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Hello all,
After the last couple months, my wife and I have been researching dog breeds in the interest of purchasing/adopting. Growing up, we both had dogs, and this would be our first dog as adults.
Some info about us:
- Upper floor condo (2nd floor) with pretty decent balcony space; one set of stairs.
- We both work about 5 min from home. I work from home 2-3 days/week. Off weekends.
- Dog-friendly neighborhood (Columbia, MD.) Everyone seems to have a dog.
- No children.
Traits we are looking for:
- Trainability/"Intelligence"
- "Hypoallergenic": I know this doesn't really exists, but we would like to avoid as much problems for some of our asthmatic and allergy-prone friends/family as possible.
- Shedding: We are both kind of torn on this. On the one hand, we would like to avoid having hair everywhere, but this isn't a deciding factor.
- Small/Medium Build: Looking for a 10-20lbs-ish dog.
- Barking: Aiming for low, but I'm sure this depends on the dog and training.
- Health: Looking for a fairly healthy/hearty breed (depends on dog.) We aren't fans of the brachycephalic breeds.
Breeds we were considering:
- Miniature Schnauzer: Probably our number one at the moment.
- Poodle-variant (Cockapoo or Schnoodle)
- Shiba Inu: A shedder, but we like the low barking factor and independence factor.
- Cairn Terrier
- Westie
Lastly, we have been debating between a puppy or adoption of a young dog. We have already been through a couple adoption agencies for vetting, and to be honest, they are such a pain to work with. I can understand why people may be adverse to using one, despite their well intentions.
Hello all,
After the last couple months, my wife and I have been researching dog breeds in the interest of purchasing/adopting. Growing up, we both had dogs, and this would be our first dog as adults.
Some info about us:
- Upper floor condo (2nd floor) with pretty decent balcony space; one set of stairs.
- We both work about 5 min from home. I work from home 2-3 days/week. Off weekends.
- Dog-friendly neighborhood (Columbia, MD.) Everyone seems to have a dog.
- No children.
Traits we are looking for:
- Trainability/"Intelligence"
- "Hypoallergenic": I know this doesn't really exists, but we would like to avoid as much problems for some of our asthmatic and allergy-prone friends/family as possible.
- Shedding: We are both kind of torn on this. On the one hand, we would like to avoid having hair everywhere, but this isn't a deciding factor.
- Small/Medium Build: Looking for a 10-20lbs-ish dog.
- Barking: Aiming for low, but I'm sure this depends on the dog and training.
- Health: Looking for a fairly healthy/hearty breed (depends on dog.) We aren't fans of the brachycephalic breeds.
Breeds we were considering:
- Miniature Schnauzer: Probably our number one at the moment.
- Poodle-variant (Cockapoo or Schnoodle)
- Shiba Inu: A shedder, but we like the low barking factor and independence factor.
- Cairn Terrier
- Westie
Lastly, we have been debating between a puppy or adoption of a young dog. We have already been through a couple adoption agencies for vetting, and to be honest, they are such a pain to work with. I can understand why people may be adverse to using one, despite their well intentions.
One of my friends has two Cairn Terriers, they are wonderful dogs but they can be barkers. They lived in the apartment above hours and for the few minutes after my friends left to go to work, I'd hear them bark. Logan, her oldest Cairn is definitely smarter, he's like an old soul trapped in a dog. Super smart, sweet and athletic. I'm not sure if he's much of a shedder (compared to my retriever no dog seems like much of a shedder to me). Her youngest Cairn, Zoe was a rescue, she was a puppy mill puppy that had been rescued from there. She had a lot of health issues at first and took a really long time to potty train but now she's a wonderful dog.
Miniature Schnauzer, Scotties, Miniature Poodle seem like they would fit the bill. I had a toy poodle growing up, she was a bit of a barker but I'm not sure how the miniature is.
