I’m in the market to get a Pomeranian. Some friends of my parents have one, and it’s the sweetest, most adorable dog ever. I don’t usually like small dogs, but I’m making an exception. Any dopers out there have a Pom?
Are they easy to train/housebreak?
Are they good with strangers and small children?
We have two cats, can they get along well if the dog is introduced at an early age?
What are your views on crate training?
Do many Poms seem to bark excessively?
How much exercise do they need?
What is the normal price range if bought from a breeder?
I search Petfinder.org weekly and look in the local papers for free or unwanted Poms all the time. Petfinder has so far been unhelpful. There’s a place in the Dallas/Fort Worth area called Recycled Poms, but their adoption fee is something like $150! Plus it’s a 6-hour drive from where I live which normally wouldn’t be a big deal because my boyfriend travels there often to visit relatives, but he’s leaving for college in two weeks.
We have a medium-sized fenced in backyard and a fairly large house with no small children. I want to hear the good and the bad! Having a dog is a big decision and I don’t want to get a Pomeranian if it won’t fit my lifestyle.
In high school one of my buddy’s parents had two pomeranians. Whenever I was over at his house it was
YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP
nonstop! Drove me freakin’ nuts! I can’t stand the little boogers. The worst was when his grandparents were visiting them and they would bring THEIR two pomeranians.
My friend has two Pomeranians. They are really lovely dogs. She got them from the pound when she lived in Austin.
Are you genuinely sure that you are capable of owning dogs? I’m not trying to be a stick in the mud, but the thing that concerns me is your reaction to the $150.
The reason that I ask is because in the grand scheme of things, that is not a lot of money for a dog. If you get a puppy, you will have to pay for shots and neuturing/spaying. Those two alone will set you back $150. What if something happens to the dog that requires vet care? Another thing to consider: you state that your boyfriend is in college. I assume you are, too. Have you considered your long term plans and how having a dog will affect them?
If you have that sort of thing worked out, then forgive my query. I am really just looking out for you and the pup.
A rescue dog will be current on his shots and will be fixed. A dog is a big decision; The rescue where I got my dogs said that one reason they do charge is because they want to be sure that people want this dog. It’s pretty devistating to a dog (or anyone!) to go from home to home. The rescues want what is best for the dog, you know?
Also, for the record, a lot of the rescues I have looked into charge a lot more than $150. So you’re not getting a bad deal, really!
Here is a website for puppies. You have to take the prices with a grain of salt because I belive that they are AKC dogs and I am not sure if you are interested in that. It will, however, give you a ballpark figure to work with.
I think that your best bet would be to talk to or e-mail a rescue group. The people I worked with were really helpful and gave me a lot of information. They also helped me find the right dog for our family!
As for my pal’s dogs:
They don’t yap. Little dogs do tend to yap, so maybe hers are unusual in that regard.
They are apartment dogs and get two walks a day.
They do not care for cats at all. Again, this may be a YMMV situation.
One of the best dogs I’ve even had was a pom. She was a delightfully happy dog, and went with me everywhere. She did bark, but I don’t recall her barking more than any other dog I’ve had. She required more grooming than any of my other dogs. Thankfully, she loved baths and would jump in one uninvited. She also insisted on being blow dried afterwards.
She was house trained, but if we left her alone too long, she would have an accident. It seems to me that smaller dogs need to be let out more often.
She was pretty well socialized with other people, so strangers were never a problem. She was a happy people dog. She wasn’t nippy with people unless she was teased.
She was a pretty active dog, but since she was small, she didn’t need a whole lot of space to exercise. Running around the house and playing in the backyard was plenty.
I remember her as being bretty bright and learning tricks easily, so housebreaking and other training should go well if she was typical of the breed. I don’t know about cats, since we didn’t have any then.
All in all, she was a great dog, and I’d get another if I wanted another small dog in my life.
Fairly easy to housebreak. Not as bad as Beagles, say.
For the most part, yes. As long as the children know how to treat a small dog, you should be Jake.
The dog should be fine, but do your cats tollerate dogs? Not all do.
Do this. It saves much grief.
They bark excessively if you let them. Most small dogs are like this. You let them bark on and on because it’s “cute” and they never shut up. You keep a lid on it from the start (Hey! That’s enough barking now!) and they’re no worse than other dogs. (I have a Jack Russell and a Sheltie (The #1 barking dog! Yay!)so my standards are admittedly lax.)
Buy a tennis ball and a remote control car and you’re dog may never have to leave the house.
From a breeder? Depends. How good a breeder are you talking here? Bloodlines? Show quality or pet quality? Expect at least 250 smackers. AT LEAST. Twice that and you’re still not getting taken. (For really small dogs that have small litters… you don’t want to know.) Then you figure in shots and doggy supplies and incedentals. Dogs are expensive no matter how you look at it.
