I'm looking to buy a puppy. How much do they usually cost??? And which kind are the best especially for inside?? My friend suggest golden retrievers... good choice? Thanks!
Golden Retrievers need a job. I wouldn't call them "great for the inside." Watch the movie Marley and Me...that is what any Golden or Lab could do. Better yet, buy the book. I would not recommend a working dog as a house dog, especially Jack Russells. Mutts are great for the home. But really, all dogs don't like being left alone. Dogs are pack animals. Leaving any of them alone (no matter what breed) is a crap shoot regarding how well they will adjust to your house. Will your dog be at home alone a lot. Cats are better for that.
1. It is often cheaper though there are still costs involved. 2. It is truly "better" given that there are so many dogs available that have no homes -- in many cases, wonderful and healthy dogs (including very young ones.) In terms of your overall investment and experience, if you just want to be purely selfish (not that you do, but I'm just saying.) Reputable breeder with some mixed breed (e.g. "labradoodle") > animal shelter > buying a pure bred from a breeder (many pure breds are going to have more health trouble than some mixed mutt at the animal shelter.) >>> buying a puppy at the mall or through some random ad (since this will probably be a puppy mill and a lot of these animals are going to have big health problems for you.) Just my 2 cents! Wonderful that you're getting a pet.
Be very careful with your choice, think about your lifestyle. A dog isn't a child, but many of the same concerns arise as far as it being basically helpless and you being responsible for its care. Where do you live? If the dog barks alot (hound dogs) will that be a problem for you and neighbors? A puppy that is "playful" will be fun at first, but the novelty will dissipate soon enough, the dog will get bigger and will need to have that energy channeled. If you don't have time to walk it or take it to the park, it will tear up your house. Or dig up your yard. A breed that sleeps and eats all day may not be appealing at first, but might be all you can handle. Do you go out of town alot? Is there no one at home for long periods of the day? How will it pee/poop when you are gone? Will it have to be left outside in the hot weather? If you have a busy lifestyle as far as work and social life, a dog can become a burden very quickly. And definitely go animal shelter. Most places have information about their dogs online. Research the breeds ahead of time so you don't get the wrong dog on impulse because it is playful in person.
I had a golden retriever mix. He was an awesome dog. Friendly and learned every trick. He actually enjoyed alone time, too. He'd go off by himself and just sit alone. (Perhaps pondering life's difficult questions). Not sure what he was mixed with to make him do that (the shelter said cocker spaniel but he didn't look much like one). We adopted him from a shelter. Highly recommended.
As others have suggested I would strongly suggest that you adopt a dog at an animal shelter. If you are located in the Austin area, Town Lake Animal Shelter is a great place to adopt a dog. On Fridays this summer, they have specials where they'll only charge $5 to adopt a dog. All dogs that are considered seniors (over the age of 5) are free to adopt any day of the week. If you are looking for a purebred dog, you would be surprised at the number of purebreds you could find at an animal shelter. I recently adopted a second border collie at the animal shelter. She is an 8 month old purebred Blue Merle Border Collie that was already house trained. Her cost? $35 with her first series of puppy vaccinations, free spay, and microchip. Now most dogs you find at the shelter will be mixes of different breeds and I would wager that at least a good 75% of the dogs at the shelter are pit bull mixes, however all of the dogs with proper care and environment have the potential to be great pets for their owners. The stigma that pitbulls carry with them as destructive dogs is unfounded. An untrained, feral, and abused dog of any type will display aggressive uncontrollable behavior. A good owner goes a long way in turning a potentially good family pet into a great one. So the responsibility lies on you as an owner to train your dog. I would strongly recommend that you do not adopt a dog based on its breed and instead adopt based on its personality and how it suits you. Now this isn't always the case. For instance, Border Collies can be destructive if they're not mentally stimulated and have a job to do. At the same time one of my Borders is a total house dog that would rather stay inside than spend time outside and train. She is definitely a more docile type of dog. Also one of the greatest things about adopting at an animal shelter is you are really saving two lives. You are saving the dog that you decided to adopt and opening up a new kennel for a new potential rescue. Lastly, please do not buy a dog at a store. Dogs sold at stores usually come from puppy mills. They are often times injected with antibiotics, are susceptible to Parvo/Distemper due to poor environmental conditions in the store, and put money into bad people's hands. If you feel you absolutely must adopt a pure bred dog, make sure you adopt from a reputable breeder that is really about advancing the breeding standard and puts the health and well being of the dogs first. A few good signs that a breeder is good is if the dog is registered with the AKC, the owner screens potential buyers to see if they would be a good fit, and if the breeder surrenders the puppies to its new owners around 8 to 10 weeks of age. If a breeder is willing to surrender a puppy before 8 weeks, its generally kind of iffy that they care about the development of the dog. With all of that said, please do some research, consider an animal shelter first, take good care of your pet when you purchase it, and make sure that you can take care of it for the next 8 to 15 years.
Like others said, cheaper and a lot better. And research everything before you get a dog. This is the guide I used when I was getting a cat (but tailored for dogs): http://indoorpet.osu.edu/dogs/
Believe it or not, some giant breeds - Great Danes and Mastiffs - are GREAT inside dogs. They like nothing better than to just chill all day.
Beat me to it, my option would have been go Bullmastiff if money isn't too big an option. They're apartment dogs, which is a far cry from what you would think considering how big they are. Also, they're extremely docile and are great around kids, they need very little exercise and love to just lay around. I have a lab mix I got from the ASPCA, and like a lot have suggested, you definitely want to go dog pound route. If you go, you'll find the exact dog you want, and they'll love you on the spot.
Puppies are soooo much work! Be prepared they have a lot of energy! Adopted one from the SPCA back in February. Cost about 150 for neutering and initial shots. Black lab mix...probably some pit bull and even some hound in him. And be prepared for your valuables to be torn to shreds! Ours in an outside dog, but he still got into trouble; chewed through the main cable line and was going for the others, until I doggy proofed it. Had a problem with holes, but found solutions to that as well. And he loves to chew. For a puppy though he's pretty good. Labs I read are pretty easygoing dogs, smart and good with kids. Pretty spot on I'd say. But again, he's a puppy and he has a LOT of energy right now.
******* people let him make his own choice. Purebreds - Shows you are rich. You can say your dog is purebred; bragging rights. And you will officially be known as a huge dick/douche on these forums. Mixed - (AKA from a shelter) The dog is cheaper, it doesn't has as many health issues as purebreds do, shows you have good character willing to bring a former mistreated dog into your household. Your choice!
trust me, minature poodle, best inside dog eva...won't bite the house like a jack russell terrier does, no shedding, easy to train, smarty, etc.
Have fun waking up at 3 am when it barks to go out, and be ready to shout NO! over and over again while the dogs ignores you.
<object width="425" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9gspElv1yvc?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9gspElv1yvc?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> If you don't adopt, you're probably gonna go to hell.
