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LDC
Posts 230
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23/05/2012 18:16:25
Totally agree with Chocs01, whilst retrievers are pretty good with children they are big, lovable, pushy and need a lot of exercise. Dubai is also getting more and more difficult to find places where you can exercise a dog. My granddaughter is 10 and has a King Charles Spaniel, goes with her almost everywhere but they can be very yappy like most small dogs. There is an animal rescue centre at Al Barsha who are always looking for volunteers, they even do school visits so their animals would be used to shrieking children, maybe that would be a good place to volunteer and she would get involved with a variety of animals and see which she would prefer to have as a pet. Don't kill me mum if she comes back with a Donkey!!
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Chocs01
Posts 4776
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13/05/2012 09:37:20
Mmm whilst Golden Retrievers are mostly pretty good with children, they can be very pushy and boisterous dogs, plus bear in mind it's a working breed which requires a lot of exercise. Secondly there are no breeders here so you'd end up importing one (which if you read the board enough, many members are against animals being imported into the UAE, when there are so many homeless animals).
I think the main thing you all have to understand, is that owning a dog is a huge responsibility. They need feeding, exercise, cleaning up after, looking after when they're sick, cost a small fortune to take care of and the cost of taking it with you when and if you leave (assuming you're an expat). Having a dog is a lifetime commitment and remember certain breeds and depending how they're looked after can live well into their late teens.
If you're all completely new to animals, I would say a dog is not particularly a good first choice. You say your daughter is 9? So in just a few years when hanging out with mates, boys, college/uni and other interests take over, guess who's going to end up looking after the dog? - that would be you.
Lots to think about I reckon.
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bevil
Posts 17
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12/05/2012 14:34:39
Thank you all for your support and good ideas. I think I'll take my offer back and just wait for people we know with pets to go again on vacations. (too bad they don't live close by).
She is looking forward to have a golden retriever pup. my sister used to have one and my daughter was always around when she spent the summer or Christmas with my family. she loved the dog and the dog was extremely pleasant and good with kids. but still, it was mainly my sister that is taking care of the animal and the kids had only the fun part of it.
I have no experience (as you must have noticed) and this is going to be a lot of work so I wanted her to be 100% sure she wants to have a dog and not a hamster or turtle. otherwise, we'll wait another couple of years.
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Chocs01
Posts 4776
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10/05/2012 11:05:34
Hi bevil, sorry I didn't want to put a downer on your idea, which I think is great for getting your little one used to animals, but as someone that does pet sitting, you never know how an animal will react.
It's very easy to say an animal has to be friendly, trained etc, but at the end of the day ANY dog can turn nasty and become aggressive for no apparent reason - that's why I really would not trust to having a child look after them.
Looking after other peoples animals can be very different to looking after your own. With your own pets, you get to know them and their personalities, with strangers animals who you might not see very often, it's very difficult to gauge their quirks in a short space of time and you have to constantly be on the look out for signs of illness, vigilant that they haven't eaten anything they're not supposed to etc.
I really do think having experience before owning a pet is a fantastic idea. What sort of pet are you looking to get her? How about fostering a cat short term - there are plenty out there. This would give your child the chance to treat an animal as her own and get used to it and you never know it could end up being a permanent addition.
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Freckly
Posts 236
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10/05/2012 09:38:47
I think i would tend to agree with Chocs aswell.
its more of a safety issue for all around, i dont think my dogs would listen to many other ppl esp not a child.
However, i do know that K9 friends have volunteer dog walkers on certain wkend mornings etc, so you can bring her there and she can walk the dog and play with them etc.
http://www.k9friends.com/dogs/dog-walking/
I think its a super idea you getting her used to the animals and the responsibilites etc but would have to be in a controlled environment.
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bevil
Posts 17
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09/05/2012 20:14:22
gees. thanks .. but
- what kind of troubles?
- of course it will be for free. i hope no where in my post made you assume that this going to be a business idea  ..
- you're right i didn't think about emergencies (maybe i am too positive) .. I guess whoever leave their pet would tell me know what to do in this situation.
- i like the idea about the kennels.. i'll check that out. thanks i appreciate your feedback.
for the others, the offer is still open but if you don't mind your pet has to be very friendly with strangers, healthy trained and not too big.
Chocs01 wrote:
Be very careful 'advertising' to do this for strangers as you could get into trouble for doing it. I assume you would not be doing this for free, otherwise you need to be licensed to look after peoples animals in their or your home.
Plus whilst looking after animals you need to be capable of taking care of emergency situations and heading off to the vet if need be.
I personally would not be happy to leave my animals in this situation. There are pet sitting companies with trained sitters for this.
If your daughter wants experience, how about asking to help out at one of the kennels.
Letting her gain experience with animals before getting one is a really good idea, but this is definitely not the way to go about it. The liability of having a 9 year old look after strange dogs with no understanding of how to handle them scares the heck out of me, and it should you too. Sorry this is just not appropriate.
edited by Chocs01 on 09/05/2012
edited by bevil on 09/05/2012
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Chocs01
Posts 4776
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09/05/2012 13:29:29
Be very careful 'advertising' to do this for strangers as you could get into trouble for doing it. I assume you would not be doing this for free, otherwise you need to be licensed to look after peoples animals in their or your home.
Plus whilst looking after animals you need to be capable of taking care of emergency situations and heading off to the vet if need be.
I personally would not be happy to leave my animals in this situation. There are pet sitting companies with trained sitters for this.
If your daughter wants experience, how about asking to help out at one of the kennels.
Letting her gain experience with animals before getting one is a really good idea, but this is definitely not the way to go about it. The liability of having a 9 year old look after strange dogs with no understanding of how to handle them scares the heck out of me, and it should you too. Sorry this is just not appropriate.
edited by Chocs01 on 09/05/2012
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bevil
Posts 17
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08/05/2012 20:54:16
Hi
my 9 years old daughter is looking forward to have her first pet this winter. But to be sure that she is ready for it we have been offering friends to babysitting their pets when they are travelling or working long hours. It has been so far very successful. However, she/we still need more training. If you have a cat or a dog that you want it to be taken care of while you are away drop in your phone number and I'll text you mine.
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