One of the really great things about Poms is they don’t know just how small they are. (They started out as 70 pound guard dogs, and they didn’t get the memo that now they’re small they’re supposed to be dainty.) So they act like doggy dogs, but they’re just titchy. (Unless you baby them. Then it’s you’re own fault.)
I’m struck at the OP’s reaction to the $150 price tag. Really, the price is very reasonable for a rescue dog. When you consider vet bills, toys, boarding from time to time, the $150 initial adoption fee is a bargoon.
Poms aren’t rare dogs, and a puppy with decent lines from a respectable breeder will set you back $500 to $1000. You don’t want to know what I paid for my PWDs.
If you can put up with frequent, high-pitched barking, a Pom may be the right dog. They’re friendly, playful, typically healthy, and not prone to skittishness like some other small breeds. Small dogs have longer lifespans than larger dogs, so be prepared for the inevitable vet bills that will come with keeping a 16 or 17 year old dog healthy.
Add my vote to the “$150 is a bargain” contingent. This fee helps to pay for the vet care a reputable adoption/rescue group will provide their dogs prior to adoption - things like spaying and neutering, teeth cleaning, shots, etc. If a dog comes in in bad shape, often the fee doesn’t cover the expenses, which is why many groups do fundraising in addition to charging fees. A breeder will likely charge you far more.
If the fee is giving you pause, then you do seriously have to think about waiting to get a dog until you can afford all the costs associated with owning one. You can drop $100 at the vet’s in the blink of an eye - an annual “well dog” visit here in my part of NC costs that much, what with the exam, shots, heartworm testing, and heartworm meds. Never mind how much it costs for tests, xrays and meds if your dog is sick.
That said, Poms can be adorable - a former neighbor of ours had one, and she was very sweet. But she did bark. A lot. And they can get underfoot, so you have to be careful about not stepping on them.
My best friend owns a Pomeranian and absolutely adores her. I find her to be a skittish high maintenance little yapper and those are some of my least favorite attributes in an animal.
However, she is actually quite friendly and will approach you if you sit absolutely motionless for … oh, about … three hours.
My wolf-hybrid tells me they make splendid bite sized appetizers.
[hijack] elmwood you have portuguese water dogs? Ever neat. I
had one come into our rescue once, one of the best dogs I have ever had here. She was a stubborn thing, but very sweet.
[/hijack]
$150 is a very good price for a pom, anything less than that and I would be suspicious of known health issues.
My sister has one, and the thing cries like a baby, very odd, very loud yodeling noise.
The reason I thought the $150 thing for a rescue dog was kind of high is because the lady that I might get a Pom from is selling them for $150 also. They are up to date on all their shots and things. So I could get a puppy with all the shots, etc for $150, or I could take a very long car trip to buy a dog that isn’t a puppy and that I know nothing about and pay the same price. I’m not really worried about if the dog is registered or has papers, because there’s no way that I would ever breed this dog or show it.
I have to relate this story. In the Navy, I worked for a young Lieutenant. He was the Housing Officer on the base where I was stationed. There was a strict rule for military housing about only haveing two pets. He received a call from another officer who was transferring to our base, who stated that he had 13 Pomeranians and asked if that would be a problem. My boss replied in the negative. After the guy’s arrival, neighbors started complaining about all the barking and the mess. When my boss confronted the guy, he said “but you told me having 13 Pomeranians wouldn’t be a problem!”. My boss thought that Pomeranians were houseplants.
Poms! I love Poms. A friend of ours used to have one, and he was the cutest, most friendly little dog. IMO, barking is an issue with just about any breed; our neighbors have a Golden Retriever that just won’t shut up. Train your dog well, and it shouldn’t be a problem.
One word of warning though; be very careful if you have a pool! That’s how our friends’ Pom met his end. He fell in one day while everyone was at work and school, nobody was there to get him out, and he drowned.
A friend had one a few years back that was one of the coolest, most intelligent dogs I’d ever been around. Bandit would mope in the morning when my friend and his wife would start to get dressed for work but if they stayed in bed till 8:00 he knew it was the weekend and that they’d be there all day and he would just explode around the house, full of joy.
Sadly, at the age of just 2 or 3 he had a heart attack running down the hall.
I love my Pomeranian! Maybe he’s the exception to the rule but he hardly barks at all. He was a cinch to housebreak and he’s got a great personality. He’s also very inexpensive to feed and medicate and doesn’t require nearly as much excersize as a Lab or Border Collie.
On the other hand he’s pretty excitable and just can’t seem to leave the cat alone. He doesn’t hurt the cat but he’s always in it’s face.
It can be difficult to walk him because every second person wants to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over him…but that’s okay, I understand the attraction. Sometimes I think he is just too cute to exist.