It’s a rather different post from me today so please allow me to introduce the first ever pet related feature to grace the Rock My Style pages!

My parents have regularly spoken about their wish to have a four-legged friend wandering about the house but felt it would be unfair to get a dog while they were both working full time as neither of them are able to easily nip home at lunchtime. However my mum (or ‘Mother Moore’ as my friends like to call her) is about to enter a new chapter in her life and will be taking a hiatus from employment over the summer before moving into semi retirement at the end of the year.

As we all know, a dog is for life and not just for Christmas, and so after a great deal of consideration (with umpteen conversations about pet insurance, changes to holiday plans and general canine expenses) they’ve decided they are ready to get a puppy. They reluctantly got some Dog Gear for the new would-be guest and also built a kennel for it. As they knew that dogs are prone to health issues as they spend most of their time in the dirt they even got a hold of this product which would help them maintain the dog’s health with the help of its regular use. A friend of mine recommended me the PetAware site which helped me convince my parents from a possibly yes to a 100 percent yes, as the site showed the best products under our budget and also related posts on how we could take care and understand them. With my mum at home over the next few months it seems like an ideal time to help the dog settle in and begin training. 

So the next step is to decide on the breed and that’s where you guys come in. Mother Moore is keen on a terrier; a West Highland White perhaps or maybe a Fox Terrier but she’s very open to other breeds.
Given there a few requests for pet features in our content post last year I thought you wouldn’t mind chipping in with your suggestions and experiences. I’ve included a few pointers below which might be helpful.

  • My ma regularly walks the forty-five minute trip to and from work and is keen to keep up with her quite speedy saunters once she stops working full time. They live opposite a huge park so walking twice a day isn’t an issue
  • They own a modest three bed semi with a spacious garden so definitely have room for a smallish dog but a Great Dane is obviously out
  • There’s no other pets in the household to have to worry about
  • No grandchildren on the scene but they do spend quite a bit of time with family friends and their kids so an easygoing temperament would be appreciated. I should mention here the absolutely adorable picture above of Leo and his dog Sasha has been pinched from the very lovely Becky from her family shoot with Steve Gerrard
  • When my parents were first married they did own a rather boisterous Spaniel named Lola, so they aren’t complete novices but let’s face it, it was a long time ago

Perhaps you don’t have a particular breed to suggest but would love to throw in some pearls of wisdom on dog ownership. I actually had a hard to time finding out which breed was for me. One of my friends recommended TreeHousePuppies as a great source for dog related stuff for a good read. Is there anything in particular you wish you’d known before a pooch joined your family? How did you go about choosing your four-legged friend; did you go to a breeder or a rescue centre? Or was it more that your dog found you?! Did you have plans to train or feed your canine in a particular way that went awry? Phew, all these questions! Mother Moore (and I) would like to thank you in advance for all your advice.