Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 16
  1. #1
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    3,947
    Thanked: 2421

    How old were you when you got your first dog?

    I read a post from a young man about finally being stable enough to get his own dog and a few people chimed in about how they'd waited, or not, etc. Not wanting to hijack that thread, I thought I'd post here and ask the question: How old were you when you got your first dog? Any regrets (waited too long, not long enough)?

    As for me, I had always wanted my own dog as a child but never got one. I sort-of inherited my sister's cockapoo when she moved out when I was eight and I spent time at my aunt's house just to play with and "train" her St. Bernards -- she was a breeder -- whenever I could. I was an animal fanatic with parents who were not at all into them. Sigh... I made do between everyone else's dogs and horses.

    I finally got my own first dog from the shelter when I was 20 years old. I can't say I regret it, but it was really hard. My life revolved around him and at one point when I was going through a rough time and moved back into my parents' for a few months, I boarded him for a set price with a woman I met through classified ads. My parents had changed the carpet and gotten new furniture after the cockapoo died and didn't want animals in the house.

    I paid $165 per month (which was a lot of money for me at the time) to board him at this woman's house and I provided all of his food. I visited him every week, usually taking him on a hike or a long walk. I remember he'd jump on the table and watch me out the window as I pulled out of the driveway and drove off after our visits. It was heart-wrenching. But...this situation pushed me to get back on my feet.

    That dog lived to be nearly 18 years old. Crazy to think that he'd been around from the time I was 20 until I was nearly 40 years old. He moved with me from Portland, OR to Boston, MA. Then to Portland, ME. Then to NYC. Then to Seattle, WA. And, finally, back to Portland, OR. I've never, ever rented an apartment or house that did not allow dogs. I've never been able to go on vacation without boarding or having someone watch my dogs. For the past 20+ years I have not gone a month without buying dog food. Oh, and I also was never able to join the Peace Corp., which I have mixed feelings about...

    While I kinda wish for pure freedom for a few years before jobs, houses, pets, etc., having dogs has always kept me semi-grounded and responsible. I bought my house for them. I get most of my outdoor exercise for them. And I think I owe my stability to them. Without them, I'd probably have been a little lost all this time.

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Labradorks For This Useful Post:

    MikeLynn (02-14-2016)

  3. #2
    Senior Dog Charlotte K.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    somewhere out there
    Posts
    938
    Thanked: 581
    Lucky dogs!

  4. #3
    Senior Dog
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ellicott City, MD
    Posts
    6,626
    Thanked: 3641
    Six and a half. My father had just died and his best friend, seeing how lost I was and knowing how much I'd loved his puppy, gave me his dog. He said it was because his fiancé was allergic but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that...she'd never sneezed or anything in my presence before. I wasn't really "in charge" of Tuffy's upkeep but he was the best thing that could have happened to me.

  5. #4
    Senior Dog ZoeysMommy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
    1,342
    Thanked: 729
    Ive always had dogs in my life since the day i was born. My mom is a huge dog lover and bred German Shepherds for most of my childhood, she was also heavily into rescue. The first that was my own was a GSD named Wendi. I was 6 when we got her and she passed in my arms when I was almost 21. We had other dogs growing up but Wendi was mine, she was my best friend through out my entire childhood.


    I really dont know what life is like without multiple dogs. Probably explains why I always have at least 3 to 4 dogs at all all times. Im a true dog lover and breed isnt important

    Im in my mid 40s now and there has been times when my dogs were all i had. I owe a lot to all of them

  6. #5
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Carolina in my mind..
    Posts
    6,391
    Thanked: 4178
    My husband and I both grew up with dogs but all were family dogs, even though the boxer we got when I was about a year old I thought of as "my" dog. Once I went to college, no dogs until after I was married. Two crazy little boxers were our first birthday presents to ourselves the year we got married, so, when I was 27. There have been breaks between dogs, the longest being a bit over 2 years after our last bullmastiff died, before we got Chase. Teddy's death took me a while to get over. I'm glad our current 2 aren't close in age as has been the case with a few of our previous dogs, but you never know what's going to happen. It's hard to come home and not see a furry little face so happy to see you again.
    Sue

    Chase 9/29/2006- 6/30/2017 Always in our hearts
    Lark 12/25/2012- 2/2/22
    Henry 7/14/18
    Joey 5/14/2022

    “Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born. What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs?”

