How many years have you had a dog?

[braided-rug]

I have had a dog around me for 39 of my 44 years. I am nearly 45. So yes, I expect "someone" to be out in the backyard, it seems like an empty space. It will be interesting how that develops, we expect to be able to have it more garden oriented at least for awhile.

[braided-rug]

I'm sorry you will have to change to internet explorer possibly to vote, well I did. You can just post instead if you like.

[suec]

I had no problem voting. We have occaisionally had my brothers dog to house sit, that is it for me, We had cats when I was a child, Dad would put the cat out each night, and it would come through my window and sleep on my bed.

But no dogs.

Sue

[violet]

My sister always wanted a dog. Finally our parents relented and came home with a 6 month old pup. He was most unhappy and whined and cried every night for months until my father finally lost patience and returned the poor thing to the breeder. He is not a dog person.

Many years later my mother bought a dog which ended up being her companion. He was fine with the rest of us but we weren't his people of choice. He hated every other living human; a highly strung dog if ever there was one. Our paths only crossed for three or four years while I was still living at home.

Dh had grown up with dogs, so when he bought his first house he also bought a bull terrier puppy which grew to a vast size. Left alone all day, and with dh not realising that the dogs of his childhood were wonderful because his mum was around to train them, he never did settle down or learn to behave nicely.

When eldest ds was born it became a little tricky going outside because the dog was so big, bouncy and untrained. Dh ended up giving him to a young fellow. I wish he'd never bought the dog, or had spent enough time with the poor thing to teach him to behave. He was a nice dog, he just hadn't been brought up very well.

Years passed and when dd was in grade 5 her friend's dog had puppies. Dd wanted to see them, so dh took her to their house as he was friendly with the parents. To my horror, he'd agreed to buy her one of the puppies because "she wanted one". We hadn't discussed that outcome, and I knew that dd would lose interest once the puppy was a dog.

That is exactly what happened, however dh finally relented and became the chief dog-walker, which does him a world of good. She's a bouncy little character but is quite well behaved. Unless you're a plumber - don't quite know what the problem is there but she barks and carries on with some of the workmen.

So, to finally answer the poll, I've lived with a dog for about 10 or 12 years in total.

[braided-rug]

There seems to me a vast difference in breeds. I have only had experience with Australian terriers:

tinyurl.com/3vv96h



I think and German Shorthaired Pointers.

Our dog that died had spots like this puppy.

tinyurl.com/5yvcfy

Because pointers only want to hunt, we will probably not get another unless we want to be active with the dog. The first two were amazing. This one we had last was from the pound, and he didn't go exploring in the bush for example very far as he was afraid to get lost. So as far as pointers go he was very quiet.

Our first one went for runs, much faster than we could run, not a walk, and we always used choker chains if we did walk. Thankfully the girls could handle our last dog without one as it is here somewhere.