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Curious to hear about some of your experiences adopting/owning dogs as junior associates in big law. Are you able to walk them daily or do you pay for a service? Do you find they contribute to your happiness? When you travel, do you leave your pup with a kennel/hotel or take them with you or leave with them with friends? Does your non-biglaw partner pick up the slack when you work late? Do they resent you for it? Obviously this is all different pre and post WFH pandemic but would love to hear about both situations.

I have wanted a dog forever but kept putting it off. Decided 1L was not the time to adopt and thinking about it again now that my 2L summer is set. Is it worth it in NYC?

I’m in Texas, not NYC, but this is my experience:

I got my dog during 2L. He makes me so happy. I love him more than life itself.

I have been WFH since I started in November, so it has been easy to manage so far. Post-Covid, if my firm expects us to be in the office five days a week, I plan to lateral to a firm with lax facetime requirements or find a job that allows me to work remotely at least twice a week. This way I can spend more time with my dog (I also have many other reasons for preferring WFH). My husband’s employer is switching to 3 days in the office going forward, and our apartment is five minutes from my office, so I’m hoping we can avoid using a dog walker by having him home two days a week, using daycare 1-2 days a week, and then having either him or I run home at lunch to take the dog out on the other 1-2 days.

It’s probably worth noting that my firm only really requires us to be in the office from 9-5:30 or so, and almost everyone goes home between 5 and 7 and logs back on from home after dinner. I’ve heard NYC has more stringent facetime requirements and people are in the office much later there. This might make having a dog more difficult.

Right now, I walk my dog for 20-40 minutes each morning, depending on the day and how busy I am. I love this because it forces me to get some exercise in the morning. I play with him or take him out if I have some free time during the day. If I’m slammed, my husband, who works a less demanding job, takes him out and plays with him. He goes to daycare 1-2 days a week just to get some more playtime and socialization.

We take our dog with us on non-work related travel (he is 15 pounds and fits under the seat in front of us on a plane). If I had work-related travel, then my husband would watch him. If we both had to travel and couldn’t take him with, we’d use his daycare’s boarding service.

Going anonymous for this one because my dog's issues are...widely known at my firm.

I love my dog, and would 100% get a dog again, but you should make sure that the dog you get can handle your lifestyle - a traumatized adult dog with stranger-based anxiety is probably not the best choice. I got my dog as a first year associate and I used a dog walker for a few years when I first got the dog, and used doggie daycare sometimes to fill in the gaps or if I needed to travel, but the dog didn't enjoy daycare and enjoyed his ever-changing dog walkers less and less (dog walking isn't necessarily a career that people commit to for years at a time). Eventually the dog refused to go for walks with the walker AND refused to go to daycare (despite being medicated for anxiety, seeing a behaviorist, we've tried everything trust me).

When I lateraled to a new firm I just gave up on mid-day walks, and the dog did fine just hanging out in the apartment for 10 hour days, with just a morning walk of about 45 minutes and a night walk of around 30 minutes. It was definitely NOT my preferred way for the dog to live, but it got to a point where the dog would either need to be rehomed and somehow adjust to a new family of strangers (and he hates strangers...) or he could just "hold it" all day and not go out while I was gone. I chose to keep him since that's what he wants (he is obsessed with me). Luckily he can stay with family if I have to travel for work. Obviously work from home has been an absolutely dream for him, since he can go out whenever he wants and spend all of his time with me. If he could single-pawedly keep the pandemic going forever he would 100% do it.

There have been some stressful dog-caring days where I definitely feel like it would have been easier to not have the dog (and probably better for my career not to have him), especially since I don't have a ton of after-work flexibility since he has already been inside for hours, but I wouldn't trade my messed up dog for anything (except the exact same version of him minus his stranger phobia). But if I was starting over and getting a new dog, I would do a bit more due diligence in the adoption process, or get a puppy with less baked-in trauma. Think about where you plan to live and what kind of dog will be best-suited to that life style - and if you have a partner who will help and who is on board.

Getting a puppy is a 10-15 year commitment. If you don't know if that's for you, start by fostering or adopting a senior dog. See how it works with your job, and if you don't have time to foster or are resentful of how much it costs to pay for dog walkers, vets, boarding, etc. then reconsider.

wouldn't necessarily recommend getting a puppy but otherwise getting a dog is entirely feasible - plenty of folks in biglaw do it. many people i know who had dogs in law school continued to take care of them just fine afterwards, they just had to spend money on day care/walkers just as they did in school.

I'm sure it's possible to make dog ownership work, but to me that's a lot of unnecessary stress for an animal you won't even get to see that much of. Partners who are willing to cut an associate slack for needing to take care of a child may be less understanding for dogs.

nealric wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:54 pm

I'm sure it's possible to make dog ownership work, but to me that's a lot of unnecessary stress for an animal you won't even get to see that much of. Partners who are willing to cut an associate slack for needing to take care of a child may be less understanding for dogs.

I feel like this depends on your firm’s facetime requirements. As stated above, no one is in my office after 7 or so, and very few people go into the office on weekends. People spend a lot of time with their dogs. Things might differ if you’re at a firm that expects you to only work from the office and stay until 11 pm every night.

I got my dog (a puppy) the first week of June before I took the bar exam at the end of July. Puppies require attention but also sleep a ton! My pup typically slept through a morning Babri lecture and then I would take him out for his second walk of the day. Rinse and repeat throughout the day with lectures/problem sets. By the time I began work in the fall I only needed a dog walker once a day for him. I am married which helps. My husband works more normal hours and was able to help out with the dog once I got into law firm life. I think if you are single then you may need a walker twice a day just in case (or live close to the office). I also recommend dog daycare my dog goes at least once a week.

emc91 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:30 pm

nealric wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:54 pm

I'm sure it's possible to make dog ownership work, but to me that's a lot of unnecessary stress for an animal you won't even get to see that much of. Partners who are willing to cut an associate slack for needing to take care of a child may be less understanding for dogs.

I feel like this depends on your firm’s facetime requirements. As stated above, no one is in my office after 7 or so, and very few people go into the office on weekends. People spend a lot of time with their dogs. Things might differ if you’re at a firm that expects you to only work from the office and stay until 11 pm every night.

As someone who regularly volunteers their free time at a local rescue, I don't think leaving at 7 is early enough. People underestimate how much time dogs need and how much attention they want. Sure, if you already have a dog, do your best to make it work, but if you're considering getting one, acknowledge their own happiness in addition to just yours.

Many rescues won't event let you adopt if you're honest on your application about your job and hours.

I know that it doesn't really answer the question, but I strongly recommend fostering a dog first to see how it feels. Ideally, you'd foster a dog at the very least once you're no longer WFH to see how it goes.

We had our puppy in day care 3 days during the work week/2 days at home alone (with me driving home at lunch to take him for a walk on those 2 days). He was unhappy during the at-home days, but it was workable and he ended up well socialized between day care and lots of attention.

He ended up getting killed in a dog fight at his day care despite it being reputable and no prior warning signs behaviorally. When I told my boss I had to leave work early because my dog died, he laughed because he had never heard of sending a dog to day care. A cautionary note on both the difficulties of owning a dog in BigLaw and partners not being understanding about animal care.

I think managing a dog and biglaw is totally possible but it is a lot of work. The puppy stage is the hardest, but once you have a good foundation of training, it gets a lot easier. I got my dog a year or so before law school and was able to take him to work, so he was very well socialized and well behaved. Once I started working, I relied on a combination of dog walkers and dog sitters. I think the most important thing to remember is that dogs want to be with their “pack” all the time. This is what makes them happy. Being at home alone for 10-12 hours a day is usually a really unhappy life for a dog, so making sure that they are happy is my goal, and I think that looks different for all dogs (especially if they have fear or aggression issues). For my dog (before WFH), I would walk/run 2-3 miles with him each morning before work. I had a neighbor come by in the afternoon who took my dog to her apartment where he played with her dog for a couple hours (they were best friends). Then in the evening when I came home, we would go to the dog park for another 30-45 minutes. If I had evening events, I’m in an apartment complex and I’ve made friends with a lot of the other dog owners, so I’m able to call and ask them to take my dog to the park with them when they go out in the evening. But that’s all to say...dogs are a lot of work. Don’t get a dog and leave it in their crate for 23 hours a day, that’s just not fair to them. Dogs work with biglaw, but it’s a lot of work.

emc91 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:30 pm

nealric wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:54 pm

I'm sure it's possible to make dog ownership work, but to me that's a lot of unnecessary stress for an animal you won't even get to see that much of. Partners who are willing to cut an associate slack for needing to take care of a child may be less understanding for dogs.

I feel like this depends on your firm’s facetime requirements. As stated above, no one is in my office after 7 or so, and very few people go into the office on weekends. People spend a lot of time with their dogs. Things might differ if you’re at a firm that expects you to only work from the office and stay until 11 pm every night.

The main problem with biglaw is the uncertainty. Sure, most firms are probably fine with going home at a reasonable hour and finishing up at home. But what if you have an all hands on deck deadline or a last minute scramble? Leaving may not be a realistic option. What do you do if it's 6PM and you've just learned you will probably be in the office until midnight?

I can see it working with family or a significant other that can be there, but a single person in a new city doing biglaw could have a rough go of trying to do right by a dog.

Itcamefromthesea wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:43 pm

We had our puppy in day care 3 days during the work week/2 days at home alone (with me driving home at lunch to take him for a walk on those 2 days). He was unhappy during the at-home days, but it was workable and he ended up well socialized between day care and lots of attention.

He ended up getting killed in a dog fight at his day care despite it being reputable and no prior warning signs behaviorally. When I told my boss I had to leave work early because my dog died, he laughed because he had never heard of sending a dog to day care. A cautionary note on both the difficulties of owning a dog in BigLaw and partners not being understanding about animal care.

This is awful. I’m so sorry. I was going to add to the chorus of— it’s fine, spring for help when you need it, etc. etc., but then I got to your post. I have no words at how traumatic such an experience must be, and how tone deaf and horrible your partner’s response was.