good evening! i was wondering if you had any advice on How To Learn How To Own A Dog, or more generally How To Figure Out If I'd Enjoy Having A Dog. i'm starting to daydream about getting a dog in a few years but i've never lived with a dog and i would like to see what it's like before i Commit with a Living Creature. if someone asked me a similar question about cats (i've had cats my whole life) i'd maybe tell them to volunteer at a shelter or try to catsit for a friend, but i know the experience of keeping cats is VASTLY different from dogs. would you have any advice? how does one become a first-time dog owner without Fucking It Up?
You're going to fuck it up
I think this is the first point for any pet, that you're going to screw it up somehow, and if you can accept that and be okay with that, everything is much less stressful.
Would you enjoy having a dog?
There's a huge range in dog lifestyles.
I live with dogs where I do special feedings, take (one of) them for two 30+ minute walks a day, do daily training, prep food in advance, go to sports, go to group classes, plan weekly outings to take them new places, etc. Hazard in particular had me completely adjusting my work schedule to accommodate his needs.
I also have clients who--and their dogs' welfare needs are met--walk their dogs once or twice a week, if that, and the dog exists in the house and yard. Their time investment in the dog is about as extensive as owning a cat.
And if you get the right personality, they're not more needy than cats either--depends on the neediness of your cat.
There's a reason why toy/companion breeds are popular (or should be! should be very popular!!!!), and it's because they should be easy to live with. They want to hang out with you, they want to spend time with you, but (as adults) they're not naturally destructive, aggressive, high energy, etc. They may be higher maintenance because many of them have long or curly coats, but otherwise...they should be comparable to a spunky cat.
Similarly, depending on your region, a retired racing greyhound would be an excellent first dog. They tend to be neurotic in their own special ways, but they're also low maintenance, low energy (as long as you can provide a space for running once a day for 10 minutes or so), and a low need for stimulation/training.
How to trial it? Many shelters do fostering, but--at least in my experience--the dogs they are most desperate to get into foster homes are the ones least suitable to first time owners.
I would find a good friend with dogs and ask to hang with them for a day. Or dogsit for a weekend. Some dogs this is a huge imposition (Hazard has multiple pages of 12 pt font instructions), some dogs this is "feed him twice a day and let him into the backyard and try not to let him get eaten by eagles".
A thought experiment would be "how would you feel about owning a bengal cat?" Dogs aren't terribly extrinsically different from cats, except that they tend to be higher energy and need more novelty/stimulation on a regular basis.
In general biggest differences tend to be that we expect to walk dogs and do deliberate training with dogs. Not that cats don't benefit or need such things, and I've met cats where both were an absolute need. But we expect to walk our dog (and get upset if the dog, for various reasons, cannot be walked) and we expect to invest time/money/effort into training.
How's that for a non answer?