Looking for a dog

[jporter12]

i adopted gatsby when he was 1~1.5 yrs old, and i'm glad i adopted an "older" dog. he was already 100% house broken, had all his shots and was neutered. from what i understand, puppies typically get adopted easily, but the older ones, not so much. i think gatsby had already been bounced from another shelter because he was there too long, and was nearing the end of his welcome at the shelter he was at, so I'm glad we found him when we did.

If he had been a pup, he'd have gotten kick into the curb. Lucky for him that he was older.

[jporter12]

Is that username correct shows up as not registered.

http://www.ohioriders.net/member.php?u=7045

[Jst2fst]

http://www.ohioriders.net/member.php?u=7045

Thanks, it says her latest activity was on Oct 25th. Hopefully she logs on in a few days and sees the PM.

[redkow97]

so what is the cost to care for a dog? i'd really enjoy a rescue dog and has crossed my mind several times. what about those that live alone and work a 40 hour week?

Dogs really aren't THAT expensive, but little stuff adds up. How much food you buy depends on the size of the dog, but the biggest bags of food are $18-$23 and should last a medium-sized dog a month or more.

Flea medication and heart guard is another $17/month.

If you pay for grooming and nail trims, figure another $20-$40/month (if you buy a short-haired dog, and trim its nails, you pay $0 for this...)

You can buy pet health insurance for ~$35/month (http://www.embracepetinsurance.com/) or pay vet bills out of your pocket. Our dog has gone to the vet twice in the past 3 years for minor stuff. it's usually $50-$150 a visit. More serious stuff can be in the thousands of dollars though, so the insurance pays off huge if the dog is hit by a car, or prone to genetic problems (hips in shepherds, etc.)

Toys and treats probably average out to $5/month. No big deal. Good bones are shockingly expensive, but they do last more than a month.

a single person working 40 hours can have their own dog, but you have to come home after work right away every day. You're not supposed to crate a dog more than 4 hours a day (says those dog shows on animal planet), but 8 hours a day is pretty common. Our dog was crated daily for a couple years before we could leave him out w/o chewing. My friends have 2 dogs that will always be crated. You just have to exercise them a lot after work to make up for it, and walking them in the morning would be ideal too. But dogs sleep a LOT.

My wife and I work with www.secondhandmutts.org We currently have Babaganoush in our house. I like Sergio and Bo Jangles a lot too. Haven't met all of them.

Some rescue dogs are easy, and some have issues stemming from their past. Baba is scared of new people. We're working with a trainer to help him out. He's already improving a lot. I may lobby to keep him if he doesn't get adopted before Christmas