Other half is allergic to cats so we can’t have one. While I’d be happy to leave a cat home alone all day, I’m not sure you can do the same with dogs – or can you? Everything I have read about greyhounds says they sleep most of the time – does the same go for whippets?

I’d say that if you want a dog you can treat like a cat, then it’s best not to get a dog.

Sorry, not very helpful, but especially when they’re youngsters, you need to give them lots of time.

What about a ferret or a rabbit? Ferrets are meant to make fantastic pets.

Or an exotic mammal? From wikipedia..

* Anteaters like giant anteaters and southern tamanduas
* Canidae like arctic foxes, coydogs, dingos, fennec foxes, gray foxes, and wolfdogs
* Civets like binturongs and genets
* Deer like reindeer and leaf muntjacs
* Duikers
* Felidae like bobcats, cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, cougars, lions, ocelots, servals, and tigers
* Marsupials like opossums, red kangaroos, short-tailed opossums, wallabys, wallaroos, and wombats
* Mongoose
* Mustelids like badgers, minks, and otters
* Primates like capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, guenons, lemurs, macaques, marmosets, slow lorises, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, sykes’ monkeys, tamarins, tarsiers, and vervet monkeys – see Pet monkey for more.
* Procyonidae like cacomistles, coatimundi, kinkajous, raccoons, and ringtail cats
* Rodents like chipmunks, degus, dormouse, flying squirrels, groundhogs, patagonian cavys, pouched rats, and prairie dogs.
* Spotted Hyena
* Tapirs

I don’t even know what half of those are.

Why would you want to kick a dog?

Back in the 70s we used to let our dog out to roam the streets while we were at school and mum & dad were at work.
I don’t think you can do that anymore 🙂

(and leaving them at home alone all day is a no-no.)

My brother has got a whippet. It needs loads of exercise.

My brother lived in a house in Liverpool that belonged to a bloke who had had a nervous breakdown in the Falklands. The bloke’s dog was stark staring bonkers, it never went out so had scrabbled almost right through the back door and crapped all over the kitchen. One day my bro let it out and it legged it, never to be seen again. Nobody seemed to be bothered.

The lounge had built-in fish tanks which had gone dry and green, there were dead fish and weeds stuck to the sides and bottoms, it stank.

What about a ferret or a rabbit? Ferrets are meant to make fantastic pets.

Or an exotic mammal? From wikipedia..

Anteaters, aardvarks, lions, bears, horse to live in the garden, lemurs, any form of primate, sloths have all already been vetoed. Maybe he’ll go for a kinkajous

We’ve got a lurcher who is mostly greyhound and whippet she can be left with her kennel in the backyard all day and seems not to care, if your at home she just sleeps. She doesnt get left as amatter of course but has had weeks of being left from 7.00am to 5ish ands has shown no signs of problems neigbours dont her her.

But why would you want to?

Anteaters, aardvarks, lions, bears, horse to live in the garden, lemurs, any form of primate, sloths have all already been vetoed. Maybe he’ll go for a kinkajous

The Honey Badger remains un-vetoed then ?

One of these

Or these?

Ferrets need a lot of attention,tho they do tend to sleep through the day,and come alive at teatime.
Ian

Don’t get a pet. If you can’t / don’t want to invest the time in them, they will get bored and frankly, you should just get an animal screen saver on your computer instead.

I seem to remember being told our dog has the mental agility of a 3 year old child. I know it isn’t the same, but you’d not leave a kid at home alone for 8 hours a day.

Why would you want to kick a dog?

to let everyone in the room know it wasn’t you who farted

I find the same marinade works for both.

I seem to remember being told our dog has the mental agility of a 3 year old child. I know it isn’t the same, but you’d not leave a kid at home alone for 8 hours a day.

Its not even close to being the same, my dog will happily sleep for 22 hours a day. Maybe his original question was just badly worded. Anyway you wouldnt be able to leave a puppy for that long, but a happy well exercised adult dog will be fine despite what many people will tell you.

Yes, pour petrol on it and set it on fire, it goes ‘Woof!’

Oh, no hold on, that’s making a cat sound like a dog or something.

Anyway. That!