    Mary Oliver, Hidden Content

  7. #6
    Senior Dog labsnewfy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    WV
    Posts
    2,301
    Thanked: 1216
    I was 20yrs old when I was given my little Annie a GSD/beagle mix, she was 4 months old at the time. She was also my first rescue. My little boop went with me everywhere and when she couldn't go my twin would babysit. She started to puppy sit for me when Annie was a baby, being a single parent I didn't want to leave her at home alone all day long and there were times I had to work back to back doubles. Annie was with me for 15yrs when I lost her and lost myself, swore I would never have another. Never say never
    Hidden Content

    Coleman - CGC blk lab 6/02/97-2/25/08 adopted
    Tootsie - choc lab 10/19/99-8/03/13 adopted
    Bailey - CGC newf/fc 7/12/00-07/15/14 rescued
    Ginger - BT 11/16/05 - 10/14/19 rescued
    Sarah - blk lab 6/22/06 - 12/30/19 rescued
    rescued felines - AJ - 8/00 - 1/11, Merlin - 5/20/05-8/23/21
    Tucker - 8/3/10, Penny - 7/7/13, Toby - 6/14/21

  8. #7
    House Broken
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Souther than the deep south
    Posts
    170
    Thanked: 87
    Our family always had a dog growing up, but I bought MY first dog (a yellow lab) shortly after graduating high school at age 17. I was working and started college and handled all of his vet visits, training, went to obedience classes, etc. He lived in to his teens.
    mom to:
    Carley (Impulse Revival of Sweetrox CGCA RN)
    Hex (UKC CH Stormy C's Black Magic)
    Luci (the husky that tries to act like the labs)

  9. #8
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,136
    Thanked: 5108
    I was four, only a puppy myself, when our family got a puppy. Teddy lived to nearly 17 and he became my dog. I was away at school when he died and what with my first job that required a lot of moving around didn't have another dog till I married. The OH wanted a dog to hunt over, I didn't care. We thought a puppy of some upland game breed but when a family member rescued Whisper, four years old, purebred, registered English Springer Spaniel, gun trained, we took her.

    I think Whisper was a landmark dog for us. She was trained. We'd never had a dog that had been trained to do anything more than sit. With Whisper we knew the joys of a dog that behaved, did what she was asked and loved to do it. Why did someone give up or lose or whatever happened, such a wonderful dog? But she did have some quirks, one of which was extreme jealousy of our cat. Not all cats, just ours, or one we might pet. Maybe the first owner had a baby and she could not be trusted?

    We tried to find Whisper's history. We had her pedigree, a copy of her CKC registration, her breeder's and first owner's name and addresses. The latter two were out of date and the breeder had disappeared. She'd had a litter too, and we could not trace the pups. It was pre internet and computer days, maybe we could do it now. If we had agreed to breed her ourselves, as our Vet, active in ESS, strongly suggested, we would have at least had her CKC registration changed to our name but we had her spayed.

    Since Whisper was four when we got her and I myself was only four when we got Teddy, Jet was the first puppy I brought up myself/ourselves. But Whisper was the one who set the stage for our expectations and set the bar high.
    Hidden Content

    Castilleja's Dubhgall Oban, the Black Stranger of The Little Bay
    Oct. 15, 2007 - June 13, 2021
    Oxtongue Rapids Park. Oct. 2019 Hidden Content

  10. #9
    Senior Dog
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Central NJ
    Posts
    2,603
    Thanked: 2277
    I was about to turn 29, LOL. I had always wanted a dog growing up, but my parents weren’t on board. Wasn’t in a position to have on in college or graduate school (I have a PhD so was there for a while). The first two years after we got married, we both wanted a dog, but we wanted a Lab and the place we were renting wouldn’t let us have big dogs. Since we knew we were house shopping, we waited until after we bought a house, although we had the puppy lined up before we even closed on the house. We brought her home two days after we moved in .... the breeder would have held on to her a little longer had something held up the closing though.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

    Hidden Content

  11. #10
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Bend, Oregon
    Posts
    2,024
    Thanked: 3035
    My parents took in a puppy from a neighbor's accidental litter about a year and a half before I was born. This was Dudley. He was a little bit of everything, the mutt of all mutts. There weren't a lot of kids in my neighborhood so Dudley was my best friend. He died at the ripe old age of 18 on my 16th birthday. My heart dog.



    As an adult there was very little I wanted more than my own dog, but work hours and renting just made it unfair to any potential pup, so we waited and waited until the right time. We finally bought our own place, but were still gone at work from ~6 to 6 every day. Finally, both of us started working from home and I went on the search for a breeder and eventually ended up with Thor. He's the first in what I think will be a long life of labs. But I'm so glad we waited until we had the opportunity to really spend time at home raising a puppy. I'm sad I missed out on so many years of having a dog, but I couldn't imagine trying to raise a lab puppy while working that schedule!

 



Not a Member of the Labrador Retriever Chat Forums Yet?
Register for Free and Share Your Labrador Retriever Photos

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •