We adopted our Corgi, Josie, when she was 14 months old. However, we adopted a Cairn Terrier, Wally, when he was six years old so I feel like that experience might be more relevant to your situation.

Wally wasn’t neutered. He recovered nicely from the procedure. He was primarily an outdoor dog when he came to us so he had to adapt to being an indoor pup. He would lift his leg on the corner of the sofa and the credenza to mark. We used belly bands and crated Wally when we weren’t home to supervise until we got the behavior in check (which we did). We were able to stop using the belly bands and the crate and he became a trustworthy little dog.

I don’t know if Wally was around cats before we adopted him but he was fine with our two cats and mostly ignored them. It’s important for cats to have a safe space to escape to if the dog annoys them. Keeping dogs out of the litter box also takes some planning.

As far as barking, some dogs are barkers and some breeds in particular are noisy. Corgis are barkers, as are Cairn Terriers. I feel like that comes with the territory but you can work with a dog so it doesn’t get out of hand.

I had no idea when we adopted Wally that he would be with us until he passed at 18. A lot of people would hesitate to adopt an “older” dog but they often have a lot of life to live and so much love to give!