Dog and baby

[LoopsD82]

Hi
Advice please So we are due to get a puppy in January. I have just found out though i'm pregnant. So the dog will be 9 months old by the baby comes along. Is this at all doable? I've heard dogs training tend to get out of the puppy stage at 6 months with good training. My husband works from home so he will be there for support.
Thank you x

[Shutityoutart]

I got our pup when I was 6 weeks pregnant. The only advice I can give is to get to puppy classes, train them well, and get them walking on a lead nicely and get a good recall started as soon as you can.
My thinking was I didn’t want to be pulled down the street or chasing a disobedient dog across fields at 8 months pregnant!
My dog is 7 now and it’s all been fine. Good luck!

Ps What sort of dog are you getting?

[LoopsD82]

Thank you . Yes we are signed up for puppy classes. We are getting a hungarian Vizsla. My husband has had dogs before. but its my 1st dog and baby.

[BiteyShark]

It depends like everything else. Are you going to have the time to walk the dog and do all the training with a new baby?

Training isn't just for the puppy classes because around the time the baby comes along, although you will be out of the puppy months, you will most likely be in full on adolescent stage. My dog was the worst around the 8-9 months of age where all his training went out the window with his teenage selective deafness and he was hard work until he started to get better around the age of 1 when he started to listen again.

[missbattenburg]

It sounds like a hell of a gamble, to me.

By 9 months old your vizla will be full sized but not mentally or emotionally mature for another year. Battendog (springer) at nine months old was really starting to push boundaries and become a bit of an arsehole. I cannot comprehend coping with him AND my first newborn baby. At 18 months he's just started to come out of it - though we still have new behaviours crop up that need dealing with. We attended several puppy courses etc.

The big question for me, would be, 'what if it's not fine?' What if you don't get lucky and the vizla is hard work?

[BiteyShark]

Exactly as missbattenburg the adolescent stage turns lots of dogs into arseholes. Mine was one of them.

I think this is why you see a lot of young adult dogs in rescues because people think once past the annoying puppy stage then they are on the homerun when actually suddenly they find they have a dog that seems to have forgotten all their training, thrown recall out the window and no one will excuse them anymore because they are fully grown in size.

[whateveryousay]

I adore my dogs, and my four children, and have plenty of experience of dogs and kids.
I have to say, there is no way on Earth I’d tell anyone it’s a good idea to have your first baby and an adolescent dog. Please don’t do it.
I’m honestly trying to save you from regrets here!

[Shutityoutart]

I must admit my dh worked away from home during the week and took the dog with him so I missed a lot of the adolescent stage. But we also have a show cocker so a little less energy than a vizla!

[ADastardlyThing]

I've had dogs all my life and there is no way I'd have had a baby and a puppy at the same time. obvs if unplanned I'd have gone with it (and probably had a breakdown) but in your situation I'd put puppy on the back burner 1000000%

My dog is still a massive bumhead at just over a year old.

[SPARKS17]

I would hold off on the puppy for now, my dog was a pain in the bum until she was 2 (terrier breed)! I have a 4 month old child, 7 year old dog and my husband does all the dog related tasks as I am juggling baby plus my business, throwing in the dog would be too much but I do manage when he is away with work. A puppy just would not work in this scenario at all!

If you havent had a dog before it might just be too much if you end up with a challenging baby.

[Wolfiefan]

That’s a very high energy breed puppy reaching the tricky teen stage just as a baby arrives. That’s a lot of work.

[PostmanBos]

The fact you are unsure to me says put off getting the puppy for now. The person who can almost certainly cope with a dog and a baby together is the person who wants a dog so much they won't be put off by anything. Even though you have your dh you still need to do all the training and walking when he is at work and with a Vizla pup that's quite a bit, even if you exhausted, are not feeling well and its really hard fitting it in with the baby. Those sort of people do exist and many of them hang out on this forum 😁 or others like it, and a few years on from having dogs and babies are now fostering 3 extra dogs and wrangling their kids at the same time. If you are dog obsessed and your worst day is actually made better by doing a bit of dog care then it may be a good idea.

[GobblersKnob]

If your husband works from home and is prepared to do considerable puppy supervision, ie have the dog in the room with him most of the day and do all the walking for at least the first three months post birth, then it might be doable.

But only might. Dogs from 9 months to two years are pretty dickish a lot of the time. Your small person (while fully supervised by you) will get scratched at some point, will get knocked over, are you okay with that? It will be about 10 times harder than just having a baby in the house, and having a baby is hard.

Unless you are insanely committed and prepared to put in a ton of work, with good humour and grace when it gets super hard, like when you are at the park and your baby is desperate for a feed/change and your adolescent dog just will not come back. Or every time you sit down to feed your newborn, your big puppy decides it's playtime and throws toys at you (and your tiny persons fragile head).... I could go on. Endlessly. Babies and puppies are a special kind of hard. Don't mix the two unless you are a million percent committed and you make a total promise that you will not give up on your puppy no matter how difficult it gets.

Otherwise, just wait.

