Hi all,
I hope everyone is doing well! I’ll try and be as to the point as I can with my question.
Not only have I wanted a golden retriever my entire adult life, but I’ve finally managed to get on a waitlist with an amazing breeder and have a beautiful puppy born with my name on him. Honestly with the insane waitlists out there I didn’t think I’d have a shot until 2022 or 2023. But here we are.
So since my pup has been born 2 weeks ago (still with breeder), I have been doing my due diligence and reading everything from A to Z about living and raising a golden retriever puppy. The plan is to pick up my puppy at 8 weeks.
However, I have been becoming anxious with each passing day. Reading about the puppy blues, the large time committment in the first 6 months + 2 months of crying at night/peeing, and just overall dealing with basically a fur baby who cannot yet control themselves is getting me a little overwhemled. Now, those things in itself don’t scare me at all, but the environment in which I live currently makes me stressful.
I currently live in a house with 2 roommates (all 28 years old), in very good sized house, with a very large backyard (perfect for a dog), and we all work from home (pretty ideal), and we’re all very dependable. All roommates are on board for me to get a dog and excited. However, one of the roommates, while I like him as a friend, he is very needy/selfish and overbearing at times (his way or highway) to live with and also is quite sensitive to opposing thoughts. This personality (while I’ve known him for years as friends, only recently moved together in 7 months ago) is making me really uneasy when planning on bringing in a living pet. Good friends don’t always make good roommates.
Our lease is up in May (6months from now), and I plan on moving out and getting my own place with a yard for my dog. Mainly so I can control my life and my dogs life a little more, so that raising a puppy won’t be as stressful.
On top of potential roommate stress, I’m worried that the puppy will impact my performance at work (IT job, pretty easy, but sometimes need to do zoom calls and barking puppies could look bad), and I will not be able to play the sports I love (usually an 1-2 hours everyday I’ll play soccer or tennis or basketball after work).
So here’s my question, and I’m open to suggestions, but please go easy on me. Is it acceptable to ask the breeder to hang onto my puppy longer than the 8week minumum? Say maybe 2 months? That way I’ll be able to find a new place, give roommates a heads up and potentially even move out sooner. The 8 week puppy window is early January 2022, so it’s approaching very fast.
If you say “you’re not ready for a puppy”, I don’t think that’s fair. I’m just a little stressed out at the moment given my environmental conditions. I’ve waited almost 2 years for this dog! Why am I get all scared and worried now???
I know this is a big commitment, and I’m ready, but would a breeder hold onto the dog a little longer while I get prepared?
I hope everyone is doing well! I’ll try and be as to the point as I can with my question.
Not only have I wanted a golden retriever my entire adult life, but I’ve finally managed to get on a waitlist with an amazing breeder and have a beautiful puppy born with my name on him. Honestly with the insane waitlists out there I didn’t think I’d have a shot until 2022 or 2023. But here we are.
So since my pup has been born 2 weeks ago (still with breeder), I have been doing my due diligence and reading everything from A to Z about living and raising a golden retriever puppy. The plan is to pick up my puppy at 8 weeks.
However, I have been becoming anxious with each passing day. Reading about the puppy blues, the large time committment in the first 6 months + 2 months of crying at night/peeing, and just overall dealing with basically a fur baby who cannot yet control themselves is getting me a little overwhemled. Now, those things in itself don’t scare me at all, but the environment in which I live currently makes me stressful.
I currently live in a house with 2 roommates (all 28 years old), in very good sized house, with a very large backyard (perfect for a dog), and we all work from home (pretty ideal), and we’re all very dependable. All roommates are on board for me to get a dog and excited. However, one of the roommates, while I like him as a friend, he is very needy/selfish and overbearing at times (his way or highway) to live with and also is quite sensitive to opposing thoughts. This personality (while I’ve known him for years as friends, only recently moved together in 7 months ago) is making me really uneasy when planning on bringing in a living pet. Good friends don’t always make good roommates.
Our lease is up in May (6months from now), and I plan on moving out and getting my own place with a yard for my dog. Mainly so I can control my life and my dogs life a little more, so that raising a puppy won’t be as stressful.
On top of potential roommate stress, I’m worried that the puppy will impact my performance at work (IT job, pretty easy, but sometimes need to do zoom calls and barking puppies could look bad), and I will not be able to play the sports I love (usually an 1-2 hours everyday I’ll play soccer or tennis or basketball after work).
So here’s my question, and I’m open to suggestions, but please go easy on me. Is it acceptable to ask the breeder to hang onto my puppy longer than the 8week minumum? Say maybe 2 months? That way I’ll be able to find a new place, give roommates a heads up and potentially even move out sooner. The 8 week puppy window is early January 2022, so it’s approaching very fast.
If you say “you’re not ready for a puppy”, I don’t think that’s fair. I’m just a little stressed out at the moment given my environmental conditions. I’ve waited almost 2 years for this dog! Why am I get all scared and worried now???
I know this is a big commitment, and I’m ready, but would a breeder hold onto the dog a little longer while I get prepared?