We only adopt rescues. That said, in 2015 I lost both of my boys within 9 days. One to cancer and one to a broken heart and old age. I have not yet been able to rescue another 2

I'm in the right away camp. We found our first Shar Pei wandering a mountain road. Long story short he graced our house for 13yrs before passing of cancer. Life was almost unbearable without him around. Within a week I found his successor at a rescue and she came home with us. For me, coming home to an empty house just amplified the loss of my best buddy and made the decision easy. Not everyone is the same, let your tell you when it's time.

Over my lifetime, every dog that we lost was replaced by a puppy within a month or two. The wife and I always considered it a kind of salute to honor our departed friend.

I lost my little beagle in February and I said I was done with pets for a while.

A month later I rescued a pup from a pretty miserable situation.

He is an incredible bundle of rambunctious puppy energy and joy. I wouldn’t trade him for the world and he has done wonders to heal that horrible, empty hole in my heart.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Also, an older gent whom I hunt with gave me some good knowledge, "unless you're ready to stop having a dog in your pack, always get a puppy a few years before the oldest ages out. This way the puppy has someone to learn from and play with and; the older one gets like to act like a puppy again."

Just food for thought.

We knew Jake was going down hill.
We adopted Ava in November. Jake initially hated her. I think he knew what was happening...
Jake was gone in January, a mere 2 months after we adopted Ava.
I think Ava learned a thing or two from Jake and having her eased our pain.

In 2017 I lost my 20 year old best friend, a Siberian named Alaska. Two days later, I found a Siberian in a nearby rescue, That so much resembled Alaska.

I opened up my heart, and put aside the notion of waiting till the time was right, and adopted Tank, who has been a blessing. If I had waited my dear friend Tank would have not been in my life.

Let your heart be your guide. Good luck.

If your dearly loved and recently departed dog was deciding for you, how do you think they would choose? T think they would say honor me by showing love to a dog that needs it. Way more dogs than there are good loving homes.

We picked up a rescue three months after we lost our lab. I really didn't want to, but my wife and son put a full court press on me and I couldn't refuse. The loss was an open wound and I was resolute not to get attached to the new dog. I took awhile but he finally wormed his way in. A year later we lost our second lab, and a year later we got another. A blonde lab. Nicknamed the both of them Blondie and Tuco.

The longest we have went is a month after the passing of a dog. For the last 20 yrs we have always had 2-3 rescues. Anew pup helps the hurt.

I live with the thought that I haven't lost my dogs, we're just separated for a time. When I finally die I truly believe I'll cross over the rainbow bridge and find all of them waiting for me under a large oak tree on the other side. That is one of the happiest thoughts I have. So in the interim, I can do something good for a rescue dog that doesn't have a home who in turn will make my life happier.

I lost my GSD 4 years ago. She was Schutzhund trained, and I was the owner, handler and trainer. Thousands of hours of training. At 7.5 years old she got Leukemia and I had to put her down, on a Saturday. The following Saturday I rescued a Belgian Malinois from a K9 officer in TX who had rescued her. That’ quite a long story I won’t bother you with. God was involved.

My Mal actually had a severe injury today while she was being worked. She cannot put any weight on the rear legs and was screaming in pain. I had to carry her home. Headed to the vet tomorrow. If it’s hip dysplasia causing leg injuries I will have to go through this all over again.

Everyone is different. My normal advice to local people is get back on the horse/bike as quickly as possible. But as others have said in this thread, if I have to put my Mal down, I will be obliterated and I may toss all my crates and beds in the trash and never train k9’s the rest of my life. I just don’t know. Me and this Mal are as close as I have ever been with a K9. There is just no right answer for everyone. We are all different.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Me and this Mal are as close as I have ever been with a K9.

Close to your dog you say...I believe I know exactly what you're talking about. I absolutely love this character and will be broken badly when he eventually leaves me.

Some people say jump back in, some say wait. You never know what's going to happen. I had a Great Dane and a Chocolate Lab that I loved dearly. They died fairly close to each other, after some very taxing health issues (financially, emotionally, physically, you ever try to carry 160lb Dane down stairs?).

I know I'm not ready for an other dog. But here comes my wife with some mutt that one of her friends teenage kids adopted (stupidly) and couldn't handle. High energy, dog aggressive, destructive.

Well, I hate that damn dog. My wife loves him, and he's a pretty good alarm dog. But he's very likely to bite somebody or another dog, given his temperament. I'm always fully on guard when walking him, or when people come over.

I have some resentment about her not giving me the time to get to the stage where I was ready, and I'm sure I take some of that out on the dog.

I love dogs. But not this one.

So I say wait until that moment where you know can't imagine not taking the dog home.

