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A Survey about dog ownership

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Hi Everyone, I'm doing a little survey for a course I'm taking and thought I'd extend my research to this vast repository of knowledge and personas 😉 . It's about dogs so don't worry, it's not too homework-ish. Just drop your answers in the responses if you're on board to help. Thanks in advance.

Questions below:

  • If you have a dog, Do you live alone, with roommates, a "Significant Other"?
  • Did you own a dog before this?
  • Where do you live? Geographically + housing type (be general: "In the country", "In the suburbs", "In the city" etc.)
  • When did you get your last dog?
  • Did you buy from a breeder, adopt or some other form of dog procurement?
  • How did you select your breed?
  • What was the hardest part of this selection process?
  • Why was it hard?
  • What have been your challenges with owning a dog?
  • What have been the challenges with the breed you selected?
  • What lifestyle challenges have you had to overcome?
  • How did you solve them?
  • Is your current solution working for you? Why/Why not?

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I'll take part, I love dogs 👍🏻

. Wife and children

. Yes

. Country

.4 years ago

. From a owner of a female dog(can't say the B word) that got caught

. Like the temperament of Staffordshire Bull terriers

. No hard part about it

. Not hard

. Restrictions on holidays and going out

. Can be difficult with other dogs

. Social life is now worked around the dog

. Dog comes first

. Current solution working fine because you have to change your lifestyle to suit the dog especially a very human loving breed like a Staffy.

Hope that helps

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12 hours ago, svenb said:

 

I had a query written here, but it wasn't really in line with the threads original purpose and I've since gained some insight into it from posts above and below, so have deleted the previous content of the post.

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How is this best done without going into the quote box? Dunno, so I've pasted the Qs below and answered in italics. 

 

  • If you have a dog, Do you live alone, with roommates, a "Significant Other" family house
  • Did you own a dog before this? Yes
  • Where do you live? Geographically + housing type (be general: "In the country", "In the suburbs", "In the city" etc.) in the country - well, in a village but fields right next to us
  • When did you get your last dog? May 22
  • Did you buy from a breeder, adopt or some other form of dog procurement? Puppy from a private home. We found them by contacting the breed association (or whatever they are). Previous dogs both pups from people we knew. 
  • How did you select your breed? Had 2 of the same before. The first one, 12 years ago, was a bit of an accident TBH. I mean, we had established we could manage a dog but the choice of breed was one of many. 
  • What was the hardest part of this selection process? Er, persuading the missus? Joking. Nothing really for us, but be careful, I think plenty don't get it right. 
  • Why was it hard? It wasn't. They weren't my shoes she ate 😁
  • What have been your challenges with owning a dog? Consistent behaviour (between humans). Inconsistency affects training very much. This one is going better. Don't tell management but I'm really valuing the fact the pup is with me 100% of the time and much of that is with no-one else, so training works. 
  • What have been the challenges with the breed you selected? Erm, where are you going with this? Don't read too much into the breed. There's a lot of differences within a breed (luck of the draw?), a lot of overlaps between breeds, and ultimately it mainly comes down to the owners anyway. Breed we chose is broadly a gundog type, but many think this particular breed a bit troublesome (well, much more so than eg a labrador), however I'm not so sure. I think it comes down to the human. Ours have been OK. I don't expect training to be easy. 
  • What lifestyle challenges have you had to overcome? Not a lot. With our first dog we worked out before we got him how many days we'd both be out (not that many) and how we'd manage that. That needed to be a small number and we needed a way of covering it (both OK, just). Then my job changed, so 2nd & 3rd dogs my job is such I can have a dog with me all the time. 
  • How did you solve them? As above 
  • Is your current solution working for you? Why/Why not? As above (yes) 

Hope that helps!

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We owned a dog a few years back, so I will answer based on that dog.  Having owned and then had to rehome a dog, this may give my answers a perspective that current dog-owners may not have.

In typical Mad Ax style, my answers will be unnecessarily long and protracted.  I believe no answer is ever relevant without context, and am highly distrustful of surveys.  I'll give you a short answer, then an anecdote, for context.

