Getting a puppy

[another_time]

I know this is a personal choice, but I was wondering how many of you are considering getting a pet/dog in grad school?

My partner and I are going to be hitting another milestone at the same time as I am starting my first year of grad school.  I really, really want a dog.  He has experience with dogs and wouldn't mind.  He has entertained my ideas when I bring it up by mentioning breeds we could get.  It makes me really excited.

I know it is a big commitment and people say the dog will get lonely if we are too busy.  Personally, I find that to be motivation for a work-life balance.  

What are your thoughts for having a dog/pet in grad school?  I am not a cat person.  

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

I just moved for graduate school this past weekend and will be getting a cat soon. Like you, the cat will motivate me to be at home more often, and I hear often that graduate students need a furry critter to love on to keep them sane! I'm the opposite of you - not a dog person, and fortunately cats are fine with being left alone for long periods of time.

If you were living alone and wanted to get a dog, I might advise against it due to lack of time to properly care for it, but if your partner is home more often (e.g., if he works a normal 9-5 job or something) then it sounds like a great idea! Just be sure you've thought out details such as how the dog will be let outside during the day; this is easy if you have a fenced yard, but non-trivial if you don't. 

Also, your title says puppy... that might be pushing it unless you or your partner will be home for a majority of the day to properly housetrain it. But in the end, it's your decision. 

Another factor to consider is the cost of having a puppy... and not just the cost of food/toys/materials. We had a black lab puppy who completely tore through all of our kitchen chairs, sofa, curtains, etc. Some of this was due to lack of training (see above) but some of it just comes with having a puppy. 

But all of this is just advice from someone who has owned a dog. Best of luck!!

[Danger_Zone]

I'm most likely getting a dog sometime after I've settled in at school. My boyfriend can't move in with me until he finishes school (has another semester to finish up), so I'll probably wait until then, but we've talked about it and are definitely considering it. I've wanted a dog for as long as I could remember, but haven't been able to get one while living with family. My boyfriend also has a cat he is bringing, so even if we didn't end up getting a dog there's still a cat to take care of. I definitely don't think grad school should get in the way of this - I mean, a lot of people have children and jobs while going to grad school - but if you mean a puppy then this may be another issue altogether. To my understanding they are basically like furry toddlers and need a ton of attention and supervision.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Danger_Zone

[rising_star]

Are we talking dog or puppy? If we're talking about a puppy, keep in mind that puppies can only be trusted to hold it for one hour per month of age (so, 2 hours when they're 2 months, 4 hours when they're 4 months, etc.). Even if your partner has a job with regular hours, one of you will need to be coming home throughout the day and waking up during the night, unless you're okay with the puppy having "accidents" all the time.* In addition, puppies have more expenses (so many rounds of shots!) and training a dog is a lot of work, especially if you've never done it before. Ideally, a puppy would go to puppy obedience classes for socialization and to learn basic obedience skills. 

I highly recommend that anyone considering getting a dog in graduate school try it out by fostering through a local rescue group first. Fostering is less of a long-term commitment (a puppy is a 12+ year commitment so you'd be tenured before the dog passes away from natural causes), lets you experience what it would be like to integrate a dog into your life, lets you try out training, etc. in a much lower-stakes environment. That is, if it's really not working out when you're fostering, you can, with notice, return the dog to the rescue group. Once you've adopted a dog, things are very different. I fostered dogs during the second year of my MA and during the second year of my PhD. Why not the first year? I had WAY too much going on between school, wanting to explore my new area and make friends, and trying to adapt to grad school (or a new grad program in the second case). Could I have managed it with a dog? Maybe but I probably wouldn't have made as many friends because I would've been worried about getting home all the time.

I didn't consider actually adopting a dog (despite the years of fostering) until I was ABD and at the writing stage. Why? My schedule was much more flexible, I had a better sense that I would be able to financially care for a dog in the long-term, and (I thought) I had an idea of where I'd be living and working next. I'm now out of grad school and in the academy and can honestly say that having a dog does help with work-life balance but it also necessitates certain sacrifices. My dog is very active (herding breed mix) and thus requires a lot of playing/walking/exercise each day. For the first year I had her (she was 8 months old when I got her), we'd walk a few miles a day plus go to the dog park for 90-120 minutes 5-6 days a week. Now, not every dog is that time-consuming but it's definitely a possibility you should consider. Because of the way my class schedule is now, I have long days 2-3 times a week where I'm gone for 7-8 hours and there's basically no chance for me to come home to let the dog out. Consequently, I have a dogwalker who comes on those days to walk and play with her. Could I do without it? Yes, certainly. But then I'd be committed to spending a few hours walking the dog in the evening when I'm tired and want to relax. 

