Thinking about getting 1st puppy......help!

    • Silver

    Thinking about getting 1st puppy......help!

    Hi! First off, I wanted to thank everyone for all of their great information, I have been reading back posts for a couple of weeks now and I have found some really informative info..So, My husband and I are going to get our first dog..YAY! He is allergic to most dogs, so our breeds are limited. This said, we have decided on a Min. Schnauzer. After doing much research, we have decided that as much as we would Love to get a puppy, with our work schedules, we just dont have enough time to devote to puppy life : ) I think I have found a 2yr old MS girl in my area. My main question is this, how hard is it to re-crate train and re-house train a dog who used to be inside, but is now mainly outside. This is one of the reasons I want to rescue this puppy, that and the owner is feeding her Purina- blech..
    Also, This is prob. a dumb question, but can you rename a 2 yr old dog? Or will it just confuse it?
    Thank you in advance for all your help!
    • Gold Top Dog
    Hi!  I don't have answers to most of your questions, but I wanted to welcome you and wish you luck on your new family memeber.  I do know that I have seen an older dog be renamed with no problems, also there was recently a topic on here about that and I think the consensus was the same.  Best wishes!
    • Gold Top Dog
    Be careful - if the dog was banished to the outdoors, it may be because of housetraining (or behavior) issues.  If you don't have time to housetrain a pup, you probably don't have time to housetrain an adult dog either.  Any dog can be retrained, but you need to assess your time availability and commitment level.