Still Trying to Decide

I’m back still trying to decide if I should get this puppy. It’s like I’m waiting for some perfect answer to come to my head. I miss my sweet pups every day, but I have to admit I feel some relief from the constant caretaking. My seniors needed round the clock care for the last few months of their lives. Overnight trips have also been significantly easier without worrying who will care for my dogs. But I miss their sweet faces and companionship so much. My world revolved around them.

I constantly think about the puppy I met. I thought for sure she would have been adopted by now. She’s around 3 months now and so smart. She potties outside for the most part (still poops on a potty pad a lot) but her foster mom does keep her on a strict schedule. She sets an alarm to wake up at 1am to take the puppy outside. The puppy also already knows “crate” and whimpers a little when closed in there but only for a few minutes. She’s very affectionate but also in the bite everything phase.

About us: We’ve never had a puppy this young before. Our dogs were around 9 months when we adopted them. One had severe reactivity and the other severe separation anxiety which is why I’m probably way overthinking this puppy. They lived to be 15 and 16 years old.

I work remotely from 6am-230pm. I sometimes need to facilitate meetings with my camera on and it would be an issue if my puppy was relentlessly barking in the background. I have these meetings a couple times per week. I was thinking I could have kongs and lick mats available to distract her.

My husband works outside the home and usually is gone from about 6am-6pm, so most of the day care would fall on me. He does well with less sleep though so he said he could take the majority of the night care if needed but still would want me to help out. I’m a “I need an 8 hour sleep night” kind of person so this stresses me out a little bit.

I also looked up some daycares and overnight care. We have a few here that will 24/7 in home care if we need to go anywhere while she’s young. One of the centers has a dog bus that would pick her up, take her to daycare, and drop her back off which would be nice on my busy days (once she has her shots). The caveat is that we move frequently for work and sometimes we live in less populated areas so that level of service may not always be available.

I’ve also looked up puppy classes near us and private training that uses positive methods only and they seem like a great option.

So even with all this I’m just overwhelmed by the constant puppy care and 15 year commitment. How did you know you were ready? Is my anxiety telling me I’m not ready? Should it be 100% excitement before I get a puppy?