Choosing Between an Adult Dog and a Puppy

It can be a difficult decision to choose between a puppy and an adult dog. If you welcome a puppy into your life, you are guaranteed to have some tense and trying moments raising him to adulthood, but simply owning a dog requires a lot of time, patience, and love.

If you're struggling over the decision between getting an adult or puppy, ask yourself why you are struggling. Many people think that they don't have time to deal with raising a puppy, and think that getting an adult dog from the get go would require less of their attention and fit better in their life. If this is the way your through process is leaning, ask yourself if you have time for a dog in your life at all. Dogs of any age require much love and attention to be happy, and if you can't adequately provide this you might not be suitable to owning a dog at this time. No dog will appreciate you being gone a lot of the time or be content with being left outside while you're working strange hours. They'll want to be with you no matter what the age.

Here's a bit of what to expect when owning a puppy:

• Raising a puppy is a lot like raising a baby or toddler. You'll experience a lot of the same joys that a mother would watching the puppy mature into an adult dog (thankfully a lot faster than a human child would). You'll develop a fast, loving bond with your puppy from day one that will grow over his lifetime.

• Accidents will happen inside your house. With the proper training and frequent trips outside, this phase should only last for the first few weeks you have your puppy. Once your puppy is housebroken, you will still have to take him out frequently (even as an adult) so that he doesn't have to hold. He can't use the bathroom any time he pleases like we can!

• Puppies go through a phase very similar to babies called teething. Unlike babies, however, puppies will chew on anything they can get their mouths on including shoes, table legs, pillows, and favorite stuffed animals of yours or your children. This phase is usually longer than the housebreaking phase and will require you (if you like your property) to "puppy-proof" your home until it passes. It will also require some training and expenses to teach the dog to chew on things that belong to him and not things that belong to you.

• In the early days of owning a puppy, he'll likely wake up in the middle of the night for bathroom breaks and general attention. He'll need to be fed more often than an adult dog, and it will take him a little while to grow accustomed to your routine and you to his. These are all phases, and will pass with the right training and affection from you.

What you can expect with an adult dog:

• Probably the largest "pro" to starting with an adult dog is avoiding the worst of puppyhood. You'll thankfully miss out on a lot of the chewing, hopefully all of the housebreaking, and sleepless nights. A younger adult might still have some of these areas that need working on, but with some work they should be easily trained out of their bad habits if caught early on.

• Depending on who is adopting the dog, senior dogs are also very good choices. Many senior citizens can enjoy a dog that's in a later stage of life without all the craziness of owning a puppy

• Know the life experiences of the dog you are interested in adopting. Most dogs up for adoption were not abused or seriously neglected. These dogs would not be wise to put with children since abused dogs can often be very skittish and defensive. Get the right dog for you family situation to avoid problems arising later.