Adopting Adult Dogs

Hello everyone,

I used to frequent these boards many years ago. It's been awhile since I last posted. I had two beautiful Siberian huskies who were and still are forever in my heart. It's too long of a story to share, but they are no longer with me. I miss them terribly. It's been several years now since I have been without them and I feel now that my family might be ready for a new dog.

I am really interested in the miniature Schnauzer breed. I have a 3.5 year old son and a 2 month old baby girl. I really like what I have read about Schnazuers. This seems to be the right breed for us.

I've come across several Schnauzers for adoption, but none have really struck me as "the one." We visited our local humane society and loved a lot of dogs, but again none were "the one."

I have a Schnauzer now that was listed online that I have been speaking to the foster parent about. She is spayed and is about 4-5 years old. The foster says she is house trained and is a very sweet girl. I asked if the dog has ever been around kids and cats, but the foster parent has none and does not know if the dog had ever been with her previous family.

This is what I have run into a lot. I want an adult dog but I am afraid to bring the unknown into our family. I have to put my children first and so I am worried that we may bring a dog home that is unfamiliar and fearful of kids or aggressive towards cats. I've asked the Schnauzer foster parent if we could come meet the dog with our children to see how she does.

I've never adopted a dog before... My huskies were with me as puppies. Could you lovely people give me some tips on what else to ask and look for when looking for the right dog? Would it be best to adopt a dog that is known to be good around kids? I'm thinking it's not even worth the risk...

Thank you so much!

Ideally you would want to adopt a dog from a shelter which conducts testing for you in order to evaluate the likelihood (as opposed to certainty) of a dog being ok with cats, children etc.

You could see how the dog reacts to a child sized doll and a stuffed cat; that won't as Sue Sternberg says, tell if you if they will LOVE children and cats, but it will usually weed out some of the more challenging dogs!

A dog that has been raised in a house with children may not be "good" with them, it may have been separated from them in the home.

Likewise a dog that has never been exposed to children may be perfectly fine.

There are no guarantees.

Nearly all mine have been adult rescues. TBH I prefer it. You skip the crocodile stage when they`re teething.
If you are sensible there is no reason it won`t work.

There`s a guide here with some good links

http://www.apdt.com/petowners/gettingadog/children.aspx

http://www.cleverdogcompany.com/tl_f...tre%20copy.pdf
http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Rehoming_000.pdf
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/newdognewhome.pdf