A few weeks ago, my partner and I got a new puppy to add to our fur-family. If you were unfamiliar, within the past year we adopted our first cat, Ronan, a 7-year-old from a local shelter, and then last Christmas, adopted Harley, a kitten from another nearby shelter.
I never grew up with cats. I had a family dog and always claimed myself as more of a “dog person.” In college, where it was impossible to really have a dog, my roommates and I opted to get a cat and from there I really loved cats.
Adopting or Buying
That being said, I knew that eventually we were going to get a dog. To follow with our shelter animals, we love the idea of adopting. Not only are there so many animals in shelters that are in need of love and a family, but it’s also a lot more financially smart to get an animal from a shelter as oppose to a pet store.
Especially if comparing puppies from a pet store, shelter animals typically include shots, worming, microchipping, and desexing. All are big expenses, so it’s nice to get a dog without all those additional expenses. Lastly, shelter animals are normally less expensive than pet store dogs in general and you’re not supporting backyard breeders or breeders with inhumane conditions which is the biggest plus for me.
All that being said, we didn’t end up getting our puppy from a shelter. We looked at local shelters for a few weeks, contacting a few, but at the end of the day, we couldn’t find a breed that was suitable with our current living situation and especially with our two cats at the shelters nearby.
We ended up getting our puppy from someone somewhat local, listing the puppies on GumTree, which is like an Australian version of Craigslist. Although we were planning on waiting a little bit, when we saw the puppies we knew that it was a one-of-kind opportunity.
Meet Freyja
On July 21, 2018 we picked up Freyja, an 8-week old French Bulldog and Australian Kelpie mix. Freyja was actually an “accident” and the two parent dogs were not meant to breed. There was only Freyja and a male puppy in the litter and we decided on Freyja.
Although how we got Freyja didn’t go necessarily how we planned, this blog post is to hopefully help you decide not only what you should do before getting a puppy or dog, but also finding the right dog for you and your lifestyle.
Before You Get a Dog
Do Your Research
The first thing you should do when thinking about getting a puppy is doing your research.
Since Freyja wasn’t a common breed of dog, we couldn’t really do a lot of research on her beforehand. We had to research the breeds separately and make assumptions about how she was going be. If you’re looking at an uncommon mix, this is the best you can really do when doing research. However, nowadays a lot of mixes are popular like Labrodoodle or Cavoodle, that you’ll be sure to find out some information online about the behavior, training, and other traits. Also, when thinking about mixes, a lot of times, dogs have a lot of traits more like one type of breed than the other. For example, Freyja looks a lot like a Kelpie, but has a lot of Frenchie personality traits.
Before getting a puppy, we did a bit of research. Which dog breeds are good with cats, personalities etc. We knew that with our cats we really couldn’t have any type of dog that’s a terrier or anything sort of like a Husky, German Shepard, or anything too large. We, however, wanted an active dog and a companion that we could take hiking, long walks with and really bring around with us.
We both absolutely love French Bulldogs. However, they are known for not being that active. When we found a French Bulldog mixed with an Australian Kelpie (a very, very active dog), we knew that this was an opportunity that we didn’t want to pass up.
As I mentioned, the problem with mixed breeds, especially ones that are nearly complete opposites, is that you never know what traits are going to come from which parent. After a couple of weeks with Freyja, there are definitely a lot of Kelpie traits, such as being very active, but also very smart. However, we still see some of those Frenchie traits as well as the snoring and the stubbornness, jumping, craziness etc.
Regardless of things being unpredictable, some things are more certain like size of dog and level of activeness. Chances are you’re not going to go hiking with a Pomeranian. So with factors that you’re certain of, make a list and do your research of what general dogs and breeds will work with your lifestyle and what you’re looking for in a dog.
Make Your List
While you’re doing your research on the type of dog for your lifestyle, important things to consider and ask yourself are:
- Indoor or Outdoor Dog
- Type of Yard You Have
- Your Lifestyle, are you super active or a homebody? Do you work super late hours?
- Your house – renting or do you own? How big is your house?
- Other animals
- Children
- Location – Do you live in a city or do you live in an area with a lot of grass and fields?
- Do you have time to properly train?
- Puppy or dog?
- The size of dog you’re looking for
- Any Allergies
All of these above are important things to consider when looking for a dog. However, there are still a ton of other factors when it comes to deciding what type of dog is right for you.
As mentioned before, the fact that we had two indoor cats limited our options when it came to what breed we could get. Also, we don’t have the biggest house and yard so we knew that we could only look at certain breeds that were medium to small size.
Answering the questions above will help you narrow down your list and when you go to look at dogs at shelters or breeders, you have a better idea of what you’re looking for, which will therefore make the whole process a little less overwhelming.
Puppy or Dog?
Now comes a difficult part. Do you opt for an adorable puppy or a precious older dog? Originally, we were honestly looking at an older dog about 7-10 years old. This was nice because a lot of times these dogs already have basic training, they’re calmer, and I felt good about rescuing an older dog that may not be the first to be adopted at a shelter. However, as I mentioned, we had strict guidelines of what type of dog we could have, medium to small size and good with cats. Because of these requirements, we thought that raising a puppy from the beginning with the cats might be the best option for us.
Deciding on a Puppy
At the end of the day, all puppies are cute so you can’t base your decision on cuteness factor. You need to do your research on the breed and make sure that it’s compatible with your lifestyle.
Puppies are Hard Work
Puppies are hard work. End of Story. When looking to adopt a puppy, you need to make sure you have the time available to commit to a puppy. Puppies require CONSTANT supervision, attention, training, socialization, and more attention. Not only doing research on the type of breed you’re interested in but constantly researching different training for the puppy is so important as well as puppy training determines how your puppy is going to be as an adult dog.
From the weeks 8-15 is some of the most vital time for a puppy to learn and develop their personality. Whether you’re staying at home or have flexibility when it comes to work/ school, during the beginning months of your puppy being at home, you need to have that time to properly train. If you don’t have that time (or patience) available, a puppy might not be the best option for you right now.
Puppies are hard work regardless, but having a puppy with other animals in the house, especially cats is very difficult as well. We have a smaller house so there are not many places for our indoor cats to hide from our new puppy which can mean lots of barking and difficulty training. So consider other animals that you already have when thinking about a puppy or dog.
Financial Aspects
Regardless of where you get your puppy from, there are a lot of expenses, especially in the beginning when it comes to getting a puppy. Although there are a lot of resources available online for training, I highly recommend putting your puppy in puppy school. Not only is it a great place for your puppy to socialize, but it’s also very educational and taking the time and that investment in your puppy to learn manners and how to behave will be extremely beneficial when they’re a well-behaved dog.
On top of training and supplies, puppies require shots, fixing, flea and de-worming, grooming etc.
I hope I didn’t scare you too much about getting a puppy or a new dog. We’re so excited to have Freyja join our family and we can’t wait to teach her and have her explore the world. However, I just want to help people who were like me doing research in possibly getting a puppy and know ahead of time things that they need to consider.
I hope you found this post helpful. I plan on writing a lot more on our new puppy and topics from food, training, socialisation, and other tips and tricks along the way. Make sure to subscribe if you’re interested in any of that content!
Are you looking to get a puppy anytime soon or did you recently just get a puppy? Let me know in the comments down below!
