Adoption

Hi first time looking into owning a puppy/young adult dog and could use any tips. So far i have only looked at north shore animal leagues website.

I have11 yo and 9 yo DDs

I live in a garden co-op

I can get home most days at lunch time

Out of house about 9.5 hours mon-fri until DD1 comes home right after school (in a year or 2)

Prefer no/low shedding. I am allergic but have been getting shots for 3 years and counting

A lot of my neighbors have dogs and are out and about during nice weather

I go on my bfs boat from may to sept so not sure how thats gonna work!

I prefer a medium short hair dog and not a "toy dog".

Adoption

i got my Morkie from Babylon Animal Shelter. I pretty much stalked their facebook page and pounced the second I saw him

Re: Adoption

I personally did not have a good experience with North Shore Animal League. I ended up checking on petfinder.com and finding a local rescue group that fosters all their dogs first. We then were able to apply for one of their dogs that we saw online, ask as many questions as we wanted beforehand (about his temperament, how far into training he was, how he was with kids, what he was eating, etc.) and finally went to meet him. We knew as soon as we met him that he would be perfect.

I will say that as far as allergies go, with adopting you will be more limited. It's kind of, whatever is available is what you're going to get. Even low shedding dogs will shed a lot in the spring (as they're shedding their winter coat). It's just a part of being a dog owner. I cant stand dog hair so I vacuum often.

If you're at work for 9.5 hours a day during the week, I highly suggest you adopt a young adult dog. The general rule of thumb is that the number of hours a dog can hold its bladder is the number of months old it is. So, a 4 month old dog should be expected to hold their urine for about 4 hours. We adopted our dog at 6 months old. He could hold it through the night, but during the day he really only lasted about 6 or 7 hours at most. Now at 1 1/2 years old he holds it all day (9.5 hours at work). Try looking into adopting something around 6 - 8 months old. Its a perfect age where they're still very easy to train but they are past the stage of having to be walked constantly. They're usually housebroken if they are with a rescue group too.

As for the boat thing - DH and I own a boat that we go on from April - October. On the days that we're boating we walk and feed the dog in the morning before we leave and we make sure to be home within an 8 hour time frame to walk and feed him again. You're not totally limited but you cant expect to be out ALL day. Our dog is way too skidish and scared to go on the boat, so he never comes with us (plus, we go to salt water fish and its too dangerous to have the dog on the boat with hooks flying all over the place).

Re: Adoption

We recently adopted a puppy from north shore, she is the best ! I stay home and my DH has a very flex schedule. If you can come home at lunch every day, that would be good. They don't like being alone much. We adopted a very short hair dog and it has not been bad at all.

The problem is , going out for the day. We went out once and had someone check on her. She was not a happy camper. My plan is to,put her in pet smart camp for the days we plan on going out all day. She can't be alone for more than a couple hours.

Can you wait for a puppy when your child comes right home from school? If not, maybe you can have someone come and walk her a bit each day while you are at work?

Message edited 1/29/2015 4:49:45 PM.

Adoption

We rescued our dog, we found his rescue on petfinder. Ours is a boxer/pit. He may be too big for what your looking for, but hes awesome.
I hear a lot of complaints from NSAL, kennel cough, sickness etc. there are tons of rescues on FB.
Check
Brookhaven animal shelter
Islip animal shelter
Unchained NY
PUPS
Friends of freddy
Almost Home

All the above are on FB, they all have tons of dogs up for adoption.

Re: Adoption

So i looked on pet finder and came across the organization "for our friends."
I am going to great neck animal hospital where a dog that im interested in is boarding. The adoption fee is $200. Even if i dont adopt immediately i feel like getting out and looking will be helpful.

Re: Adoption

Yes its great to look! When I was ready to adopt my dog I went to a lot of adoption events and shelters, just testing the waters til I found the one!

Re: Adoption

FurBabies is another amazing LI rescue. There are so many though...Desperate Dogs of LI is another group that comes to mind.

Re: Adoption