We got our first dog 3 years ago from a local shelter. She is a pure breed Australian Shepherd, beautiful blue eyes, and the best dog EVER. She was 6yo when we got her, and we are soooo glad we didnt' have to go through the puppy phase with her. Shortly after we got her we added a german shepherd/lab mix to our family. She was 4 months old and grew so fast! After having her for 7 months we realized we didn't have the time or energy to keep up with her, so we found her a wonderful home on a farm. A while after that we got a silky terrier. Man he had issues. He was 10 pounds and came from a home that smelled like the most horrible thing you can imagine. They left him outside all day and night and they rarely fed him. We snatched him up and took him straight to the vet. He got all his shots, was declared malnuriched but would do fine with a lot of care. He got a haircut and nails trimmed, and he looked awesome! He had problems with bladder control, and he liked to mark the house. That was so frustrating! We got him fixed and that seemed to help quite a bit. After a year I developed allergies to him and sadly, so sadly we had to rehome him. Our original Aussie we still have. She LOVES to be outside and she actually won't come inside anymore. She is so funny like that! She used to come in at night and sleep on her couch, and then one day she just decided she would rather sleep outside! She won't even come in when it snows or anything! She is soooo good with my kids! She will let them hang on her and hug her. At one point we thought we should change her name to "nanny" (like from peter pan) because she was so protective of our kids. My oldest ds at one point was trying to shove his brother in a yard waste container that we had in the backyard, and our dog walked over to my oldest ds and barked, then grabbed his shirt with her teeth and pulled him away from his brother! It was so funny! She got a treat for helping out. She is 10 yo now, and we don't know how much longer she will be with us but we are hoping it will be a long time. After she goes though I don't think we will get another one. My dh is done with pets although he loves our dog. I think that if you have the room, and the love get a dog! I think it was the best thing we did and our kids have learned to treat animals with respect. Not that they didn't before, but they really learned alot about the care and love you have to give.
Minthia's post got me to thinking about one of our cats and how much she taught all of us about living and dying. She was 18 years old, and a grand little lady. When she was right near the end of her life, she became very affectionate with all of us. It was hard work - she howled at night and had to have music to calm her, and she stopped eating and had to have special extra-tasty food, and she couldn't stay hydrated, so had to have subcutaneous fluids... I always said I'd never go that far to keep a pet alive, but giving her saline made her feel SO much better, and I didn't have the heart to say no. In a funny way, it was like having a baby creature to look after again - but in reverse. And, as it turned out, nursing her through those final weeks and working through the process of saying goodbye, was a really good process for our kids. My daughter learned to give our kitty her fluids, overcoming her own fear of needles in the process. We had a lot of good discussions about death and dying. I miss her, but I'm grateful for having known her, too. Pets - whether they're cats or dogs - really do add a great deal of value to our lives.
See if your local shelter has a pet fostering program and give that a go first. You dont know how the whole family will react to a dog until you get one, and this could be a great learning experience for the family. It sounds like you've got a great set up going, but it might be best to start with temporary pets, especially if you have a special needs child or are pregnant. Never had a dog, only cats, fish, birds, turtles, snakes. Have always wanted a ton of pets.
