Keeping a dog with you during university!

I have been wondering recently if bringing Cali here to live with me during the school year would be the best thing for her or not, so I'm hoping to hear your experiences.

As a bit of context, Cali is currently at home with my mom... who works a typical daytime job but she does a lot of work at home too. Additionally, she works as a waitress for some extra cash and because she gets bored when she's not working at the school. So she is gone a fair bit, but she does have someone come and take Cali if she's gone for more than eight hours a day.

If she was to come here, I am away in classes from usually 10 to around 4:30 each day, and I go to an hour long fitness class five days a week. There would likely be someone home between those hours. The weather is generally better here too compared to the weather back home, so that could equal more time outside. I also play with Cali and give her lots of attention when I'm home, which I know my mom has said that she doesn't play with Cali much... just takes her for walks. I also train Cali so she'd get mental exercise living with me too. Not to mention regular baths and more extensive grooming.

My landlord doesn't mind pets either and my roommates would love to have a dog around, so that won't be an issue at all.

My main concern is exam season... how have yours handled it when you have to spend extra hours studying!

Sounds like being with you would be preferable to Cali, even if your mother takes good care of her.

I had V when I was at university with no issues. Exam periods, eh, she maybe didn't get as many walks, some days maybe even no walk at all, but I don't think she was any worse off for it. It's only a couple weeks each semester so I wouldn't worry about it.

Your situation sounds ideal.

The biggest thing for me was definitely having supportive roommates, who didn't mind occasionally watching Leo or letting him out if I had a long day on campus or was even gone for the weekend.

If that is taken care of, everything else is easy.

Leo gets less exercise now that I am a full-time working professional than he did when I was still a student, even during exam time. Nothing is greater than a 15 minute walk break when you are studying for multiple hours.

I'm glad that you two are agreeing that it might be ideal for Cali to come here, because I felt that it was but I wanted to be sure I was being completely logical about it!

I currently have a cat here, who I would "swap" out for Cali, and my roommates did take care of her when I went away for a weekend to visit my other friends who attend a different university. With Cali though, I probably wouldn't spend a weekend away unless I had to. One of my friends (from the different university that I visit if I ever go away for a weekend) is getting a condo next year and since her parents would own it, she said Cali would be more than welcome to tag along.

So I think I'm definitely going to discuss it with my roommates and then bring it up to landlord just to confirm. If all works out, I'll likely bring Cali back with me after Christmas break.

I think it would be great to give it a try and see if it works out. You'll know by the end of the semester if it was too stressful, so it's nice to have your mom as backup.

Just keep in the back of your mind that sometimes roommates won't take care of your dog the way you would, or don't have the same experiences you do, even if they do love dogs and agree to her. My roommates loooved feeding mine extra when they thought I wasn't looking, or wasn't there.

That being said, I had my boy with me when I went back to school to get my masters, and I wouldn't change that for the world! It worked out well. Sometimes when it was stressful it was actually a blessing to have him there to get me outside for a walk in the middle of studying. And sometimes he got less exercise and attention with the school load, and he survived and forgave

No harm in trying it out and seeing what happens.

I think it would work out well, and since your mom will still be available to take her back if something happened or it didn't work out, no harm in trying.

How far away is your university from your mom's? If it's close enough that you can go home for a weekend, perhaps you could bring her to your mom's before your final exams? Or you can always get a dog walker or if she's comfortable with it, maybe put her in day care for a bit while you have exams/studying.

I never had an issue with my foster dogs + finals in college. Maybe they got slightly less exercise but it didn't seem to affect them too much