From: wsadkin@bbn.com (Will Sadkin)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: New dog on short notice; what should I know?
Date: 9 Oct 92 16:02:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.ldbb9iINNdd8
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: daedalus.bbn.com

--
Recently, I posted some questions about getting a dog; My wife and
14 mo. old son are at home all the time, and we were planning on
doing our homework, selecting a breed, and getting the puppy in
the spring when Matthew is old enough to talk a bit, and is less
likely to be bowled over by a puppy.  We had pretty much decided
that we liked Samoyeds, and after that, Norwegian Elkhounds, but,
like I said, we were taking all this slowly.

Well, it turns out that, for various family reasons, my father has
asked us if we would take his two year-old Elkhound bitch.  He has
not been able to spend as much time with her as she needs, and fears
this will only get worse in the coming months.  Lely (pronounced "laylee")
is supposedly very good with children, and even small children, but
as my dad put it, is pretty "down in the dumps" from being alone
so much these days.  I have met the dog for short periods before, and
as far as I can tell, she is very eager to please, friendly, and not
a barky dog (known to be a problem in elkhounds.)  She has been obedience
trained, curb-trained, and only uses a crate to travel in.  My dad needed a
decision right away, since he's going out of town for a while, and
would swing by our place (about 400 miles out of his way) to drop off
the dog, stay over night, and show us what/how she has been trained.

My wife and I weighed the pluses and minuses of such a move:

pluses:
- She's a well-behaved, good-natured, housebroken dog,
- We don't have to get up in the middle of the night to walk and take
  care of her accidents,
- Our house will be saved from being a chew toy through puppyhood,
- We get a dog right away.

minuses:
- She's full grown, so (I surmise) our cats may have a more difficult time
  adjusting to her,
- She was MY FATHER'S dog; Elkhounds are known to be attached primarily to
  one person, we didn't go through training with her, and we don't know how 
  she'll really be with us or if she'll ever be OUR dog,
- We won't be getting a puffball Sammy puppy for a while (which we were both
  kinda looking forward to :-)
- We get a dog RIGHT AWAY.

In the end, we agreed to take her on a trial basis, to see if either my wife
(who has lots of allergies, but not to cats) or my son are allergic to her,
and see whether my Father's life settles down in a few months, and he wants 
her back.  This also gives us a chance to see if we're really ready for a dog.
We all agree that my father LOVES Lely, and will probably miss her terribly;
He's just trying to do what's best for all concerned.  He has agreed to this
arrangement.

The real reason for this posting is that I thought I would have more time
to bone up on the responsibilities of dog-ownership, practical aspects of
obedience and correction, grooming, etc.  The dog will arrive TONIGHT.

WHAT DO I NEED TO READ/DO/PLAN FOR RIGHT AWAY???!!!
(I was already in the process of fencing the backyard...)

-help-.

/Will

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Will Sadkin                | "Never draw what you can copy;
BBN Systems & Technologies |  never copy what you can trace;
wsadkin@bbn.com            |  never trace what you can cut out and paste down!"
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Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs