[GhostUser]

When i was at the dog park today, walking my dog, i met the cutest most sweetest thing ever. It was a maltese...I've never seen them before and i was just like....i must get one of these! i talked to the lady about where she got her maltese---thru a breeder....but i looked online and there were a bunch of rescue maltese dogs so what i need help with is convincing my mom to let a third animal into our household for my 17th birthday present....anyone have any good ideas???!!!!

-Jenny

 

[kpickell]

no ideas off hand... I'd wait a year till you move out then you can get one on your own... afterall, you're going to have the dog until your 35 or 40 years old, what's one year going to matter.. Are you going away to college? It's often difficult to own a dog while attending school.

 

[kpickell]

one idea... maybe if you saved up an extra $1000 (the approx cost of owning a dog for one year) to show your mom that you were ready to financially take care of the dog, she'd be open to the idea. You could give the $1000 to your mom to put into an escrow account for the dog.

 

[GhostUser]

hehehhee it'd take me forever to save up that much....but whats escrow?

 

[kpickell]

It's like a saving acount set aside for a certain purpose... to pay for dog food and vet bills. But, maybe if you could save up just $500 now and then perhaps just have a plan in hand for what to do if the dog becomes sick or something. And then each week you can put a little money into the account so that you always have some money on hand for the dog. Also, some breeds are more expensive than others, and some are more prone to health problems than others. Mix breeds are usually healthier, unless they're inbred and that's hard to tell. Maltese do best in moderate climates with low rain and usually live about 15 years. Dogbreedinfo.com/maltese.htm can tell you more about health problems and temperment of this particular breed.

Another option might be fostering, as the shelter usually pays all food and medical costs... however you'd have to take him to adoption events and eventually have to give up the dog up when someone wanted to adopt him.