to really wish my dog loving friend would stop giving me advice on parenting my HUMAN child.

[PinkyMe]

So I am probably about to offend every childless dog owner out there but hopefully they will remain oblivious.

When I was pregnant my friend kept comparing my pregnancy to her dogs and giving me advice. Funny as it was it did begin to wear thin.

Now, if I tell her my dd did something funny or slightly mischievious, I am immediately bombarded with a whole load of dog dicipline techniques.
If she's ill, I get a list of homeopathy she uses on her dog.

I feel like screaming my dd is not a dog for goodness sake.

She's invited us round to see her new puppy, but the invite came with a written list of instructions on how my dd is to behave while at her house. I'm not joking, it says, "she will be allowed to pet the puppy, but she must sit on the floor and let the puppy come to her", "Visits will only be allowed btwn X and X", and goes on.

We have politely declined the invite.

Yeah, our dogs have a 'naughty step', although we call it the 'sin bin' and it is the utilities room.

TOTALLy works.

sanielle - Hold down the CTRL key, then press +

Any better?

The point I was trying to make - tongue-in-cheek emoticon not working, obv - is that if you don't have children and your friends are enthusiastic new parents, it can feel as if you're being presented with an endless list of things 'you just can't/won't/don't possibly understand', which doesn't leave you with much to say, other than 'Oh?'. People like to empathise using whatever personal parallels they have to hand, so yes, sometimes when the conversation turns to potty training, I will cite the moment my dog finally relieved himself outside as instructed, as a moment of poo-related triumph I never dreamed I'd reach. I just assume with a baby you multiply by a hundred, or whatever.

(I told my sister I'd achieved this by means of food bribes, and she admitted she'd tried much the same tactic with my niece.)

Puppy ownership does send you a bit mad. If her advice annoys you, then tell her you're doing it your own way, like you would with any other friend. But I doubt she honestly expects you to stick your baby in a crate with a Kong...

I've trained my boys like dogs I find it most effective.

Training a puppy and raising a child have more in common than you'd think!

If she's annoying you - tell her.

I do think there's something to be learnt from her - my lot are definitely more manageable after food and a long walk...

And I have noticed how people with well behaved dogs tend to have well behaved children.

Come to think of it I'm now looking at our local boarding kennels in a new light

Anyone who uses homeopathy MUST be ignored. YANBU !!!!!

zookeeper - come to think of it, my parents sent me to a boarding school at 11.

Much like a boarding kennel.

Can I just say, THANK YOU itsgraceactually. My Mumsnet has been stuck for a month at least and I couldn't grasp why it was the only website I use that had teeny writing.

you know. I think dogs and children are similar.

i had a dog for 4 years before DD was born. Everyone kept going on and on about what a shock it was ... all the responsibility.. blah blah blah.

it wasnt hard. I was already used to being responsible.

DD was/is good. Like the comment up the thread i give her short, consise instrucions as i do/did my dog. I dont really think about it i just do it.
She obeys them, always has done. Like yesterday we were out somewhere in this big, yet secure building. I could not supervise her, though there were other people ( who i knew about) i asked her if she wanted to come with me, or stay with the others. She told me the others. I told her that she was only allowed to go in this room and outside and if she needed anything she had to speak to this person. You know what. 2 hours she was fine and did exacally as i said. Shes 4 and i trust her and she knew what was expected of her because of the short instruction.

My mother is like this about her dog.

She refused to travel to London (when we lived there) from Manchester because of the stress on the dog and the fact that the dog gets anxious about travelling.

I didn't point out that travelling with a car seat hating toddler and being stuck for hours on the M25 had the exact same effect on me and her grandson.

Agree with VT - BARKING

Raising my two feral children is exactly like raising my dog. They each exercising daily, need daily training to keep their mind occupied and need daily discipline.

And that list of instructions for what to do with the puppy is exactly how I would introduce any new pet to a toddler who may not know how to interact with it for the safety of both the animal and the toddler.