Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

DH really, really wants a dog. With two kids, however, we would feel more comfortable with not having to housebreak a puppy. and would love a dog that is a couple of years old that is already housebroken.

Pros? Cons? I would love any and all advice

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

I adopted a 2 year old dog. There wasn't really any cons... my other dogs got along with her, she was already housebroken, and she has plenty of energy but she isn't completely crazy like when I adopted my first puppy. My first puppy had way too much energy. Getting a slightly older dog was much easier.

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

I did. It was great did not have to worry about training him or leaving him alone for him to tear up the house. I don't really have any cons except that he is set in some of his ways but, I think it is possible to train a old dog to do new tricks. He sits and gives paw for me

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

first off LB, I give you A LOT of credit!!

but we just adopted a puppy from a shelter. they told us he wasn't housebroken. he hasn't had any accidents in the house because we are crate training him, and keeping up with it. But our last dog we adopted was 2.5 years old. he was housebroken, but they get confused when they are in a new house, so it still will take some training on where to go etc. He had a few accidents at the begining. And depending on how long they have been at a shelter, and in a cage, it can un-do their house training (sorry I don't want to scare you)

You can look on petfinder.com and look for dogs that are in foster homes. that means they actually live in someones house instead of a shelter, so if its says housebroken, its really true.

What kind of dog/bread are you looking for?

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

My dog was almost 2 when we adopted her.. It was great to know her personality up front & to know what exactly what we were getting into..

ie: she came from a family with small kids and other dogs, both of those things were important to me... vs. my last dog we adopted as a puppy and he was a fear biter, very nervous around strangers and I wouldn't have ever trusted him around kids.

Not saying that all puppies would be that way at all, just saying it was nice to know the personality of an adult dog from day 1. We couldn't be happier with her.

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

Thanks everyone!

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

Posted by headoverheels

Thanks everyone!

Posted by HeatherRose


You can look on petfinder.com and look for dogs that are in foster homes. that means they actually live in someones house instead of a shelter, so if its says housebroken, its really true.

What kind of dog/bread are you looking for?

This is great advice, thanks! I am not sure, we are totally open, but we know we want a medium to large breed dog. DH would probably prefer a rottie or a german shepherd

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

If you have specific breeds in mind you should definitely check out a rescue organization. I know there is a German Shepherd rescue on the Island that we had checked out at one point. They are also often in foster situations rather than shelters.

We got our dog (mostly lab) from a rescue organization, so she was being fostered at the time (but in a house with an insane number of dogs). She was 2 or 2.5 (we'll never really know for sure).

The ONLY con for me, is not knowing what her life was like before. We know she had puppies (from her physical attributes), but no idea when or where they wound up... she has a scar on her chin that we have no idea what happened... we do know from watching how she behaves sometimes that she was hit by someone in the past (probably a man) which makes me cry when I think about it...

So we're curious about her past. However, she was well trained, fully housebroken and has the sweetest temperament of any dog I've ever met. From day 1 she has never gone on the furniture, chewed anything, had an accident, or been even the tiniest bit aggressive. She LOVES kids (which is great since we are around them a lot and hope to have our own someday) and all other animals too.

As much as I adore puppies, I will probably never get one again (my family dog we got as a pup). This experience has been so wonderful and it is so rewarding to take in a dog that needs a good home.

Good luck!!

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

Posted by headoverheels

Thanks everyone!

Posted by HeatherRose


You can look on petfinder.com and look for dogs that are in foster homes. that means they actually live in someones house instead of a shelter, so if its says housebroken, its really true.

What kind of dog/bread are you looking for?

This is great advice, thanks! I am not sure, we are totally open, but we know we want a medium to large breed dog. DH would probably prefer a rottie or a german shepherd

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

I know at Last Hope where I volunteer, the people that get the dog from whatever situation they are in 'test' the dogs out. The check if they are good with kids, dogs, cats and what commands they know.

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

I adopted O'Malley when he was around 4 years old. Well we think at least. He only marked his territory a few times when we moved 3 times but her was a dream with housebreaking. Besides my husband and son, he's the best thing to ever happen to me. He is my other child (well one of) and I think he appreciates me way more than a dog that was bought would. he knows i "rescued" him.

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

We adopted a 4 year old dog in November and he is awesome. Really such a good dog.
I will tell you though, it was EXTREMELY difficult finding one. All the shelters were very reluctant to let us adopt because we had young children.
We wound up getting him at bide-a-wee in westhampton, I highly recommend them.

Re: Anyone adopt a 2-3 year old dog?

I adopted my dog from Bidawee in Wantagh before it closed. He was 1 when we adopted him. Best thing we ever did. I love that dog to peices.. and luckily im not allergic to dogs (like i am to my cats )

They said they didnt know if he was potty trained - but as soon as we got him home he was asking to go out. He has had about maybe 5 accidents in the 1.5 years we have had him. At first they were reluctant to let us adopt him because we have 2 cats.. so they took him into the room with the cats at the bideawee and he was fine. So they let us take him home He is SUCH a good dog.. god i love him. Every now and then he gets really scared of something and sadly I think maybe his past owners abused him I dont know how anyone could abuse him..or any animal for that matter. Luckily he gets SO much love from us.

Anyhow, adopting a dog was the best decision.. I will forever adopt dogs in the future.