[fleshmarketclose]

First babies can be very time consuming first puppies are mostly a nightmare and adolescent dogs are even bigger nightmares that have lost their cute puppy features. Tbh I thought Eric as a puppy was awful when he hit adolescence I thought I had underestimated just how awful he could be by a long stretch, he was a complete and utter dick most days and on occasion even worse. My reasoning is puppies are so damn cute so that you fall in love with them so you put up with the bloody trauma as they hit adolescence.

[adaline]

8-9 months was an awful stage for mine I'm afraid to say! He was well into adolescence, pulled a lot despite doing loads of loose lead training, was very jumpy, stubborn and all his commands went out of the window.

He's coming up to 11 months now and slowly coming out the other side! It is doable but you'll need a strong routine. My dog needs two hours a day of walks else he goes bonkers, plus mental stimulation. So he gets two walks a day plus several chews and games to occupy his time.

However he also settles on his own, is less jumpy and bitey and is happier and calmer all round. But that was a lot of work - are you going to be able to walk and train him everyday even when you're shattered with morning sickness or hip pain or exhausted with a newborn?

[adaline]

Just saw you're getting a vizsla - they are hard work!

When my beagle was small we met a couple with a six month old vizsla - very cute but strong and insanely bouncy. Mine is coming upto 11 months now and theirs just over a year, but my goodness he is still as hyper as ever.

No way would I get one and beagles are already considered hard first time dogs. He hates being left, is very anxious a lot of the time, and needs way more exercise than his puppy joints can cope with, meaning he needs a lot of mental stimulation at home too.

Whatever you do make sure you really think about this. If you're on maternity leave and your partner is working long days, can you really commit to taking the dog out twice a day, everyday with a newborn? No matter what the weather or how tired you are?

[villainousbroodmare]

It won't be much fun; you'll never have a moment's rest and you will feel guilty for not being able to do your best for the puppy when, inevitably, you have to endlessly attend to your newborn. From me it would be an absolute no.

[tabulahrasa]

Vizslas are a really really high energy breed... and 9 months would be bang on the adolescent git stage as well...

Realistically with a vizsla you’re looking at 2 or 3 years before they calm down into being well the vizsla equivalent of sensible adult dogs.

[CMOTDibbler]

I wouldn't. Vislas are high energy at the best of times, and first baby and first dog at the same time sounds like a lot to deal with

[PostmanBos]

I also know a nice family who ended up rehoming their Viszla due to insane bounciness. It was their first dog and I don't know if they made some mistakes with it or it was just a particularly energetic one but its clear Viszlas have the potential to be difficult in that way.

[RIPWalter]

My dog was 6 months when I got pregnant. I had hyperemesis, managed at home on antiemetics, never hospitalised, but the nausea latest the entire pregnancy. It was a battle, my greatest achievement in pregnancy was managing to walk the dog every day, although I made sure I walked places I wouldn't be seen if I threw up in the hedgerow. Some days he didn't get a long enough walk and I really struggled with his training, but he was my side kick, and my constant companion during long days sat on the sofa, and he kept me sane.

You can't predict how your pregnancy will go, you could have HG or SPD or any number of other things which would make looking after a puppy very difficult. How would you plan to manage in these circumstances?

He is wonderful with DD and she loves him, but DD can only have second hand toys as he steals and chews them regularly.

He is currently curled up on my feet as I feed DD to sleep

[LoopsD82]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I’m still very confused I think it’s because my partner is 100% and saying he will deal with all the dog needs, and take it out to work, he’s got his heart set on it but I’m trying to be realistic.

[Wolfiefan]

Take it out to work? I thought he worked from home?
He may well feel like walking a well behaved dog on a lovely summer’s day. But what about having to get up at 6am to walk the dog before work (leaving you to sort the baby) having had no sleep due to baby.
This is a big dog and massively high energy breed. I wouldn’t want an adolescent Vizsla around a young baby. They are not an easy dog.

[adaline]

I think your DP will struggle taking a 9 month old puppy to work. Mine is 11 months and he couldn't come to work yet - he's too lively and playful and would get bored if he just had to settle down while someone worked all day. He would also need constant monitoring in case he got into mischief and ate things he shouldn't do!

He also very much still needs training. While his commands are solid he pulls on the lead a lot and needs a lot of exercise. Realistically, are you going to have time to walk him twice a day (viszlas at that age will need a minimum of 90 minutes a day spread over two walks), in all weathers, potentially with a screaming/unwell baby?

The other thing to consider is the resentment. Assuming your DP does step up and do it all, how are you going to feel after a long day with a screaming newborn and your DP has to come straight home and take the dog out for an hour? What if he barks once the baby's gone to sleep and you have to deal with a whiny pup and a screaming child?

Just be realistic about what you can actually give the dog. The first few years are a lot of work and vizslas are incredibly needy and demanding.

[LoopsD82]

He can work from home or the office. It’s so hard as one minute I say let’s go for it then I have to think no these are 2 highly demanding things. I would love both so much but doesn’t mean I’d cope would it.

[BiteyShark]

Could you both compromise in not having a puppy right now but in a few years time?