My suggestion, go to a rescue or a shelter with your requirements and see what they have. Often they will already know a dogs temperament and can guide you in the process. Since you a first timers, you might want to consider adopting a young adult dog that is likely already potty trained and has outgrown puppy antics.
Best dog I ever had in my condo was a poodle/schnauzer mix. He was probably 10 years old when I got him, but he gave me 3 great years before he passed. VERY low shed, VERY smart. NEVER had an accident (until his kidneys failed).
Advise -- get an adult rescue dog so the rescue group can help you select one that's already housebroken and won't whine or bark when you are not home. I love the appearance of longer haired dogs but after my last one decided I was not wanting to be involved with the endless routine of using/scheduling groomers and having a dog that looked matted and dirty 3 weeks out of every 4. So now I like Boston Terriers. However, every dog has a different personality. My 9 year old male wouldn't do well alone for long hours. My 2 year old foster is quiet and chill and would be the perfect only dog, apartment dog. That's why I think getting a known dog is better than a puppy.
Whenever an adopter has fairly specific requirements for a dog, I always recommend they go with a dog that is already past the major development and imprinting phases. A "formed" dog so to speak. This way you know what you're getting. In the case of barking for example, a very quiet pup can "find his voice" as an adolescent and become quite a vocal dog as an adult. Adopting an older dog (say 10 months at the youngest) takes out much of the unpredictability of such factors. And this opens up your breed mix options tremendously because now you are looking for your special dog instead of guessing based on breed generalizations. Adopting through a source like a foster rescue gives you your best chance at finding your perfect match. You want to adopt from someone who knows the dog in question very well and can tell you if he / she meets your needs and desires. If you are seriously considering a puppy, I'd encourage you to read through lots of the puppy threads here in this forum... you'll find plenty of posts from distraught, sleep deprived puppy owners at their wits end with puppy biting, puppy chewing, and potty training woes. When I taught puppy classes in the past, I called them Puppy Owner Support Group as an acknowledgement of how harrowing and miserable the puppy phase can truly be. I also tell people raising young pups "if you haven't cried yet, you're not doing it right." Puppies are a LOT of work.
I was confused by your statement that you'd already been through a couple rescues for vetting because you also said neither you or your wife has had a dog as an adult.. Anyway I wanted to comment on your hesitation regarding rescues. Yes, they care more about where their dogs end up than a pet store does, or an irresponsible breeder does, or even many shelters might. Sell yourself to the rescue. You work from home a few days a week, you grew up with dogs, and you've put a lot of thought and research into this decision (I mean come on you know what brachycephalic means). If all of that is not good enough for a particular rescue, move on to the next. Fate will eventually connect you with your meant-to-be doggie. I wish you all the best!
I appreciate all of the responses. My wife and I aren't torn against adopting a dog from a foster group or shelter. Initially, when we started this process, we were aiming at adoption only. We had ourselves vetted (interviewed and/or house visit) with several of the local fosters, SPCAs, and shelter. I'm not sure if others have had issues, but it seemed like they were only looking for families, single-family home owners, with 6 foot fenced in yards, who worked from home.
For example, we had one "vetter" come out. She dinged us on the 9 stairs to reach the door. We also have a fireplace with a mesh curtain, and our balcony has a 3 foot railing. At the end of the inspection, she mentioned she wouldn't be comfortable with us adopting a dog until we installed doors over the fireplace, and extended our balcony railing another 3 feet; she recommended some mesh fencing. I couldn't believe she was serious.
In another case, we had found a dog that we both had fallen in love with and seemed to be a good fit. We put in a formal application to adopt a dog. Despite being the first applicant and vetted, the organization put a "hold" on the dog to allow more applicants. They then decided on the best fit, despite already being a fit, and we didn't get the dog. This has happened 3 times thus far with different groups. My wife was especially hurt about it each time.
I'd hate to de-rail this thread. Just listing my frustrations when dealing with some of these groups. Again, I'm not against adopting a dog, but just trying to prepare all options if we decide on a puppy.
Last edited by Randmness; 03-05-2013 at 11:03 AM..
