So You Think You Want a Dog
As I sit down to to write this post, my boyfriend plops down on the couch next to me, sighs, and says, “It’s kind of nice to not have a dog for a few days, huh?”. Our dog Pepper is currently in Laredo, spending the week with my parents because we’re heading out on vacation for a few days later this week. As soon as we dropped her off with her grandparents, I missed her a lot, but I’d be lying if I said it isn’t nice to take a breather from her for a second. I know it’s a very millennial thing to do, treating your pet like your first-born child, but I can’t help it. When you make the decision to adopt a dog, you’re making a literal life-changing decision to be solely responsible for the well-being of a living, breathing, feeling creature. If you make the choice after having done thorough research and soul-searching, it’ll probably be one of the best decisions of your life. But going into the dog-parent lifestyle unprepared has the potential to become quickly stressful and overwhelming. I am by no means an expert in dog parenting or training, nor am I trying to tell you how to live your life. You do you boo. But as a happy and obsessive dog mom, I wanted to share my experience and thoughts on what it means to be a dog owner in your twenties.
When is the best time in my life to get a dog?
I actually wasn’t lucky enough to be a kid who grows up with pets constantly in my life. My parents weren’t too keen on animals, and despite my incessant begging, they knew I wasn’t responsible enough to take care of one by myself. I owned a couple of beta fish and a turtle eventually, and while I loved them and cared for them as best I could, they couldn’t shower me with slobbery kisses and weren’t quite the ideal cuddling companions. Getting a dog has always been a dream of mine. Somewhere along the way I fell in love with dachshunds, and the dream started taking on a more defined shape. So having missed out on a lifetime of pet-owning, I wanted to get started as soon as possible. Now, I know college is a crazy time. Theoretically, a student’s stress, inconsistent schedule, and overall demands make college sound like the worst possible time to decide to get a pet, but that’s exactly when we adopted Pepper. In hindsight, it might’ve been a hasty decision, but I haven’t regretted it for a single second. My case for adopting a dog while being a student is this: puppies require a LOT of time and attention. Unless you work from home, spending the majority of the day with your puppy isn’t a realistic option. When I was a student, I was able to come home in between classes, watch the puppy while I was studying or doing homework, and it wasn’t a huge deal to wake up at crazy hours to go outside during the potty-training days. Of course this won’t be the case for everybody, and I probably neglected school a little more than I would’ve otherwise the semester that we got a dog, but looking back at it, I’m really glad that we got Pepper when we did. Otherwise, I don’t know if I would’ve taken the leap and been okay with the amount of time and effort raising a puppy takes.
One of the best things about being a new adult, a college student, or a young professional, is that often during this time in your life, you share a household. When we adopted Pepper, my boyfriend and I had just started dating (again, not the smartest choice in retrospect, but it’s worked out so far, so whatever). Raising a dog together has been wild and rewarding, and the fact that there’s two of us responsible for this creature is comforting in during the most trying times. Having a support system was one of the things that helped me out the most during Pepper’s puppy days. Not only did I have the flexibility of my schedule, but my boyfriend and I both had roommates who were also in college, and were willing and happy to hang out with our dog if one of us ever couldn’t. Both of our parents also love Pepper and it’s nice to have them as a resource for whenever things come up that require several days of dog-sitting.
My final reflection on getting a puppy is this: it’s going to be hard. There are days when you’re going to wish you didn’t have to get up at 6 am to take your dog to potty, or take a walk in the miserable cold, or clean up their messes, or panic because your dog is sick and you have to call into work and drive to the nearest emergency vet. If you’re not ready to deal with all of that, don’t do it. You can play with your friends’ dogs, or volunteer at an animal shelter, or be that dogless weirdo at a dog park. So many dogs end up at shelters because their owners simply can’t handle the stress that comes with being a pet owner. But if you’re willing to put in the time and effort and patience that raising a puppy takes, it is one thousand percent worth it. Anyone who knows me can tell you how obsessed I am with being a dog mom. I sometimes wonder how healthy it is for me to love my dog as much as I do, but I’m just a gal living my best life with my weenie best friend.
Austin is a great city to be a young dog parent. There are so many pet-friendly restaurants and shops and parks and places for your pup to run around. This summer will mark our 4-year anniversary of adopting Pepper and I can’t believe how fast time flies. I know there are many more adventures to come with my furry baby and I’m glad we made it through the harder days together. Each day I love her wet nose kisses more and more.
