Adding a furry friend to the mix

Hey guys

So the gf and I are taking the next step in our relationship and leaning towards adopting a dog. Not entirely sure if it will be good luck since it is the year of the dog, but we’ll just say it’s a coincidence.

Bare with me, it’s a long post below. I just wanted to make sure I cover everything.

We know we want to adopt, but we’re actually not too clear on the process. We will do a bit more research on our own and come back with any questions. We have volunteered at the Yong He/Zhong He animal shelter in the mountains and all the dogs we’ve seen there are Taiwan Tu Gou (土狗), which we aren’t really interested in.

We are leaning towards a mid sized dog. She likes corgis and I like shibu inus. However, the last few volunteer visits to the animal shelter and we rarely saw any of these breeds. We aren’t dead set on those two breeds, but it’s what we prefer. We are open to suggestions or maybe your friend’s friend’s friend’s dog just had a litter.

The situation as is, we’re in an old 5 story walk up, so not concerned about no pets allowed. I think our main concerns is we both work 9-5 and with a new pup, we don’t want to leave it at home everyday for that long. The gf has days she can take off, but my planned trips this year are already set in stone, so I can’t really afford too many unplanned days off. Both of us can’t work remotely. I know the first few weeks are tough on both parties, but I want to make sure it isn’t too harsh on us and the furry one if we’re away for 9 hours of the day. Question here is, has anyone ever adopted and had to leave the pup at home alone?

Lastly, financially, we will split the cost of living for the pup, but we have no idea how much extra we will be spending. Food, bed, collar(s), leash(es), toys, a better vacuum and a groom/doctor visits is all I can think of right now. Aside from the initial purchases their necessities, I expect monthly costs to be roughly 5000NT, not including grooming and doctor visits. I know there’s no pet insurance in Taiwan and doctor visits can be hella expensive, but I don’t even know what a huge ass bag of dog food from Carrefour or even Costco costs. Any insight on this would be helpful!

1 Like

I think @icon is looking for a new home for one of the 327 dogs she has.

6 Likes

Our dog at home alone from 9am~6pm - His wearing diaper because he pee everywhere :no_mouth: he bark so loud sometimes.

Diaper (for baby): NTD 250~265 (the cheapest one) from PX mart.
Dog food big bag: cost about NTD 700 (no idea how many months he could finish it)
Can food depend on what type there’s a lot, but not into it.
I cooked chicken breast for him (not always)
Grooming every 2 months NTD 1,600 including 3 x bath (you can arrange the schedule)
Nail/hair trimming around eyes and other part extra cost NTD200 (this is after a month of overall grooming)

Blanket used old one and always change every week.
Towels.
Leash - NTD 1,000 +
Vaccines - I forgot how much I think TWD1800-2000 for vaccines.

If need operation like my dog he got some cyst - TWD 3k above.

Thats all I could share.

3 Likes

Dog food is made from shit and food colouring. It actually works out about the same price, I’ve found, to buy cheap pork. I just stick it in a big pot with some water and roast it. The dog loves it and you can mix it with dog biscuits if you want to. For a medium-sized dog maybe 2000 a month, and there really aren’t any other regular expenses.

Vet visits are fairly reasonable, depending on exactly what the problem is. You’ll rarely spend more than 1000 for routine issues.

You DO need to make sure somebody can take the dog for a walk, at least once a day. There is no workaround for this. I would really think long and hard about doing this, because dogs live a long time and if anything, um, goes wrong, the dog still needs a home.

Sean (the guy who was running the sanctuary) is a strong advocate of giving raw food to dogs because that’s what they need. I often feed homeless dogs and when I find a new group/herd/swarm of poor-looking doggos it only takes a couple of weeks of raw chicken and meaty bones to make them look like new.
We even had a puppy at home for a few weeks, we found him under the rain and kept him with us for some time while we were looking for a permanent home (couldn’t keep him at the time). He absolutely loved raw chicken.
Bonus points: any meat stand in traditional markets throws away a lot of chicken. The lady where we buy our meat is quite happy to have less “rubbish”, and I can use it to either made chicken stock or feed the rice field dogs.

2 Likes

It’s really tough on the dog to leave it at home all day with no run outside and also no contact with owners or other dogs. Can you or your gf take turns going home at noon to take your dog out for a walk? Alternatively, do you or your gf have relatives who live nearby you can have a doggie share with, where you drop the dog off at their house every morning and pick it up to take back home every evening? We did that very successfully with my parents for years. BTW, I grew up with a corgi, and they are very strong-minded dogs, and need time to exercise and to be outside. Good luck!

I want dog/cat but not here in Taiwan but got no choice darn X does not want him so
the little dog stay with us.

It is big responsibility, when he barks - your neighborhood will get mad of noisy dog.

You will get tired getting up and opening the veranda door for him so he can do his nature.
You need to change his diaper TWICE a day.

My dog got hair cut every two months and quite costly - I cut/dyed my own hair just to cut cost.