Sorry for the long post. This is obviously something I thought about a lot throughout grad school. I wanted a dog from the time I started grad school but waited and then fostered because it made the most sense for me financially and in terms of the time commitment. Fostering also helped me realize that I could and should get a dog of my own but I then waited for the right opportunity. I don't know that the first year of a new program is the right time just because of how many other commitments (academic and social) there are on your time. I'm glad I took the time to socialize with people in my program during year one because I built lasting friendships and collaborations that way, which I'm not sure I could've built if I always had to rush home after seminar to walk a dog. 

*I put that in quotation marks because it's not an accident if they are physically unable to do what you're asking them to.

[vonham]

Every time I see a picture of a cat I think of getting one. My childhood cat, who lives with my parents, is quite old and might not make it for even 2 months (so I might never see her again  ). It's weird, though, because I've actually developed an allergy to cats since moving away from home and only being exposed to street cats. So obviously I'd really need to think if it's a good idea for me to get a cat. Maybe once I start living with one again the allergy will go away. 

Either way the first year I can't get any pet since I'll be living with roommates. Allergies aside I don't know if getting a pet is the best idea for me. My degree will (hopefully) require me to travel often, both for research (ie pre fieldwork and fieldwork) and for career stuff like conferences and summer workshops. What would I do with the cat? It's just not a good idea for me now, unfortunately. 

I need to befriend/date someone with a cat, and hopefully that'll be enough for now. 

[hippyscientist]

@rising_star wow thank you for that post. I've been toying with the idea of a dog in grad school starting in my second year for all the reasons you pointed out. Fostering seems like such a fantastic option, I'll have to look into it in due course. Honestly your post helped clarify a lot of things (I know I'm not the OP but still). Thank you  

[rising_star]

@vonham, you could consider volunteering once a week at a local animal shelter to assist with the cats. A key part of what they want is well socialized cats so they often have volunteers take them out to let them run around, interact with someone, etc. That would let you get some of the benefits of having a cat without owning one or having to date someone with a cat. Also, the travel thing is something I was very concerned about as a grad student. But, you find (and pay!) people to watch your pet and it works out just fine. In the first 5 months of this academic year, I took 6 separate trips out of town, the shortest being 2.5 days and the longest 11 days. I traveled less than this during grad school so it was less of a concern. How do I manage? I have a regular dogsitter (the same person who walks my dog during the week) who watches her when I'm out of town. I give them the dates in advance, it goes on both of our calendars, and I leave money for them when I head out of town. My dogsitter actually thinks it's a win-win for them because they get the enjoyment of having a dog while getting paid for playing with the dog.

Long-term fieldwork is a whole 'nother ballgame but I know people who have managed it. My coworker was 3000+ miles from home for 5 months for their fieldwork and let their dog behind. So, again, it is possible if you want to make it work. YMMV obviously but I just wanted to put some perspective on the travel part you mentioned

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

5 hours ago, vonham said:

Every time I see a picture of a cat I think of getting one. My childhood cat, who lives with my parents, is quite old and might not make it for even 2 months (so I might never see her again  ). It's weird, though, because I've actually developed an allergy to cats since moving away from home and only being exposed to street cats. So obviously I'd really need to think if it's a good idea for me to get a cat. Maybe once I start living with one again the allergy will go away. 

Ha, same situation. I also had cats as a child but developed allergies when I moved away. Still getting one this weekend though. Who needs to be able to breathe anyway

[TakeruK]

To add to what @rising_star said, another way you can volunteer with local shelters is cat fostering (instead of just traveling to the shelter and interacting with the cats). There are (at least?) two types of fostering. The kind we did was to take sick cats for a week or two (cats often get sick ("kennel cough" / feline upper respiratory issues) because of the close quarters. Another common occurrence is when the humane society picked up new strays from the streets---they usually need some extra care and need to get healthy before they can stay with the other cats so after initial check-in at the shelter, they go to foster care first. So, we took cats for a week or two, gave them medicine and a quiet home until they got better.

