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Old 04-03-2015, 06:07 PM   #81
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WE have 4 dogs-3 small & one 80lb. All old between 9-16. As they pass we will get down to 1. As we are 60 we don't want to leave more then 1 behind for kids to worry about. If you have a small dog you can take it on the plane with you. Right now we have a motorhome & so can take them. When we go to Europe we have a friend or one of our kids move in. They have cost us a small fortune in the past 11 years. WE also now only adopt older dogs.
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Old 04-07-2015, 09:13 AM   #82
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We have two GSD's in IPO (used to be Schutzhund training), they are my hobby. Training and trialing for titles. So, expenses are a little high. We will be fully retired in July, and yes they do restrict travel a bit. Most likely I will have one as long as I live, I can't see a time I will not want to have one around to work with.
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Old 04-07-2015, 10:30 AM   #83
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The GSD I posted a pic of earlier comes from our vet who does the Schutzhund training and takes hers to Germany to show.
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Old 04-07-2015, 10:39 AM   #84
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Although both DH and I grew up with pets, he had severe allergies so I gave up my cat when we got married. We never got a dog due to DS's allergies (although with current research it seems that a dog might have been OK after all). Now that DH is wheelchair-bound and much more of a home-body, I've thought a dog would be a nice companion. He's finally been willing to consider it. So today a friend is bringing over their dog for us to get acquainted, and then we'll keep her for a couple of their upcoming trips. If that works out, DH has agreed we can start looking for a dog of our own. It will definitely be a rescue dog, and not too large, but other than that we don't have a specific type of dog in mind. My only non-negotiable is a dog with minimal shedding.
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Old 04-07-2015, 11:16 AM   #85
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That is great news y'all are hopefully getting a dog!
Regular brushing does wonders for keeping down the amount of fur that my pups shed, especially at the seasonal "turn" in spring and fall.
Good luck with the trial with the friend's dog!
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Old 04-07-2015, 11:47 AM   #86
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We got a Golden Retriever puppy around the time I retired and already had two young-ish cats. That was over five years ago. Still have 'em all.

I hate to be a Debbie-Downer, but frankly I now regret getting the dog .... too much hassle when we want to travel. Now I'm just waiting for them all to die & that could be some years from now.

Don't get me wrong .... I love dogs & cats .... just decided I've owned enough of them in my life already. I live a fairly active lifestyle & the pets are just a hassle now. Not planning on any more pets (except maybe someday if I'm old and infirm & can't get out much.)
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Old 04-07-2015, 01:03 PM   #87
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We got a Golden Retriever puppy around the time I retired and already had two young-ish cats. That was over five years ago. Still have 'em all.

I hate to be a Debbie-Downer, but frankly I now regret getting the dog .... too much hassle when we want to travel. Now I'm just waiting for them all to die & that could be some years from now.

Don't get me wrong .... I love dogs & cats .... just decided I've owned enough of them in my life already. I live a fairly active lifestyle & the pets are just a hassle now. Not planning on any more pets (except maybe someday if I'm old and infirm & can't get out much.)
+1

There are pros and cons to everything. We're pet-free now and enjoy the freedom and change from the years of living a pet owner's lifestyle.

We visit Bernouli the smooth collie and the three cats that live with DS and his DW whenever we're there visiting the grandkids. And we pet-sit for them 2 - 3 weeks/yr when they travel. At this stage in our lives, that's what works for us.

Enjoy your Golden. But when it's time to move on, move on!
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Old 04-07-2015, 04:54 PM   #88
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We have one dog, probably has 4 years left on average. Wife and I have agreed that this is our last pet, despite the fact she is a huge dog lover. Maybe it helps that he is our best dog ever. But he really rules our life, forcing us to stay in La Quintas. We tried camping, but he is big chicken, and freaks out about coyotes, bears, bees, and various other critters.
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Old 04-07-2015, 06:51 PM   #89
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Here's a few things I've been struggling with. I'd love to have a dog.

One is I am a renter - very few house owners allow pets. Any thoughts there?
I don't know what the situation is like in Europe but in the US there are a fair number of apartments and houses that allow dogs. The choice is definitely going to be more limited but most housing sites allow you to search by "allows dogs" so you can see what the housing options would be like.

Generally I think smaller landlords are more likely to allow medium and large dogs (say 50lbs and higher). Larger apartment complexes, if they allow dogs, will likely have weight restrictions (e.g. must be less than 40lbs, etc.).

Many apartments also have breed restrictions. Basically this means they do not allow dogs such as pits, rotts, dobermans, akitas, GSD and mixes thereof (pitts are always on the list but other breeds tend to vary).

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Another is that I have a bit of trouble imagining my dog to be home alone quite alot of the time, and it somehow feels wrong to do that to a social animal. Not talking about the occasional travel, a doggie hotel I'm comfortable with.
Dogs spend a long time sleeping everyday and our dog was fine with our 8-10 hour days at work. I know because on days when i stayed home she spent almost the entire time sleeping.

If we knew we had a longer day we either put the dog in doggie daycare or had a walker come in during the middle of the day.

I think the key is to make sure that your pet gets a lot of exercise and they will sleep soundly. At a minimum we walked her twice day for at least an hour total.

Edit -- it's become very popular for tech companies to allow workers to bring their dog to work. Of course they need to be well behaved, not bark, not jump on people, be potty-trained, etc.
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Old 04-07-2015, 07:16 PM   #90
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Although both DH and I grew up with pets, he had severe allergies so I gave up my cat when we got married. We never got a dog due to DS's allergies (although with current research it seems that a dog might have been OK after all). Now that DH is wheelchair-bound and much more of a home-body, I've thought a dog would be a nice companion. He's finally been willing to consider it. So today a friend is bringing over their dog for us to get acquainted, and then we'll keep her for a couple of their upcoming trips. If that works out, DH has agreed we can start looking for a dog of our own. It will definitely be a rescue dog, and not too large, but other than that we don't have a specific type of dog in mind. My only non-negotiable is a dog with minimal shedding.

Miniature schnauzers don't shed and are low on the allergen producing scale ( for reference )


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Old 04-07-2015, 07:27 PM   #91
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One of my dogs passed away in December. The other, also 15 yrs old, probably won't make it til the end of the year. We plan to take a break on pets and do some traveling and house renovations. I'm thinking we will take a break of 2-3 years and then a dog will be a part of our life again.
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Old 04-07-2015, 08:40 PM   #92
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My wife & I had a lawyer prepare a Pet Trust for the people that would take care of our doggies in case something happened to us.

The other problem we have is our 2 amazons; they're 25 years old & can live up to 40 - 100 years. We thought we found a new home but it didn't work out. So right now we have arrangements with a local parrot club.
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Old 04-07-2015, 09:00 PM   #93
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My boyfriend bought a house with 2.3 acres for retirement and acquired a stray cat. i pretend his cat is mine and buy it gifts. I got his cat a covered litterbox for Christmas and just had Amazon send the cat 80lbs of litter and 12 charcoal filters. I take it treats and toys when I go see them so spend quite a bit on a cat but don't own one. Now I ordered him 22 hens and 3 roosters so will have them at his house and go visit them. I hope they will be good pets but taking him a hatchet in case they aren't. My cousin and I picked him out a pet steer but we named it Number 2 after a tag on his ear so now he needs to get that and another steer who doesn't have a name so he can eat it, he can't eat #2 since he has a name. So I will have 1 cat, 2 steers and 25 poultry pets I don't need to feed or take care of.
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Old 04-07-2015, 09:38 PM   #94
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My cousin and I picked him out a pet steer but we named it Number 2 ...snip... he can't eat #2 since he has a name.
No way anyone would eat something called number 2
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Old 04-08-2015, 07:50 PM   #95
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Our last dog passed away almost 3 years ago. At the time, I wasn't sure we would have anymore dogs in the future, however, I have really missed having a dog. We are now getting a lab puppy in a few weeks which I am very excited about. I am fairly certain this will be the last time in our lives when we would get a puppy.

Full retirement is still about 10-12 years away, when DD goes to college. I am thinking our new pup will live until around that time too. After that, I don't think we will be getting any pets because we plan to do a good bit of traveling.
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Old 04-10-2015, 05:59 PM   #96
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Poodles, maltese & Shitzu's are also good for someone with allergies. They do not shed but must be groomed.
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Old 04-13-2015, 07:37 PM   #97
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1. How do the pets influence where you will retire?
2. How do they influence the type of property you choose?
3. How does age determine what type of pet you get when one dies?
4. How do you deal with living pets in your estate plan?

1 and 2. We are in the process of retiring to a community that allows 2 pets. We are leaving a community that restricted size, so we have a 25 lb dog. (He is a sweetie and is just the right size for me.)

3. We currently spend a lot on boarding him when we travel, and expect to travel lots more and go on longer trips. We also feel bad boarding him for more than a week at a time, but we are looking forward to extended trips. Therefore, we expect that after he passes we probably won't get a new pet until our travel slows down. We'll see how things go...

4. Haven't thought about it...something to work on.
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Old 04-15-2015, 11:16 AM   #98
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No problem. We simply put our pet rock on the shelf when we travel for 2 or 3 months at a time. Much less expensive than paying boarding fees and the pet does not appear to mind this.
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Old 04-15-2015, 04:35 PM   #99
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No problem. We simply put our pet rock on the shelf when we travel for 2 or 3 months at a time. Much less expensive than paying boarding fees and the pet does not appear to mind this.
Sure it is fun to cozy up to.
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Old 04-15-2015, 09:20 PM   #100
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My boyfriend bought a house with 2.3 acres for retirement and acquired a stray cat. i pretend his cat is mine and buy it gifts. I got his cat a covered litterbox for Christmas and just had Amazon send the cat 80lbs of litter and 12 charcoal filters. I take it treats and toys when I go see them so spend quite a bit on a cat but don't own one. Now I ordered him 22 hens and 3 roosters so will have them at his house and go visit them. I hope they will be good pets but taking him a hatchet in case they aren't. My cousin and I picked him out a pet steer but we named it Number 2 after a tag on his ear so now he needs to get that and another steer who doesn't have a name so he can eat it, he can't eat #2 since he has a name. So I will have 1 cat, 2 steers and 25 poultry pets I don't need to feed or take care of.
ha ha ha, I thought maybe we were the only ones.
We have had numerous pet cats that all lived outside, a pet squirrel that would come get us from the neighbor's for feeding time, and even coyote pups (but we got nervous about the parents and had them move).

Outside pets are the best kind, no mess in the house, they are pets by their own choice, or are we the pets ?
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