Advice on purchasing a puppy

[52milk]

Hi Everyone

We as a family are thinking of buying a puppy.

Can anyone offer any advice on this.

I have not owned a dog since my single days a some 22 years ago.I have 4 children and although I have been asked many times if we can have a dog I have always said no.This being because with work and children I have not felt we could look after a dog as well.

My oldest daughter is now 21 and the youngest child 11 so we have discussed all the pros and cons of taking on a dog and everyone understands the commitment.

So my questions are ....

what kind of family friendly dog should I be looking at ,it must be a small breed.

Where is the best palce to buy from and where to avoid.

Which company to use for pet insurance/vet care.

Any thing else I should think about.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

[denoandposhneednosh]

My asbo dog is 17 months now, he was 10/11 weeks when we got him, we were totally unprepared. He ate shoes/boots/mats/puppy pads. We bought all the recommended toys and he still chewd stuff up. We bought a crate so he was safe when we went out. We have insurance plus we pay monthly for a pet care plan from out vets, it saves a fortune, covers all worm/flea stuff, all annual injections, discount off neutering and loads of other discouts, you get 6 monthly check ups included free too. Would we change him...never, he is absolutely adorable 🙂

[saasher2012]

He is a credit to you, he looks the picture of health, & dare I say it! He looks to me as though he's thinking up more trouble in that pic,
It's very tiring being mischievous .lol.

[wizilizi]

We are beginning to look at getting another dog now, after our  little lakeland terrier X border  collie, Topper died last August.  We got him (he got us!!) at 6 months, & he was 16 yrs old.  We miss him so much

I am looking at dogsblog.com which I find easy to use; the site gathers together dog details from many rescue organisations, & is very easy to peruse, by dog size, age, breed or location

I've been looking for a couple of months & find this the most navigable & comprehensive place to look

[52milk]

Thank you all for your help.

We visited some rescue centres last week and that made us sure we did want a puppy.

One of the centres did have some and they were all lovely but we didn't really take to any of them  enough to make the decision to adopt one.

I think some of the problem is that I have thought about having a cavalier king Charles spaniel for a while and my children were thinking along the shih Tzu lines.

So this weekend we went to look at some Cavalier king charles puppies and all fell in love with them all.

To choose one of the two that were left was hard but one did stand out more for us.

So next Wednesday we will be the very excited owners of a beautiful male 10 week old puppy.

Any advise on this breed is most welcome as although it is exciting it is quite nerve racking after so long of not owning a dog.

[chickengrandma-2008]

Funnily enough, our first ever puppy as a married couple was a cavalier, and now Molly, who will be our last puppy is half cavalier  We've had four other puppies in the meantime, spanning 45 years, and they've all turned out to be lovely well behaved dogs.

 The point I'm making I suppose is, even though they've all been different breeds and different sizes, with slightly different temperaments,  I treated them all the same.

 Others might have their own theories but to me a puppy is a puppy, it needs good and sensible feeding, a comfy warm bed, a little discipline right from the start,  and lots of love.  I really don't think it makes any difference what the breed is.

Can I just make a point;

I know individual dogs are different, even siblings, but for instance, with this one, we got her on Saturday lunchtime.  We got a crate, the first time I've ever crated a dog, but there are so many leads hanging from computer and lappy and kindle and lamps etc in here that I daren't leave her overnight without a crate.  She yelled for 40 minutes the first night, but I didn't go back.  Sunday night she yelled for 10 minutes, I didn't go back,  Monday night five minutes and last night she didn't make a sound.  If I'd gone back that first night, we would still be at that stage now.  So, the choice is yours.  

I hope you have a great time with him!  

[myraandjim]

thats great news, keep us all updated when you get your puppy please. CG I agree that a puppy is a puppy regardless of the breed, your new furry baby sounds as if she is doing really well, I have never crated a puppy but would imagine it can be something really useful, just my breed is so big that a crate wouldn't be very practical in a normal sized house! It's a long time since I had a puppy around as I usually take adult rescues but must admit I would love to have just one more pup but as we are both getting old now I don't know that it would be fair on a pup.  Hope you both enjoy your puppies, I will try hard not to be too jealous

[saasher2012]

You make good points especially with dog cages, I've always used them, going on the principle a dog needs it's own place of privacy, my little terrier that I lost a few weeks ago without fail used to put herself to bed at 10pm every night.