Then they went back to the shelter where hopefully they would be adopted soon. When there is a cat that could use some time away from the shelter, they would contact a foster volunteer and set it up. They'll tell you how long they need the cat to stay with you, what care you would need to do (e.g. eyedrops, pill in their food, clean their noses/eyes) and then if it works out, you can come pick up the cat. When you bring a cat back, you can pick up another one too if there is another cat in need of foster care, or you can take a break, or if you will be traveling etc.

The shelter also supplies 100% of the food, litter, equipment, toys, etc. You don't have to spend any money at all (except traveling to and from the shelter). We purchased a few extra toys so that they would have more stimulation. There are advantages/disadvantages to this: primarily that you can feel like you are doing some good and get to interact with cats at no cost, but the downside is that these cats do require a little bit more care. But, it's perfectly doable with a full time job (both of us were working full time when we were doing this)---most of the care is sneaking a pill into their wet food once a day, or eyedrops in the morning before work and in the evening. But you can work it out with the shelter and they'll match needs to your availability. You can't get attached to the cats though, since they are not there very long---however, they could be: one of our foster cats was a pregnant cat (they didn't know how far along she was) so we had the mother for 2 months before the kittens were born and then we had both the mother and kittens for 12 weeks until they were ready to be adopted. We were able to take on a long commitment like that since we had no travel plans that spring except for a 3 day trip and we were easily able to find a friend wiling to check in on them every day for a weekend!

The other type of fostering is where you just take a cat into your home until it gets adopted right from your care. This is a lot more work, since you often either have to 1) take the cat to adoption events and/or 2) set up appointments for prospective adopters to visit the cat. 

[juilletmercredi]

My answer is similar to rising_star's. I waited until I finished graduate school until I got a dog. Then I adopted an almost fully grown dog (my dog was 10 months old when I adopted her, which was still younger than I originally intended - I wanted to adopt a 3-4 year old dog).

My personal advice is not to get a puppy. Obviously, people's tolerance levels are going to vary, but - as already mentioned - puppies require a LOT of time and training. Just their potty schedule alone requires a dedication from you to run them outside every couple of hours to train them. Then they need classes and socialization, lots of exercise and training. And they cost a lot of money. And they CHEW.

If you want all the love and warmth and fun of a dog you can adopt an adult dog and get that. I've talked to a few friends who insisted that they wanted to adopt a puppy because they wanted to make the puppy "theirs" by setting its personality from a young age. A lot of a dog's temperament is hereditary anyway, but if you adopt smart you can find an adult dog that has a temperament and personality like what you would've raised had you had them from a puppy. A lot of people also believe that adult dogs can't be trained out of bad habits or retrained, but that's simply not true. My dog was still kind of puppy-ish when I adopted her, but she was very trainable. She learns super quickly even now at 2.5 years old. And even if you adopted an adult dog around 3 or 4 years old, you can still train them. Some dogs are quicker learners than others. That's why I highly recommend adopting from a rescue that fosters their dogs, so you can talk to the foster owner and get an idea of what the dog is like. Foster owners also usually start the training process - by the time I adopted my dog she was already house-trained and crate-trained and had an okay command of "sit."

Another reason I didn't adopt in graduate school is I knew I would be traveling a lot. There are conferences and then there's also personal travel. Dogs are expensive to board. Sometimes you can find a friend or someone to watch them for cheap or free, but I've always ended up having to leave my dog with a sitter. I use Rover.com so that my dog is in someone's house as a beloved temporary pet rather than in a boarding facility in a kennel, but the costs are similar - in lower-cost areas I paid $20-25/night and now I pay around $40/night (which is about average in my metro). Plus constantly staying with someone other than you can be stressful for the dog, and some don't like traveling. My dog is normally happy go lucky but she hates traveling - she barely even wants to get in the car to go to the park. When I used to live in State College and drove to New York one weekend a month, I brought her with me, and she hated the car ride even though we stopped every hour for her to stretch her legs and take a walk. (However, she doesn't mind staying with my dog sitter, who has an enormous backyard and two other big dogs for her to play with. That's doggie heaven for her.)

