would be appreciated. (My apologies for a long run on paragraph. The messed up formatting will not allow me to double space)