I want to get a dog but I have to work, how does everyone on broadway market do it ?

Your lurcher is a babe.

It's so good to see two sighthounds chasing each other at the park. Our lurcher won't if he's got his ball, or a frisbee etc, but if that obsession isn't there then he'll be up for it.

The new dog walker. Just got to lower the saddle and try it out.
Edit: Took the hound for a quick run around the block and it works a treat and he loved it. Still obsessing with blackberries so I have to keep him between them and the bike otherwise we'd get in a proper pickle.

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Looked after Willow on Saturday. Beautiful, and very well behaved apart from an inclination to dive into every muddy puddle.

My aunt bought her incredibly handsome lurcher Ziggy round to our Devon holiday rental, our Border Terrier was in love.

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What an awesome pair!

We currently have my sister's longdog staying with us.

She looks like a Jim Henson puppet, so v scruffy compared to our short haired Hungarian pointers.

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Known fact that longdogs are the best dogs

Forum hive mind...

Otto is 11 months old and we are planning to leave it as long as possible before having him neutered.

Today, he scared the shit out of me by getting a scent in his nose and running over 500m away tracking it. His recall is normally 100% and he is great off lead, normally staying within 50m of us but today nothing else existed apart from that smell. I just managed to catch him as he left the park and made towards the main road. EDIT: It was clear he wasn't playing games with me...I didn't exist as far as he was concerned.

I assume that he is coming to an age where he is starting to notice the laydeez.

Has anybody else experienced this? Neuter him now? Put this down as a one off, let him be off lead again straight away and wait longer before neutering him?

We tend to walk our dogs in enclosed spaces (though our boy has had the op).

Once dogs go beyond threshold you'll find recall and response to commands just vanishes.

Yeah, I'm ending towards getting him done sooner rather than later.

The alternative is an increased risk of him getting lost or run over and that outstrips any other concerns for welfare after the op.

Well, Otto's hormones had obviously turned on in a big way. The smell of the laydeeez was proving irresisitable.

Our first choice would have been not to neuter him at all but it is unquestionable that its risky to leave a male dog intact in a area that is as densely populated with dogs as Greenwich/Blackheath if he is showing signs of roaming already. One whiff of a female that might have been in season recently and he was off...

Poor chap!

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Might not have been a female scent, but a fox or another animal. Is he a Lurcher?

Mine has taken off a few times for a scent, and when he saw a fox in plain sight and took after it.

Nothing that neutering would solve.

Ah, just saw the above.

Looking very sorry for himself but it also supposed to drastically reduce the chance of bollock cancer too. We have our 9 month Border Terrier booked in for the chop next Thursday, he's become a real pain to walk, runs off after other dogs and a new level of selective hearing. He doesn't hump us much anymore but any guests are treated to hours of pestering. Our baby thinks he's awesome though.

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He's a whippet. He doesn't react like that to foxes, deer, rabbits or squirrels...just female dogs.

Anyway, four days since the snip and he is 100% back to his happy former self. The poor guy cried for half a day or so, slept for the next two days and has woken up as if nothing happened.

Of course, there is nothing to say that anything will change but I think we did the right thing.

I'm going to be collecting a little blue whippet boy in a couple of months! Super excited but also slightly anxious about making sure I get everything right and be as good and responsible a puppy dad as possible.

Any recommendations for guides/books/toys/beds/leads/food/training methods etc etc etc that have been invaluable?

(some beautiful pets in this thread by the way)

Currently we haz an extra dog again.

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Our whippet is a year old now (see above).

I'll have a think of any tips we can pass on to you!

Overall, Otto has been a very easy pup but the first few weeks were sleep deprived!

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Just read all your whippet posts! How does he get on with your cat?

I really want to get a dog, in particular a chow chow. But we both work fairly long hours (home 8-9:30). We have a house and garden.

I would walk dog mornings/evening.

Ian it possible/ok or is it not really right to have a dog in this situation?

I've only ever had dogs at our family home in the country with big gardens, so not really sure how it works in Londons famous London

Not really fair on the dog

Yes, this was my thought but wasn't sure how other managed it. I had thought about a combination of dog sitter & each of us wfh one day a week and one day a week in the office but that would be hard when a puppy.

I just miss not having a dog

What ^ said, if you have to ask you probably already know it’s not a good idea. Quit work and get the chow chow.

If you could do what you say here, then I think it's doable - only two days a week alone at home, with a dog walker/sitter on those days. That's pretty much my arrangement and it works. It means that on days he's left, he has to have a long walk (hour plus) first thing, with lots of chasing a ball or running with other dogs, and another one when I get home - but that's the best bit anyway.

Maybe crate-train the puppy from very young to make taking it into the office easier.