I will say that my dog is a motivation for work-life balance - I know I have to leave work at a certain time so I can go home and feed and walk and play with my dog. She also helps me get exercise - I am always looking for opportunities for Zelda and I to do things together so we can both get active. We've started going hiking together. I think she likes it, and she's really tired afterwards which is a plus!

[clinpsy]

I agree with the other posters that it's probably a good idea to foster a dog first, so that you can get a sense of what owning a dog might be like. Keep in mind, though, that if you're planning to adopt a puppy, they'll require a lot of time and energy – it truly is like having a newborn baby, but almost more work, because you can't use diapers! I got a dog when I was in undergrad, and although most people (myself included) would probably advise against this, it worked for me. I got my puppy at the beginning of the summer when I was working at a restaurant, so I was home all day with her, and at night when I was at work my roommate was able to help me out. I spent most of my days training my puppy (and researching how to best approach training) and keeping her on a very strict schedule (sleep, bathroom, eat, play/train, sleep, bathroom, eat, play/train), and I took her for tons of outings to get her socialized to people, other animals, and the noisy/unpredictable world. I think all of this would have been incredibly difficult, if not impossible to do whilst in grad school (especially the first year). She's now insanely well trained, is a very, very "chill" dog (low-energy), and is much older, so I'm able to leave her for longer days. It's true that having a dog forces me to keep a lovely work/life balance, and it is such a great stress reliever, but she's still a huge responsibility. Also, it's worth mentioning that she's only 6.5 lbs, so I'm able to take her places in a bag, which makes travel super easy (and she comes to the lab with me lots!) Because of her small size, she doesn't need as much exercise as a larger dog, and her food/vet bills are much lower than a larger dog (vet expenses are typically variable according to dog size). However, she has had a few health scares over the years, which ranged from $500 – $4000. Thankfully I had pet insurance, but the deductible was still a lot, and it was obviously an unexpected expense, so this is something to keep in mind. I love her more than anything, but there are still some rare days when I think it would be nice to not have the responsibility of caring for another being, especially when I'm extra busy and stressed, because then I have the added guilt/stress of not giving her as much attention as she should be getting. 

I know you mentioned you're not a cat person, but have you ever owned one? Most people who say they're not cat people end up becoming cat people once they own one (I thought I wasn't a cat person, until I owned one). Cats form very special bonds with their owners and I think that's why most other people don't like them, because they're very aloof with strangers. Cats also have awesome personalities that you don't get to experience unless you own one (I used to have a cat that was honestly more "dog-like" than my dog!) The reason I bring this up is that cats are a lot easier to care for than dogs, so if you really want a pet in grad school, a kitten might be a better option than a puppy!

No matter what you do, research, research, research – everything from breed and training to local vet prices and pet insurance. Too many people impulse buy pets and that's how so many of them end up at shelters, after the buyer realizes they're not conducive to their lifestyle. 

Edited May 15, 2016 by clinpsy

[jrockford27]

Girlfriend and I are both PhD students.  We adopted a dog over spring break, a little 25 pound guy.  The first week, you'll find you'll get absolutely no work done, you'll worry that you'll never finish anything ever again, and you'll probably weep copious tears of fear and regret wondering what the hell you've gotten yourself into.  After that, it's a gradual process of getting back into things.  I'm now back to getting my usual 40+ hour work weeks in.  I walk him in the morning, she walks him in the afternoon, and we walk him together at night.  If you're committed to two walks a day, keep in mind that that's an hour or more a day that you will no longer have for work, on top of the time you take out to play with him and train him.  He's a fun little guy, and he makes us laugh and smile, and makes us healthier more responsible people -- but he's a lot of labor.  Also: money.  I feel like I've spent more on this dog in 3 months than I've spent on clothes for the whole three years I've been in grad school.

I would highly recommend adopting during a break.  

I've been trying to use the dog to my advantage in various ways.  For example, instead of complaining that he wakes up at 7:30, I try to think, "oh, that means I get an early start on my day.  When the dog is sleeping, I'm working.  I know the dog goes down to nap at about 9:30 a.m. and stays napping until about 1:30, that means I need to be locked in during that time.  This is just for example.

Edited May 16, 2016 by jrockford27