Oops... imessage from daughter... Lovely Alto ate garbage off the street and vomited under her bed...
At least, for the first couple of months anyway, when you put a baby down it ll still be in the same place when you get back lol
It's true! I did laugh a bit during, at least. Especially pulling her out, putting the fence back up, and watching her do her little fancy somersault over it within three seconds. Oh, Alto! Sigh. True, at least it wasn't on her bed! Bessie puked in the car crate today after our windy ride to town (an hour) and I was late for the dentist appointment so I told her to have fun eating it a second time (just barely-digested kibble) and in I went. And she did, ha. I decided with this puppy that puppies are like having a human infant AND a toddler rolled up into one developmental stage. They need as much attention as an infant, sub diaper changes for potty breaks and you're on the same schedule, but they're as mobile and destructive and idiotic about their own survival as a human toddler. I love her, don't get me wrong. I went out today and people were oohing and aahing over how beautiful and loving and sweet and energetic she is - and I love bringing puppy therapy to everyone, I really do - but I'm really not sure I'll ever do this again unless I happen to have an entire year where nothing else is going on and I'm bored out of my everloving mind. I'm just exhausted.
This. Absolutely this. Give me the finished dog, let somebody else deal with the puppy. I hate that I'm thinking this far ahead, but no way can I see myself doing a puppy again. I'll just buy another cat. I find a puppy much, MUCH more restrictive than a baby. You can stay out all day with a baby. You can visit friends with a baby. You can pretty much go about your day-to-day business with a baby. Heck, I've had to find a dog daycare for the school holidays so that I can spend the odd full day out and about with my kid! It had never occurred to me that as a stay at home mum I'd need daycare for the damned dog
Yes! Exactly. I have friends who live an hour away and it's put a big crimp in hanging out with them, staying over, etc. I go over there and my head is turning every two seconds to keep her from getting into something. Chasing her upstairs. Taking her out every hour. Cleaning pee off their floor. Etc. Put her in a crate, she screams. No fun for any of us. And I live basically an hour from everything, so any time I go to town, I have to take her. And it's been hot. Another day today of eating take-out in the car because I can't leave the dog for long - and letting the car run while I order it. And I just somehow forgot even though I did this seven years ago. I think it's because I was much more at home all the time, my kids were younger, and somehow it didn't seem like as big an big imposition in my life as it does now. And he was in training to be a service dog so he went into stores and such, which made life a lot easier. (He failed out. Too prey-driven, too high-strung. Sigh. I was owner and trainer, for my son.) Yeah. Never again. I'll try to enjoy the adorableness as much as I can, because no.
I don't really like puppies all that much! I was head over heels in love with Charlie, indulged him - far too much - and then he grew up into an adorable (if far too excitable and silly) dog. That I love even more....if that is possible. Betsy though - my second puppy - I'm just 'yeah, yeah, biting me isn't funny' and 'no, I don't think doing butt tucks round the TV room is amusing, how about you go in your crate with a kong instead?'. I have to say, all in all, not thinking its funny and not indulging them is probably a good strategy for the long term!
I love to see puppies, they're adorable & cute, but like babies, I love to hand them back. Even a semi-finished dog (AKA Coco) is preferable to having a poo-pee-chew machine in my house. Puppy owners, I love reading all your stories, and I feel your pain - if I'm ever wavering they would put me back on the "no puppies" line! I really take my hat off to ever one of you puppy owners, you ARE doing a sterling job in the face of everything.
It's absolutely this for me! I have friends with 2 children each, we go out for lunch or a few cocktails. It's always me clock watching as I have to get back for the dog, while they have grandparents just dying to look after the children.
Well, perhaps to my shame, I far prefer spending time with my pup and in the fullness of time, my dog than with babies or children . I actually adore my pup even when she's driving me crackers and I'm plumb tuckered after a day with her in full 'in yer face' mode. Only age and decrepitude preventing me having a house full.
Daughter says she feels like a crazy person; some of the time she is tearing her hair out, worrying, cleaning up after him, trying to keep an eye on him, constantly taking him out to exercise him and let him toilet, and not liking him very much. Then he calms down, and she falls in love with him all over again. I think he's going to be a pretty chilled dude when he grows up. Here he is people watching at the Brooklyn waterfront:
After a couple months of lovely hiatus in the biting my, now 7 month old boy has resumed biting with less sharp teeth but much stronger jaws and a much bigger reach. He will jump up and bite at me. If he jumps up and I turn my back to ignore it he bites at my back. If out in the yard he will start his zooming around and end it with lunging and biting at me. You can't ignore 70 lbs of muscles running and lunging with teeth flashing. This is not fun at all. My husband is ready for a divorce I think and we won't be fighting for custody. Yes we love him and we are going to dog training. He went through puppy class and is now in basic obedience. I know there are no magic solutions. I don't want a dog I am scared of or that I can't take anywhere but we are quickly getting there. Not a good week, sorry.
@Celin - I'm sorry. So difficult. I hope the basic obedience training class helps you. I wouldn't hesitate to work one on one with a trainer as needed as well. In fact, I did this with my now-7yo labradoodle - I swear between one and two years of age, he was so difficult, I wasn't sure he was ever going to be "okay." He is. And 1:1 sessions with a trainer helped a ton. I'm sure you already have all the basics covered, especially making sure he has enough exercise and mental stimulation?
My pup is closing in on 10 months and has started nipping too...she nipped my mom on the weekend and she has never ever done that! She wasn't that bad of a bitey puppy even. I think it's something to do with her excitement level at this age...she gets wired. She jumps and bites the leash now and is overall more excitable. We've done (and are in) training...I'm just working on stopping excited play as much as possible (like when she starts zooming around, I am trying to do some training to re-focus her, like a settle or a sit/stay). Also going to talk to the trainer next week about it....ay ay ay My fingers are crossed it's just teenage behaviour and being consistent will pay off.
We are retired and home a lot with him. We go on walks and do training in short bursts throughout the day. He has toys and we play but he is getting so that getting excited when playing leads to biting me. So we do settle exercises. I just feel like beating my head against the wall! If you play, he gets excited and bites, if you don't play he is bored and destructive. I have trained many dogs over the years and thought I was ok at it. That was BS. I so looked forward to training a puppy again and taking it places and bonding. Its like trying to bond with a chain saw. I think it's like if you have a child who likes to lay around and read all the time and you look at your friends child who bounces off the wall and think, well, they are doing something wrong in the parenting department. I will not judge people and their badly behaved dogs again!! He drags me into training class. strains at the leash for an hour in class and drags me back to the car. I bet if you surveyed everyone in divorce court, they all would have labs under 5. Sorry, venting!