I appreciate all of the responses. My wife and I aren't torn against adopting a dog from a foster group or shelter. We had ourselves vetted (interviewed and house visit) with several of the local fosters, SPCAs, and shelter. I'm not sure if others have had issues, but it seemed like they were only looking for families, single-family home owners, with 6 foot fenced in yards, who worked from home.
For example, we had one "vetter" come out. She dinged us on the 9 stairs to reach the door. We also have a fireplace with a mesh curtain, and our balcony has a 3 foot railing. At the end of the inspection, she mentioned she wouldn't be comfortable with us adopting a dog until we installed doors over the fireplace, and extended our balcony railing another 3 feet; she recommended some mesh fencing. I couldn't believe she was serious.
In another case, we had found a dog that we both had fallen in love with and seemed to be a good fit. We put in a formal application to adopt a dog. Despite being the first applicant and vetted, the organization put a "hold" on the dog to allow more applicants. They then decided on the best fit, and we didn't get the dog. This has happened 3 times thus far with different groups. My wife was especially hurt about it.
I'd hate to de-rail this thread. Just listing my frustrations when dealing with some of these groups. Again, I'm not against adopting a dog, but just trying to prepare all options if we decide on a puppy.
Interesting. The balcony railing sounds a bit scary if the rails are spaced wide apart. You can go to the hardware store and get chicken wire to reinforce the rail so a dog can't fall thru. But that's really not the issue, you are seemingly competing for rescue dogs where the other applicants have a perceived more "dog friendly" environment. Perhaps you can volunteer to foster a dog (Small Paws is always looking for foster homes) and then adopt the right one, or you can look for an adult dog on Craigslist or some facebook rehoming groups so you can interview the owners and learn about the dogs. I know the rescue process can seem burdensome. I do the application processing for one of the rescue groups that I am a volunteer with. It goes both ways. Someone recently submitted an app naming a vet as their family vet. They have a 10 year old Dane and wanted a boston. Since the vet said they didn't know the applicant, I emailed them and asked for more infomation. Response (in all cap) "we just adopted the Dane and haven't used that vet yet, if there are any more issues let us know so we can find another place to get a dog because this is alot of trouble just to get a dog." Also today someone emailed in response to a Petfinder posting with a message saying no one had responded to him at another rescue so please phone him. When I phoned he yelled at me and said he hated all rescue people and refused to deal with a process that requires an online app and a home visit; and every week when he returns from his job and saw his daughter (who lives with his ex) she asks where is the puppy he promised he would get? Soooo....I simply learned he plans to leave a dog outside with neighbors feeding it all week and I got to be yelled at for my volunteer efforts. Just letting you know it can be difficult on all sides of rescue.
Oh my gosh when OP said 'vetting' I thought he meant like veterinarian services.. woops! Embarrassing...
As for the type of vetting you really meant, like I said just keep trying. You're getting turned down for a reason, and I don't mean your fireplace, I mean that when you do eventually adopt your perfect, special dog you'll understand why none of the others were 'just right' for you. You'll be happy none of them worked out because it led you to YOUR one and only.
Going through rescues will take more time and patience. Many of them do require a yard, but not all.
I highly recommend visiting your local animal shelter as well. It's more of a gamble perhaps, but sometimes you can just tell when you meet the "one".
Also, consider Craigslist. There are lots of idiots out there that make bad pet ownership issues, or they may have a legitimate reason, such as Healy problems, for being unable to keep an amazing animal.
My Frenchie would fit most of your requirements, and her snout is not as squishy as many, so she doesn't having breathing issues. She's definitely happiest to have her human with her all the time, so be careful if you choose a breed like that, that your dog will be happy alone while you're away at work.
I don't know how the SPCA is in your area, I got mine there. No vetting, no nothing. I just had to fill out the paperwork, pay the fee and take him home. If I had another dog or children I could've brought them there to meet him first but since I didn't I was able to just take him home right away.
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