How soon is too soon?

[eggalegga]

I had my best friend, Whiskey, euthanized on August 10, 2001. He was 14 and had recently underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his abdomen. He had Cushing's Disease and was falling apart. Four months after the surgery he either fell down my stairs or his legs gave out on him. The vet said they could perform surgery but his chances of walking again weren't good. I have stairs inside my house and outside where he'd have to go up and down all the time. I had to let him go. Hardest thing I've ever done...REALLY!

Six years ago today, I adopted Honey from "No More Homeless Pets." She was in doggie foster care after missing her "expiration" date at the dog pound. She was 10 months old and full of energy.

So I was without a dog for a little over a month. What a depressing lonely time that was. I was really stressed out at work because of annual deadlines and I just felt numb.

I went two months between dogs before I had Whiskey. He will always be my favorite dog.

[Racelady88]

After I lost my last dog to bone cancer at 11 I swore I would NEVER get another dog. I survived one whole week. The house was too empty. I went to the shelter & found Shadow.

For me, knowing my dog was getting older I began to tell myself that the day was coming. When they found the cancer in her jaw I had about 2 weeks before it was likely that her jaw would shatter. I made the arrangements, and it happened on my time. I think that made it just a little easier. I know that Bailey had lived well.

I know people who put off getting another dog for a very long time. I can't live in a dogless house.

Bailey is the 130 pound doberman/rott mix. Shadow is the tiny baby puppy.

[mikenbacismama]

I lost my sweet girl, Baci, on 6/11/07. She will probably be my only "lifetime" dog. October 2nd would have been her 12th birthday. It was a very lonely summer without a dog in the house, so on 8/31/07 I went to the animal shelter and adopted our new little guy, Levi. He is so different from her, and I do love him, but I'm ashamed to say that it's just not the same. I think that's why I purposely got a boy (even though we swore we'd never get a male dog) since I instinctively knew that no other girl could fill Baci's pawprints in my heart. But Levi sure does bring a lot of laughter to our home that was missing. He's a crazy dude!

[TheDragonslayer]

I have had a steady succesion of dogs since early 1984 when I got my Amstaff Morgan, he went in 1998, we got Heidi in 1991 and she went in 2003, we got Ursa in 1992 and she went this last March at one month shy of 15, we got O'shota in 1993 and she went last June at 13 1/2. We have Chelse only right now and I got her in 2001 at the age of 5 months. I look at the four local shelter/rescure organizations websites at least four or five times a week. It is very tempting to just adopt a dog or pup as soon as I can, but it is hard to think of trying to fill the void that Ursa and O'shota filled. I figure that a dog or pup will happen when it is time and Chelea accepts it the same way that Chelsea happened and I love her dearly but we have six dog beds and only one dog. I have thought about fostering, but we have chickens, rabbits and birds and once when I found two loose dogs that were obviously distressed and confuse, I put them in my back yard and they went crazy when they say my livestock. For me a puppy would be ideal since I could get it used to my livestock.

[PhoenixRT]

We put our rottie down last march and he and our saint bernard had been wonderful together....they were like two football players knocking into each other when they played. The rottie was our first dog and he was 5 when he had to be put down due to a spine condition. At first I wanted no dogs for a long time. BUT ultimately it was our saint who decided for us. 3 months after the loss of our rottie we were out walking with her and she saw a puppy and got so excited....so so excited and she was trying to play with him and we thought we just couldnt make her live without another dog to play with because she is so social. so about 3 months after our rottie left us we called greyhound rescue!! We wanted something large but not giant at that point and we wanted something that would be lazy-or atleast have the same energy level of our saint and believe me the greyhound is the laziest dog on the planet....he sleeps about 23 hours a day and maxes out at a 20 minute walk!!

pics of aurora the saint and onyx the rottie
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and some of aurora and fenway the greyhound
My biggest stipulation was it had to be a dog that didnt remind me of our rottie at all... the rottie was rough and tumble and the greyhound is the most delicate little flower of a dog i have ever seen. he wont walk in dirt with rocks in it because it feels weird on his little tootsies!!!
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[rainhunter]

I rescued a yellow Lab pup a couple of years ago. She was the sweetest thing. We left that Sat morning and got home late that night. My husband saw her first, then I saw her. I lost it, and ran to her and held her for I don't know how long. I rememeber my husband pulling me off of her. She had been playing with our swing hammock in the backyard and somehow got it tangled up around her throat and hung herself. I cried all night and the next morning, my husband said if we go and get another dog today will you quite crying. I would cry louder when I would pass though the utlity room and saw her kennel. And all the toys all over the house. There was such an empty feeling. We picked out another yellow Lab puppy that next afternoon. It sure did help ease the pain, with a new puppy, but I still cryed over losing Abbie. We named the new pup Callie, and I did get better. I call her my rebound dog. So to answer your question, it helped me to get another one right away. I know that my dogs accident was sudden, so I am not sure how Rosco died. But I could not go past that kennel and not have another dog to fill the empty space.