[nagdu] question about raising a pet puppy

[Ioana Gandrabur]

Hi all,

I know, this is not really guide dog related, but rather a general pet dog raising question. Since I don't know other mailing lists and only have experience with trained guide dogs I wanted to start by asking you first:

My sister and her kids want to get a puppy and want to make sure they do right by him. My sister could work from home 2 days a week, and if they get the dog beginning of July they would have 2 months of the kids home for holidays. The issue is with afterwards. Does  a pup that's 4 5 months old require someone home at all times? Would a dog walker once a day be enough? Is it very breed specific and if so do you by any chance have any recommendations for easier breeds in this respect? To make things more complicated they are looking for a hypoalergic dog. In fact they would love a Portuguese water dog. Anyone knows anything about these dogs?

If you know of a good forum to address this question or want to answer me off list since it is not quite on topic, feel free to contact me at igandrabur at gmx.de. 

Thanks for your help,

Ioana