Not to get too personal........ But our dog, a mixed Yorkie of 14yrs passed away a while ago. My oldest didn't take it so well so he's not ready for us to get a new dog just yet, but my little one loves dogs so much so I figured this was a good compromising middle ground to give a doggy some love while helping us bring back that feeling into our home, because we miss it so much. We have a house, and a big backyard. But most of all, we have all this love and affection to give. I work during the week but available on the weekends. We dog sit for family when they need to go out of town as well so it's nothing new to us.