If you have a dog, do you live alone, with roommates...

With my wife, and latterly, our baby daughter.

Anecdote: we'd both lived alone for a long time, we'd both wanted dogs for a long time, neither of us felt able to own a dog while living alone as working professionals (also our tenancy agreements forbade it).

Did you own a dog before this?

We always had dogs when I was growing up.

Anecdote: we were rarely without a dog.  Only when I moved out on my own did I have to be dog free.  My cousin, who I lived with for a while, had left his dog with his ex-wife, but from time to time he would get dog-sick and bring it to our shared home for a few hours.  For some reason that nobody could fathom, it would go to sleep in the bath.

Where do you live?

South-west England, in a rural town.

Anecdote: about 5 minutes walking gets me into open fields.  There are various dog-friendly parks and woodlands within 5 minutes drive and acres of empty public land within 30 minutes.

When did you get your last dog?

Around 9-10 years ago?

Did you buy from a breeder, etc.?

Adopted from the a recognised national animal shelter

How did you select your breed?

We wanted a medium-sized, active dog, but had no pre-determined idea of breed

Anecdote: we probably wouldn't have chosen a border collie based on breed characteristics, but he took to us very well when we were introduced and he felt like the right choice (to me, at least)

What was the hardest part of the selection process?

Not choosing a sweet little beagle instead

Why was is hard?

We saw her in a cage shortly after taking the collie for a test-walk.  My wife fell in love with her on sight and wanted to take her for a test-walk too, but I said if we give ourselves reasons to fall for two very different dogs, we'll always give ourselves reasons to regret our decisions later.

Anecdote: I think this is like going on two dates with two very nice but very different people in quick succession, then having to decide which one you want to follow up on - at some point in the future, when things are tough, which they'll inevitably be, you'll find it hard not to look back with regret, even if it's only for a short moment.  I appreciate this is not a viewpoint everyone shares, either related to dogs or romantic partners.  However, my wife regretted the decision almost immediately, and found it very hard to accept our new dog.  In fact pretty soon he became "my" dog, I did all the walking, all the training, all the cleaning and brushing, all the vets visits, all the energetic playtime, and if he was having trouble settling at night, I was the only one who could calm him.  He and my wife never really accepted each other (although they did play together happily).

What have been the challenges?

Having to do walkies, every morning, every day, come rain, shine, sleet or snow - collies need to be walked

Hair, hair, everywhere

Non-dog people stop visiting because, let's be honest, if you don't own a dog, you notice how bad the houses of dog people smell (I never noticed until I moved out of my parents home, and my parents are obsessively clean and tidy people)

For 10 months of the year, the inside of the car is like the area in front of the main stage at Glastonbury after 3 days of solid rain and partying, and there's no point cleaning it because it'll be just as bad again tomorrow

Never being able to just get up and go somewhere without having to phone around friends and relatives to find a dog-sitter

Not being able to stop late at work or join colleagues for a social after work because I have to get home to walk and feed the dog

What were the challenges with the breed?

Collies need exercise, so even if I was laid up with a bad back or bedridden with a cold, I still had to drag myself to the fields to let him explore.  He was actually very quiet for a collie and didn't run around much, but mentally he needed the stimulation.  In most cases it was good for me to get some air and exercise

When our daughter was born, he struggled to adapt and became cranky.  This isn't unknown for collies.  When he started growling and raising his hackles every time she crawled near him, we decided he should be rehomed.  This was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, even though there was no question in my mind that it was the right thing.  In some other people's eyes, it was without question absolutely the wrong thing to, and they told me as much.  I appreciate there are views other than mine on this subject.

What lifestyle challenges have we had to overcome?

I think this question overlaps with the two above.  Having to plan my working and social day around dog needs meant giving up certain freedoms, like staying behind at work to help out with a problem, or stopping for a social with colleagues on the way home.  This is something that parents give up too, but in the eyes of the working hierarchy, they're higher up the list in terms of valid excuses.