[52milk]

Can anyone tell me if joining a health plan at a vets is worth the money.

From what I can see it would be £12.00 a month and covers flea/worm treatment for the year and any annual vaccinations.

I know I need pet insurance aswell but just wondered if its better just to pay for the basics as required.

[saasher2012]

Seems rather expensive , you only need an annual booster vaccination, & even if you worm & de flea your dog every 3months , if you add up £12 a month it seems too much especially with insurance on top of that as well!

[52milk]

Thank you .

That's what I was thinking.

Now to tackle pet insurance!

[carolyorkie2010]

Our Vet's have a Lifetime Vaccination scheme, where for a one-off payment (ours was £99) your dog is vaccinated yearly with  no extra charge.

[ed_blackadder_1]

Vaccinations approx £54, (spaniel sized dog) flea treatment £54 - ( £27 for 6 months supply x 2 (Frontline) when done monthly, worming £20, 4 x £5 3 monthly. Worming depends on size of dog. Our Shepheard/Collie is dearer.

If the puppy is of a type that eats anything and everything, you might be better with Advocat which covers for lungworm as well, this is however more expensive at £38 for 6 months we have this for our spaniel well worth the extra expense as this can kill a dog almost in an instant, Saacher would verify I think.

So really it works out about the same as you would be paying for the vets plan, at least it spreads the cost.  As we have 2 dogs we pay double this a year, but just pay as and when.

Be aware some vets also charge for a consultation on top of the cost of vaccinations.  Ours doesn't probably because it is a rural vet, but the last vets we had in the town did charge £15 when you walked through the door on top of anything else.

[carolyorkie2010]

My Vet's now charge £27 per consultation; it's getting very expensive. But we all think the world of our pets so we pay up

[saasher2012]

Yes Ed you are correct , lungworms can & does kill, I also use Advocate , it kills many other internal& external parasite. & I believe it now has been licensed for monthly treatment, one little piece of information it does not cover Tapeworm so that will have to be treated separately , I'm afraid it's a case of shopping around for the best deals with Vets same as any other shopping nowadays. I probably worm a lot more frequently because of the sheep, the tapeworm is passed on to them from the dog, so mine is done every two months. If you keep cats your dog needs to be wormed & de flead more often also!.

[captainbovine]

oh a Cavvy!!! how lovely we had 3 of them and they weren't a scrap of trouble. They have a very sensitive nature but I love them.

Today we saw a cross Cavvy/Bichon Frise...he was adorable, I'd love half a dozen of them...

Don't forget to post some piccies of him....

[vamo48]

Cavaliers are lovely and I have heard they are one of the best dogs to have with children, I was going to say that earlier!  We considered one, but were adopted by a Westie instead!  Yes please,  lots of photos!!

[myraandjim]

you can buy flea/worm treatments a lot cheaper from the online vet companies, BUT you have to send in a prescription signed by your vet. If your vet is nice he will sign a prescription for several doses, if not nice he will get the hump at you buying elsewhere and only sign for one treatment. The vet is obliged (I think) to give a prescription if asked, but will charge for issuing one. It is worth calculating whether online with prescription charge, or from the vet is cheaper.  You can buy most animal meds online with a prescription, and a lot with no prescription, so it is always worth looking.

[saasher2012]

A word of caution be careful who you buy from& research properly, make sure you buy from a licensed seller & that the products are safe to use. It's not only the fact that your Vet might not like it, his/ her reputation is on the line if the product you buy is not correct, when you go to a vet you pay for his knowledge of your pet!.

[ed_blackadder_1]

I was just going to say be careful who you buy from, as a friend of ours bought something on line and due to its history he shouldn't have had it, the vet would have known that but my friend didn't anyway it made the dog very ill. 

[52milk]

Thank you so much for your advice every one.

I will have to stick with the vets I think as its been so long since owning a dog I have no idea how often I should be doing the treatments or what to use.

We are very excited and will post some photos on Wednesday when we collect him.