Does anyone have any advice on how to convince your dad into letting you get a dog?

Well, when i wanted a kitten and my mom wouldn’t let me. I made my sister buy me one on my birthday and bring it over in a gift bag and i acted all surprised. She was so cute and my mom had to let me keep her. We also may have told her that she was “non-refundable” lol;p

First of all, remember that a dog is a commitment to a huge chunk of your life. Most dogs live for 15-20 years. You won’t be able to travel without having to find somewhere for him to go, most houses you’ll want to rent when you’re a bit older do not let you have dogs/cats. Dogs are so, so expensive and I can tell you that fresh, first hand! My partner and I recently got a puppy. We knew it would cost a lot but we never thought it would be this much- we have spent over $1000 (NZD) on him already and have only had him for about 2 months. That’s excluding toys etc, it’s just the basics like his injections, registration, operations, microchip and tracking, food etc.

So yeah just be prepared, it’s going to cost a lot more than you might think lol. But anyway, you’ll need to do research on the kind of dog you want like what it eats, how much it eats (figure out how much it will cost to feed, our dog costs $70 a fortnight and it’s still a puppy). How much exercise it needs, any handicaps the dog may be prone to (very common in small show-dogs), how much registration will cost for your area, microchipping, and whether or not you’re going to have it fixed.

- Consider whether or not you have a dog-safe house. Puppies will eat ANYTHING lying around. Our puppy has already eaten about 6 pairs of headphones, an xbox live headset, and xbox controller, a cellphone, shoes and pretty much anything else on the floor/couch. We live in a flatting situation and none of this stuff was ours which costed us a lot to replace so also consider those costs.

- After all that… what you could do to convince your dad is let him see that you have considered all of this stuff and worked out how you are going to pay for it. Let him see that you have time to walk the dog every day (a big problem in my puppy situation), and let him see that you’ve really taken the future into consideration too. You’re 17, I’m thinking your dad sees this as- you get a puppy now and have it for a year or two, then go off to college and he’s stuck with this dog for 15 years! Let him see that you intend to take the dog wherever you go. You’re old enough that he will listen to what you have to say about the situation, as opposed to like a 10 year old asking if you get what I mean.

Thank you very much! really appreciate it!!