Good evening everyone!
I am seriously considering adopting the puppy that is asleep in my lap right now. I'm 18 and work at an animal shelter. Took home two (out of the twelve) labrador retriever/pitbull puppy mixes we're housing because we didn't have enough fosters for all of them. One looks like a male blue fawn pitbull; eyes and everything. Seems like he's gonna have the coloration of a pitbull and the build of a stocky labrador retriever (without the shedding- yay!). He has a big personality- was the biggest in the litter, so lots of confidence and honestly a bit of a bully to the other puppy. I will have to socialize him really well. Though, I can take him to work with me to meet dogs + people and I love hiking so he'll definitely get around. I get an hour lunch break to be with him and the dog workers will let him out/help out with enrichment as they do their rounds. He's also a cuddler- whenever I settle down in bed or on the couch he flops right on top of me and passes out. Guessing he got the snoring + farting from his pitbull mom food? He's food driven which is a major plus- but maybe all puppies are. It only took about 8 minutes before he learned not to beg for food at the table through firm "No's" and rewarding. Smart cookie!
My parents aren't thrilled about me wanting a dog (I've wanted one for years and years) but I'll be getting my own apartment in 2 months he'll be welcome in. I would work something out with my parents until then. I don't make a ton of money ($15/hour, 35 hrs/week) and I'm going to college, but rent is $350 and I have $19k saved up from working through the pandemic. Also the shelter gets way more donations than we'll ever need so we get free overstock all the time. He was neutered today (handled it really well!), vaccines will be all set, and adoption fee around $200 (employee discount). Typing this out I realize I'll probably only have to pay for food + vet checkups for the first few years. And I get a discount from the vet clinic too. The
I guess my biggest worry is the pitbull genetics scaring off future housing options. I'll have him till I'm 32-ish if all goes well. I really have no idea where I'll be by then. I'm going to college part-time (2 days a week) for hospitality management but am considering sticking with animal care for a while. If I switch majors to vet tech I'd have to either take online classes or live out-of-state... lots of decisions to make with that.
Anyways, thank you if you made it this far. What do you think? Can I do this or is it a stupid idea?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/q6dw6v/new_puppy_yay_or_nay/
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