I think I'm kind of insinuating that some people will think it perfectly OK if you have to leave to fetch your child from school, but will consider it an excuse if you have to leave to let your dog go outside.

How did you solve them?

We planned our day around me doing dog walks at 6am, as I'm an early riser, and my wife doing walks at 6pm.  After a week, my wife gave up her side of the bargain.  She'd be home in time to let him run in the garden and feed him.

The working day challenges were easier with two - if one of us wanted to stay late, we could always call the other to make sure dog care wasn't compromised.  Joint social events were more complicated, and involved one of the following:

  • inform the party/hosts before-hand what our arrival and/or leaving times would be dictated by dog care requirements
  • travel separately so that one of us could stay out and the other leave early for dog care
  • bring the dog with us

Is your current solution working?

Not relevant to me, as we no longer have our dog.  In that respect, I guess you could say, No.

I hope that helps and doesn't screw up your pie charts too much :)

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  • If you have a dog, Do you live alone, with roommates, a "Significant Other"?  Not currently. Our last past away a few years back but otherwise I've had a dog around my whole life. I have a wife (more of a cat person) and a daughter.
  • Did you own a dog before this? Yes. Until the last one, another dog was was always brought into house after the passing of the last. It was the same way growing up for me. The loss of my last dog was too painful and money has been too tight to get another.
  • Where do you live? Geographically + housing type. House in a development in the growing, but still "rural" area.

  • When did you get your last dog? About 15 years ago.
  • Did you buy from a breeder, adopt or some other form of dog procurement? Breeder. The dog previous to our last was the same breed but not from a breeder. She took ill and died suddenly as did one of her littermates. This led to trying out a breeder for our last dog. If I wasn't particular about the breed and hadn't had the previous experience, I would have adopted. 
  • How did you select your breed? My first job, with an actual boss, as a kid was at a kennel. I got to experience a lot of different breeds and their temperaments. I wanted a Scottish Terrier like I had when I was a kid, but that dog's personality was an anomaly. Traditional Scottie personalities didn't quite jive with what I wanted. I considered Boxers, Beagles, and a few others, but personality-wise, always came back to Labs. I've had 3. They are just the right mix of obedience, helpful and caring but not too timid or dull. They have personality and seem fun-loving/playful without being too crazy or too independent. The Airedales, my parents got into after the Scottie, ranged from fun/but too naughty to down right aggressive (but no mean spirited) and independent.
  •  What was the hardest part of this selection process? Putting aside how cool certain dog may look and admitting, as an addition to the family, their personality/temperament was more important.    
  • Why was it hard? Having had a child now, I'd say no. I raised each from puppy-hood. I tried crate-training over night for about 30 seconds before the tortured howls broke my heart and I brought the puppy into bed with me. This worked out as the puppy would sleep for about 3 hours and then when it got restless, it signaled me to get up and let her out to go potty. After about 2-3 weeks, she could pretty much make it through the night. Because I always took her out when she needed to go, normal potty training was a breeze and "accidents" were few.
  • What have been your challenges with owning a dog? Honestly, the only real challenge for me is when they pass. Still chokes me up thinking about it sometimes.
  • What have been the challenges with the breed you selected? Not really. Labs are pretty easy going. Our last was pretty protective and would bark at noises like slamming car doors outside, scaring my wife when she did it. Oh, and she happily and unexpectedly hopping in a lake I was hiking along one day. Oops.
  • What lifestyle challenges have you had to overcome? My dad would dog-sit if we went to the beach over night which was awesome. When he passed, we tried taking her with us once and once was enough. Beach trips became day trips after that.
  • How did you solve them? Well, no more over night stays. When you bring a dog into the family, its just that, a member of the family and one must accommodate them as such. They aren't just something cool to have around. They have feelings. They miss you and love you. Sacrifices are part of the deal. If someone isn't willing to do that, get a pet rock. 
  • Is your current solution working for you? Why/Why not? No, because I miss having a dog, lol. Still, this isn't the right time and the current sacrifice I'm making is not getting another until they can receive the proper love/care.

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