[katyseagull]

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Note that that also means that going on trips can be more costly and burdensome. You have to ask friends to take care of the dog -- which many may do quite poorly -- or board them at a kennel, perhaps adding a couple hundred dollars to the effective cost of your trip. Do you want to do that? It's a pretty real problem.

Regarding a crate, crate training your dog is fine, but leaving him in there for 8 or 9 or 10 hours a day is excessive. Let him stretch his legs a bit and walk around your place. There's no harm in it. Crates for anything but small dogs take up quite a bit of room too.

Another thing -- one dog can keep another company.

Also, agreed with another poster that puppies need, and should get, a ton of attention. It's very important to their socialization.

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Thanks for your reply Blarg. Do you own a dog right now? If you did would you crate him or leave him wander around your house? I think I'd just let my dog have the run of the house probably.

Like I said earlier, I'm leaning away from getting a puppy. I even emailed one of those rescue places in Ohio and inquired about a 7 yr old airedale. I wouldn't mind having an old man. Found out that the dog had just been placed in a home. Bummer [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. I just want a cool looking dog who is slightly older.

I doubt I could qualify for one of those rescue group dogs anyway. I don't have a fenced yard. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I'm pretty unimpressive on paper.