Advice for New College Grads – Are You Ready for a Dog?
3 easy tips to figure out if you have the time, money, and commitment necessary to adopt a dog right now.
You’ve graduated, got your act together, and found an apartment. You’ve even got a job to pay for it and you’re feeling pretty good about your newfound adulthood. But something’s missing. You grew up with a well-loved dog, and your sofa is starting to look naked without anyone to shed on it. Come to think of it, though, your parents were the ones who took Zippy for long walks, and bought his dog food, and took him to the vet. You don’t even remember how they provided for Zippy when the family went on vacation – you just know they did something. Are you ready to play Caretaker in Chief for a dog of your own?
Three big factors that will help you decide:
Money
Time
Commitment
Those last two aren’t as much alike as they might seem.
Factor #1 — Money
You can find estimates of pet care costs all over the Internet; the ASPCA has a good one, and it explains the basis for its figures. A given food will cost more or less the same no matter where you live in the U.S., but fees for veterinary care and manners training depend heavily on overhead, like rent. If you’re on a tight budget, research prices locally. What does a basic reward-based manners class cost? What do various vets charge for an annual exam, including bloodwork? Get a sense of what your budget will look like.
By the way, I’m not saying you should go for the cheapest option, because it may not be a good one. Sometimes the least expensive vet is perfectly fine, and sometimes he’s the guy who hasn’t updated his instruments in a decade, or who still isn’t doing the lab work in house. As for classes, smaller ones are likely to cost more than bigger ones, but you’ll get more personal attention.
Good Dog Care on the Cheap
I had sticker shock when I got my first dog and started shelling out for the spay surgery, the collar and leash, and a bajillion other supplies, such as irresistible squeaky toys. But you don’t need a ton of money to give a puppy a good start in life, or to take excellent basic care of a dog.
Start by staying away from pet store pups. These puppies come from puppy mills and are not only pricier than pups from good breeders, they’re also often riddled with health problems. So an ethical lapse here can cost you a lot of money. Do your homework and find a good breeder, or else adopt from a shelter or rescue. Adoption is cheaper, and the spay/neuter surgery and basic vaccines are covered by the adoption fee. Many shelters have deals with one or more vets who will do an initial wellness exam at a discount.
You do have to expect that at some point in your dog’s life she will need major vet care of some kind. Should you get health insurance, or save money in a dedicated account? Here’s a Consumer Reports piece to help you decide, and some tips on what to do if you’re faced with steep bills.
If you plan in advance, you can find dog supplies at thrift shops or on Craigslist or your local Freecycle list. Used crates are often free. And your Dogalini will be perfectly happy with a “bed” made of a pile of clean old quilts.
Factor #2 — Time
Does your job have crazy hours? Do you travel a lot? Do you have a dozen volunteer commitments, and do you go out with friends several nights a week? In that case, even if you’re loaded and can pay dog walkers, vet care, and boarding, a dog of yours will be spending a lot of time alone. But dogs love to be with their people, so a dog probably isn’t a good fit right now.
This is not your cue to get a cat instead; cats get lonely, too. If you really need a fix of the warm and furry, try volunteering at a shelter — walking dogs, socializing puppies, or petting cats. Or take a friend’s dog out for extra walks when you get the chance. If you find your schedule’s too tight even for that … it’s a sign.
Factor #3 — Commitment
Everything that makes a dog take up time – the needs for affection, exercise, training – also calls for you to actually provide it.
Housetraining a puppy? You really will have to get her out the door to pee and poop as often as she needs to go – and that will include the middle of the night for the first couple of weeks. Whether you’ve got a puppy or a grown dog, lounging on that formerly hair-free couch is great, but Dogalini also needs at least one long daily outing, even when you have a cold and you’d rather stay home blowing your nose.
You’ll have to arrange a dog walker when work runs late. You’ll have to plan vacations around Dogalini: either stay at dog-friendly places, or coordinate every trip with your dog sitter. If your dog needs medication at specified times, you’ll need to remember to give it. Dogs are entertaining and loving and a whole lot of fun. But caring for them eats up convenience and spontaneity.
Test Your Commitment to a Dog’s Needs
I’ve often heard it said that if you can’t keep a houseplant alive, you shouldn’t have a pet. Not so — it’s a tough plant that lasts two weeks with me, but I do pretty well by my dogs and cats.
One way of finding out if you’re ready for a dog is to take care of a vacationing friend’s easygoing dog who’s already attached to you. If you’re desperate for your friend’s vacation to end, that’s a big clue that a perma-dog isn’t in the cards right now. If you’re pretty confident you’re ready for a dog but want to make sure, you might foster a shelter puppy to ready him for adoption by someone else. Puppies are a huge amount of work; if you eat it up with a spoon, go get a dog with my wholehearted blessing.
One last zinger: If you know in your heart it’s time to get a dog, but your lease says no, then it’s also time to move. But that’s a topic for another podcaster entirely.
You can follow The Dog Trainer on Twitter, where I’m Dogalini. I’m The Dog Trainer on Facebook, and you can also write to me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and I may use them as the basis for future articles. Thank you for reading!
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Jolanta holds professional certifications in both training and behavior counseling and belongs to the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. She also volunteered with Pet Help Partners, a program of the Humane Society of the United States that works to prevent pet relinquishment. Her approach is generally behaviorist (Pavlovian, Skinnerian and post-Skinnerian learning theory) with a big helping of ethology (animal behavior as observed in non-experimental settings).
