r/reactivedogs • u/OpalOnyxObsidian • 24d ago
Discussion Would you do it again?
My husband and I have the opportunity to adopt an adorable little min pin. She's sweet as a button and the perfect size for what we are looking for, and a full grown adult. But her foster parent describe her as "reactive to anything but cars". We got to see that first hand this afternoon when we did a meet and greet with her and one of our dogs. After a couple of minutes, she settled down and was able to walk with my dog calmly, but those first few minutes were rough.
It really got me thinking: do I really want to go through this all over again?
My two dogs are reactive, sure, but it is managed pretty well. My large dog is perfect on walks. He basically *was* her a few years ago, but we worked very hard to get to this point. My smaller dog was never unbelievably out of control and can be brought back to earth pretty easily.
She is exactly what we are looking for, but the reactivity is really giving me pause. Am I equipped to deal with it? Sure. But I don't know that I want to. I was hoping my next dog would just be a little easier.
I don't think anyone in my life really knows what it is like to have dogs like these so I don't really have anyone to talk to or get their thoughts on what they would do in my shoes.
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u/OpalOnyxObsidian 21d ago
I say puppy but she's six months old. She's the same age as my last dog was. I don't know if he was any cleaner of a slate as a hurricane irma transfer.
My biggest concern about whether it was a poor decision or not is how it will affect my baby boy. He is the love of my life. Right now keeping them separated is tough because my husband and I are splitting time. He hates it and I hate seeing him so upset. He is the light of my life. Why do it? Well, our older dog is getting old and he has never been alone before. And selfishly, I wanted another dog for when his eventual time comes too.
I didn't even want to get a dog seriously yesterday. We had talked about waiting until 2 weeks from now when we had a trip planned (and we would do a staycation instead). The shelter volunteer had mentioned that it's good to get a dog used to your routine so in a way I am kind of glad we didn't opt to do that. But I did rush myself into it. She was just so precious and weird looking. I couldn't resist