There’s a stray dog that lives near me. She’s very sweet and friendly. She used to be owned by somebody, then got abandoned, and is now sort-of looked after by a bunch of neighbors. Every time I pet her, somebody asks me to take her. She’s medium-sized, short hair, breed uncertain, very intelligent, a few years old I guess.

Thanks for the info @jo , any info is helpful at this point and time. I don’t think I plan on buying diapers for the pup. I don’t know much about dogs, but if I had to guess, if you’re giving it diapers, it’ll adapt to the diapers and rely on them. So…you’re going to be be buying diapers on a monthly basis?

Thanks for the insight on this guys. I’ll definitely keep this in mind when calculating raw food into the budget and as an option.

I’m close enough to make lunch break runs home, but that would mean, I don’t eat lunch. I can compromise since it’s very lax at work and I can eat at my desk if I have to. This could be an option for the first few weeks or month.

Yes, my parents don’t live too far away and their apartment complex allows pets. Mom loves dogs, but dad is against it, so that’s why I’ve never had a pet growing up. It will need some convincing. There’s always someone over at grandma’s house, but that’s a bit far out of the way on my commute to pick up and drop off.

Our dog is quite old and diaper size is M (for babies) - 1 bag has at least 54 piece
yes I’m buying every month.

But if in case your pup is girl - you will need a different diaper the sales lady will show you what you will need. You also need to train the baby dog.
If it was baby dog like few weeks you need bottle and milk :smiley: …memories from the past…

Then after few months this baby girl dog will have menstrual period so you need to buy her tiny underwear from pet shop and small napkin (you can get some from your gf)

Now, I just want a fish in small aquarium.

I don’t know if he still follows the forum, on Fb he’s Seán McCormack and he always shares useful info about doggos.

1 Like

His account was doing weekly updates last year with adoption ads, but haven’t seen him since. I’ll give them a PM when the time comes. Thanks Ibis.

Some shit went down with the Sanctuary - plus he has a baby - so it’s slowed down. He’s still rescuing animals though. You can google raw feeding for details though. There’s a lot of info, but the long and short of it is: fresh, raw chicken. With bones is typically fine, within reason.

I’m not really convinced dogs need diapers and sanitary towels. Frankly it sounds like you’ll cause the animal a lot of distress if it has to poo in a diaper. If you can’t take the dog outside twice a day, give it a toilet tray and train it to use it.

Also: spaying.

While raw meat is obviously closer to the dog’s natural diet, I’d be concerned about contamination. Chickens are raised and slaughtered in horribly unsanitary conditions and the carcass is usually contaminated with … fecal matter. I suppose dogs eat worse things in the wild, but personally I’d want to cook the meat just to be on the safe side.

1 Like

I just just Googled “mid-sized” dog and it seems like I’m looking for a small dog if we prefer corgis and shibu inus? My assumption for “small” dogs are like @Icon 's Bobby. Ones in which you can hold in your hand or wrist when they are full grown.

I guess I’m looking for small-mid sized?

@Finley,

Our dog is leg lifter quite annoying to tell you honestly as their pee are incredibly smelly.
He pee on my sofa, he pee everywhere and where I am going to get time to walk a dog as I mentioned I worked 9-5 + No I didn’t choose to have a dog.

I rather have him to wear diaper rather killing myself cleaning up his pee
He pooh in veranda.
He know how to get out but of course he doesn’t know how to get back indoor.

New dogs I don’t think you can leave for 9 hours alone. They get scared and separation anxiety if you leave them in the beginning. You have to train them to get used to you leaving them for a few hours slowly.

Puppies are so cute but they are a pain in the a$$. My daughter has a tugou mix and he is very loyal, but nervous about every sound because he is not the alpha dog. He needs to be in a crate at night because he’ll bark for every sound. The crate makes him feel safe. He is very well trained and does not pee or poop in the apartment. He will wait until someone gets home but we try to keep it at 4-5 hours tops. He’s a big beast, too. One friend has a cute chihuahua that someone had trained for over 4 years and that would be an ideal dog in Taipei. Pick him up with one hand and run down the stairs. When you’re training a new puppy, it takes a week to a few months. He stays in the crate until you take him outside with a treat to reward. I would take him out every hour at first, then stretch to two hours, then to 3, etc. You can’t get angry if he has an accident or it will just take longer to train him. You never relax around a puppy. They have teeth like razors and are learning not to nip. They’ll retrieve everything in your house to you and you’ll find things you didn’t know were there. My daughter invested in a set of dog training lessons from Pet Castle. There are really nice boarding places here too if you’d like to take a vacation. It’s expensive but they do a great job.

1 Like

whats wrong with taiwan tu gous? they are good looking and have a similar ‘wild’ temperament to shibas from what i’ve read? same size too ? surely they would be the healthier option too?

King is Tugou and something else that has a beard. He has the curled tail but his ears flop a little. A true Tugou is really rare and valuable. King

4 Likes