Our first Dachshund was a rescue that we had 14 years. The last several he dealt with diabetes, going blind, and that day came. We live about 5 minutes from our vet, worst five minute drive ever.
The vet did her job, we spent a few minutes with him, and cried all the way home.
Our "official" grieving period lasted about two weeks. The wife and daughter got on line and found a breeder and picked out a pup. When the 8 weeks or so was up, the breeder hinted she was having trouble getting someone to commit on a dog they had picked out. Long story short, we have two brothers out of the same litter. Don't regret a minute of having two, brothers out of the same litter no less. I say your pets that have passed have a place, but get another, or two. Life goes on.

As a number of dog lovers on this Forum know, my wife and I lost our two previous Scottish Terriers within a few months of each other early last year.

When the first one (the oldest) passed away, we couldn't find any rescue Scotties, so we found a breeder who'd just had a litter. We picked a female and fell in love with her.

Within a couple of months, the other one passed away. We were heartbroken, but the new puppy has been a sheer joy. Now that she's almost 18 months old, we're scouting around for another Scottie so she'll have a playmate.

The four we've lost since we've been married all left a big hole in our hearts when they crossed the Bridge, but our new girl has helped fill it.

Sorry for your ol' girl leaving you, know that hurts. We were in similar boat when our kids were Soph/Sr in high school when our 15YO lab finally gave up. Tough time.

My answer will be different than most and may seem selfish. In fact, that's exactly what it is, but also recognizing the difficulties in raising another dog, the fact that it's a 12-15 year commitment and that the dog needs to be considered in this not just our feelings of the moment and what our kids "want" or we think will make us happy for the near term.

With kids at that age we could see we were on the brink of being empty-nesters. We're not wealthy but also knew that was going to free us up to go and do with less planning, restriction, etc. and we were really looking forward to that. Not talking European vacations, just stuff like jumping in the car in the morning in McKinny, TX and going on a 8-12 hour tour around the state on a Sat hitting 3-4 BBQ joints. Getting in the car to go visit friends or family who may or may not really want a big dog in their house. And so on.

With another dog that either gets curtailed or introduces challenges that will likely inconvenience others or result in boarding the dog, which we weren't a fan of.

So our decision, acknowledging the actual facts above, was it was a stage in our life where taking advantage of that second opportunity to act like we were in our 20's again was more important to us that having another pet at the time. We acknowledge that we wanted to at a time in the future but it was going to be at or closer to retirement. Sure the same issues exist then but we'll have more time for the pet and accept that all the issues and challenges remain, we're just taking a break from that.

YMMV, and this approach certainly isn't for everyone. Our "dog friends" including the couple who bred our lab thought/think we are nuts and continue to state they just don't understand how we live without a dog in our life. I get that, but everyone's not the same and may not have that overwhelming need. I did learn telling them I don't understand how they can't live without a dog in their life got a conversation going!

Whatever you do, I'd suggest taking some time and thinking through the long term implications of your decision. I've seen so many families, some relatives, jump out there and "replace" a pet who passes away because they're hurting, think that's what they're supposed to do, whatever. Doesn't always look like they're happy with that decision months/years down the road.

I’m sorry for your loss.

Everyone is different, and even the same person’s response may change over time. Mrs. slosig used to want to wait six months or more. Her mourning period is much shorter now. The new dog(s) will never replace the old, but in time they will find their own place in your heart.

We lost our 14 year old English Springer Spaniel in 2016. We had her since she was 6 weeks old. It was a bad time for all of us when she died, especially since it was sudden. As much as I like dogs, I didn't want to get another one at the time. I didn't want to think about having to see another one pass. My wife and son outvoted me though, and we ended up getting another Springer puppy. The two dogs are the same breed, but they don't really look alike or act alike for the most part. Every once in a while though, the young one does something that reminds us of our old friend and brings back fun memories of her. In our case, we're really glad we got another puppy as soon as we did.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Me and this Mal are as close as I have ever been with a K9.

Close to your dog you say...I believe I know exactly what you're talking about. I absolutely love this character and will be broken badly when he eventually leaves me.

Yep, that is a common sight with me and mine. No small feat for Maligator, that had been abused. One minute she is doing work/drills, and/or ready to kill a burglar. The next she is curled up like in my arms.

Dropped her off at the vet this morning. She can't walk or use the bathroom without assistance. I had to carry her out to the yard and had to carry her into the vet. My fingers are crossed it's a tear. If it's a broken hip, well it's the rainbow bridge.

I've been through the lost a dog, get a new dog too many times. The best one for me was put down old dog on one day get new dog the next day. The shorter the time between dogs the better, for me. You may feel differently and that is okay.
Rod