First time dog owners.. neglected 17 mo old rescue or puppy from breeder?

[johnanand]

Crosspost from r/poodles.

Note that both dogs in question are a standard poodle.

We are (excitedly!) looking to get our first dog. We are a married couple in our late twenties. Poodles seem like a great fit for us as we want a calm and peaceful, gentle soul who can kind of just roll with the punches. So not a total couch potato but not a high energy, overly friendly dog either.

We love routine and keep a very calm, quiet household. No other pets, but planning to start a family in the next 5 years. We’re not big partiers or constantly traveling. We do work in offices M-F 9-5 but should be able to easily adjust our in-office requirements (aka at least one of us work from home a few times a week or come home for lunch a few times week). Long term, we wouldn’t be working from home more than 0.5 day per week. One of us would come home from lunch, and then every other day we’d send them to doggy daycare or get a dog walker. We’d walk them for a least 30-40 min a day and play for 20 min a day. Definitely will dedicate a ton of time to the dog on the weekends (hikes, dog parks, training, etc.)

Option 1. Buy a standard poodle puppy from a reputable breeder for $2500. My husband thinks this is a rip-off and does not understand why wouldn’t just adopt. Obviously, the biggest benefit is that we won’t have to “re-train” the dog’s bad habits from previous neglectful owners. The breeder seems legit and detail-oriented, and has recommended one of their pups who is currently very low-energy and has a low-prey drive.

Option 2. Adopt a 17 mo young standard poodle for $400. The dog has been with a loving foster mom, but unfortunately was very neglected during the pandemic, and missed out on socialization with other dogs/humans. The foster parent has mentioned that she is a medium-to-high energy dog who can be a bit anxious in dog parks, but is currently being socialized and is responding very well to training. They believe she would be best with an experienced dog owner. Would this be a good fit for us? For the past 3-4 months, she’s thankfully been in obedience training, getting exposure to the outside world, but I still worry that their fearful/anxious nature would not be a fit for us who are newbies at dog ownership as adults. We had dogs as kids growing up. But maybe no dog is perfect and because she’s so young, she has plenty of time to learn?

I’m worried that the rescue dog might not be a good fit. The foster parent sees the rescue being successful with a calm owner but the dog is reported to have a strong prey-drive. Very well in crates, car rides, and on the leash, so that’s good! But I’m still worried about the unknowns versus just starting from scratch with a puppy. But I know puppies won’t always be a walk until he park either. We definitely want to get a younger dog, that’s just our preference. Any advice?

 

[joerev]

@johnanand Honestly it doesn’t sound like either of these are a good fit for you. You said you are first time dog owners and you want a calm, laid back, go with the flow kind of dog, yet you are looking at an anxious rescue with a troubled past that is recommended for experienced owners, or a brand new puppy?

Slow down. Don’t go online and pick a breed and then try to find a dog, go to some shelters and adoption events, meet some dogs, see if anything clicks.

 

[symphorian]

@joerev I agree with all this. I also think OP needs to realize you can definitely not have a puppy and expect to only come home on a lunch break and only play 20 minutes a day, that’s wildly unrealistic. It’s near impossible to have both members of the household gone for more than 30 minutes at a time for at least the first month or 2 of having a puppy, and most dogs don’t get to being able to be alone for half a day until around 6 or so months.

That being said, the other dog isn’t a good option either. A dog with a bad past is going to be just as bad as a puppy, but likely with less resources available to owners than there are for puppies.

Neither are a good option unless OP is planning on having at least 1 person home the vast majority of the time for a good 2 months at minimum. If you held a gun to my head, I’d say the rescue, but truly neither are a good fit.

 

[johnanand]

@symphorian I have a hard time believing people with full-time jobs can’t raise a puppy successfully. We are financially able to do whatever it takes AKA bring puppy to doggy daycare and/or hire dog walker 2-3 times a week instead of WFH 5-days a week as we value our in-office time quite a bit. I do understand that the first 1-2 months will be challenging, regardless of how much time we spend with the pup.

 

[symphorian]

@johnanand So, a puppy cannot really interact with other dogs until fully vaccinated, which is at the earliest, usually 16 weeks. It can’t be walking out in public where other dogs have been, or go to daycare. At a minimum you have to commit a month in your case to being with the dog between the 2 of you, and a 12-16 week old puppy can’t really go that long alone.

I’m not saying people with fulltime jobs can’t do it, but the majority have at least 1 of them remote working or alternating remote work to manage the first few months of life.

 

[johnanand]

@symphorian Ah ok. Very good to know! In this case, yes we’d have to alternate working from home between the two us which would be doable and not a dealbreaker for the first 4-6 weeks we own them. Just wouldn’t be our preference long-term.

 

[symphorian]

@johnanand Totally get it. In that case it’s doable, but you should really have a plan laid out for training. For example, I would make a list, and put it in priority order. The first thing on my list would be potty training and crate training, in your case, since you plan to leave it home for long periods of time before the age of 6 months. Google the shit out of it, pour through this sub and YouTube, and have plans in place for training ideas. The last thing you want to do is spend 4-6 weeks with it and then chuck it in a crate and leave for multiple hours; that’s traumatizing. It’s all a gradual process but I think the puppy is doable if you have a training plan and prioritize the essentials you’ll need longterm right off the bat.

Edit: You mentioned in other comments you don’t want a mouthy dog. Every puppy is a landshark, so that might be a high priority training item for you as well.

 

[lessiebelle]

@symphorian Many breeders start crate training many weeks before the puppies go home, which makes a huge difference especially under this sort of timeline.

 

[aaa]

@johnanand I'm pretty blown away by the responses here because the setup you describe is perfectly fine for raising a puppy. Yes more time WFH will help, sure, but it's certainly not mandatory to stay home for months providing pup is getting adequate pee breaks (more than 1 during the workday for quite awhile) and getting lots of physical and mental stimulation before work, at lunch and after work. Prework walk will be mandatory every day, rain or shine, once cleared by your vet. Then ideally pup will sleep most of the morning, be tired out at lunch and sleep most of the afternoon again. Puppies need a ton of sleep anyway. You'll also need to dedicate your weekends and evenings pretty much full time to training since you lose that opportunity during the workday.

But yes, people did in fact manage to raise puppies before the pandemic when WFH was rare, and it can absolutely be done well with 2 fulltime jobs, again providing there's a plan for meeting all the puppy's needs during the workday, which you seem to have. I do strongly recommend taking a few weeks vacation (not WFH, full-time supervision) at the start if at all possible to get a good start on crate training and potty training.

Edit to add: I do think you will want to reconsider the breed you want since poodles are absolutely not "gentle and peaceful souls", they're active, bouncy and highly intelligent working dogs that need lots of mental stimulation and training. There are far more mellow breeds out there. There's a breed questionnaire at r/dogs that you may find helpful.

 

[olyasemikina]

@johnanand Honestly, if the rescue is recommending an experienced owner, I would take them seriously. If you're looking for a calm and peaceful dog, then a dog with anxiety and high prey drive probably isn't the best option. Between the two I would absolutely take the puppy - low energy and low drive seems to be what you're looking for, if you're sure a poodle is a good fit for your lifestyle.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@johnanand airport humor gold telephone knee selective teeny swim employ aspiring

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[johnanand]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Let me clarify. I don’t want a dog who is constantly jumping on others, and I associate this kind of behavior with other overly-friendly breeds like goldens or doodles. I want the dog to be chill with strangers. Cocker spaniels/beagals are too mouthy. Dachshund are good but maybe too reactive to strangers and also have to worry about IVDD. Labs might be a good fit but they tend to be pretty active. I guess an adult medium sized mutt would be the best bet and we just go from temperament.

 

[symphorian]

@johnanand Jumping is a behavior that needs to be trained. I have never met a dog that didn’t jump on people when they come in, unless the jumping behavior was specifically trained out by owners or a trainer. Jumping is not really a breed specific behavior

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@johnanand modern groovy weary squalid carpenter shy shaggy plough placid slap

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[supriya]

@johnanand Honestly I don't think a poodle will be a good fit for you from everything you've said here. I would look at a breed like westies or Havanese. My Havanese is exactly the temperament you're talking about. But like with any breed, research the hell out of potential breeders and train train train. Any dog will be a jumpy pain in the ass without consistent training.

 

[johnanand]

@supriya Interesting. I have friend who dog-sits her friend’s bichon frise and apparently he is very attention seeking and chews on everything. I don’t think they’re a baby or even a puppy, maybe 1+ year old. Are anecdotes really the best way or should we just start doing to adoption events to see what dogs we like best? I would prefer a dog that’s not too yappie.