Talk with parents before getting a dog

Dear Tessa, I’m thinking about adopting a dog soon, but I don’t know how to tell my parents about it since I’m still living at home with them. They have been wanting to adopt one for a while now but never got the chance to look into it.

I’ve been researching more information myself, and have a small bundle of things I could show them for information they would need, but I’m still worried they’ll say no because it’s a lot of responsibility and I’m in post-secondary so I wouldn’t be able to look after it all the time.

Do you have any advice on how to convince them to go look into it again without sounding desperate? I think I should talk with them again before I just go out and get a dog, but I’m not sure of the best approach.

Thanks so much, Anonymous

Hey there, Anonymous, Thanks so much for your note; I appreciate you writing in to make more sense of this situation you’re dealing with to make sure you’re going about what you want in the right way. I am a huge dog lover myself, so I think I will particularly enjoy helping you out with the questions you have.

You say you’re worried about your parents wondering if you’re responsible enough to take after a dog, but I think it shows well on you already that you were independent enough to go out and seek all the information you might need about taking after a dog.

Although this is different from caring for the actual dog because you’re busy with school, it shows that even though you’re busy, you’re willing to carve out the time to care for something else other than yourself, your parents and your household, among other things. I strongly suggest that whenever you do bring the topic up to your parents, that you show them all the information you’ve gathered because they will likely think what I just stated.

I think having a dog is a shared responsibility if you’re living in a household with other people. What I mean when I say this is that you might be responsible for purchasing the dog and everything it needs, but if you need someone to help you out with walking it, feeding it at it’s right times, etc. your family isn’t likely to neglect to help you if you’re too busy to do these things yourself. Especially if you were saying they were thinking about getting a dog already, I’m sure they would be happy to help you with taking care of it.

As I’ve said many times before, university is an incredibly stressful time in all aspects - physically, mentally, and emotionally. In an unorthodox way, having a dog is like having an anti-stress being living in your house all the time. A dog’s main goal in its life is to make their owner happy and be loyal to them, so I think getting a dog at this time in your life is actually a really good idea. It sounds like you have a good homelife situation, and I think if you were to get a dog it would only elevate the level of companionship and a feeling of comfort in your home.

It sounds like you’re really worried they’re going to say no, but because you said they mentioned wanting a dog before I don’t think you’ll have much of a problem. I think if anything they’ll be more encouraged to want to get a dog because they’ll see how much responsibility you’re willing to take on with pet care even while school is keeping you busy.

Whether or not you’ve owned a dog before might make their decision lean towards their conclusion, but in both ways it’s not a bad idea if you’re willing to give it the proper care it would only want to give you if the roles were reversed.

Sending love,