to be a little annoyed about this dog...?

[DewinDoeth]

OK, so, to start with, I don't really like dogs. Not scared of them, just indifferent - I am never going to be a dog owner!

I do, however, love my DB, who doesn't live locally any more, and my DS (2.8) loves him too, and loves doing rough play and all sorts. (DS spends lots and lots of time with women, and he only has 2 uncles - BIL, whom he adores, and DB, who he sees less often but adores seeing him).

This weekend, we're going to see some friends in the midlands, and visiting a place, a stately home (with our friends) just by where my DB and SIL live. DB loves having visitors and loves his DN, so said we must call by - which was the plan. So, we arranged: visit friends on Friday, stay over, travel to stately home, go from there to DB's house, stay with them then head back home (3hours or more) on the Sunday.

DB and SIL have got themselves a dog. A puppy. I am trying to be open minded, but we now can't stay with them on the Saturday night because they need to give their puppy the attention. (Seriously!!) Apparently the puppy is very much like a baby and cries at night.

So, in an attempt to be understanding (and really, I have to try hard, because I don't like dogs and I do know about babies and they're just, well, a bit different!!) I said ok, we'll scrap the plans and just go straight home. But no, DB is now upset - he wants us to visit, preferably on the Sunday, and he wants us to meet his dog, but not stay with them - so we have the option of (a) going to his town on the Saturday, then going back to our friends' 1 hour away, then back to his town Sunday (1 hour, plus off our usual route) and then home. Seriously limits DS's time with his favourite uncle as well.

Or we stay in a hotel in order to meet this dog see DB, but we're broke, and it seems odd to stay in a B&B round the corner from my brother because of a dog.

So, our preferred plan is to leave after visiting DB's town (he can't come out because the dog isn't allowed out yet). We could visit him for a short while - maybe an hour or so - but DB wants longer than that.

WWYD? AIBU?

And really sorry about my cold-heartedness towards dogs...

Maybe they're following a Gina Ford routine with the puppy

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.visager.co.uk/bichon-frise-puppies.jpg&imgrefurl=www.visager.co.uk/puppy_dog_breed_information_facts.html&h=417&w=450&sz=41&tbnid=1F_3XneeaQI8nM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbichon%2Bfrise&zoom=1&q=bichon+frise&usg=__GSgYIKBJCoUBuxdBxwZKBIlFOEE=&sa=X&ei=MfiJTearNoG2hAeL4divDg&ved=0CDsQ9QEwAQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bichon Frise?

Once you've had two or more dogs together it's hard to imagine just having one again. The puppy stage is easier when they're not on their own.

at SWMNBN for dogs.

YES, bichon frise.

Ah! Yes Crawling, why didn't I think of Bichon Frise? D'oh! I feel a fool now (though that's nothing unusual!).

Jax, my aunt is known to say that if she'd known what German Shepherds were like before she had children she would never have had the children!

I like my aunt, I do! :o

What's SWMNBN?

Sounds like a west highland terrier. We have one, lovely little boy. He only cried for the first night, but we had him in our room anyway as he was little and scared and we're soppy gits.

Doh, cross post.

She Who Must Not Be Named

Ooops!

I actually think it is responsible of them to take time off work to get the puppy settled in.

Some "puppymoons" never end

I can mither my dog for ages on end and coo about something cute she's done - we adopted her over 2 years ago!

PS: I take part of my lunch hour to walk my dog too. No one at work knows that I do, otherwise they'd probably look at me funny

My baby was 1 the other week and I'm not sure I would have had someone to stay in his first 2 weeks at home either. There's too much going on and trying to settle him, to add another family that early has the potential to be a total nightmare

I have 2 children and 2 cats. I much prefer the cats. And I really want a puppy.

Valhalla - you mentioned Shih Tzu earlier in the thread, which reminded me of watching American Idol last week (I think, some american reality show) and one the contestants was talking about her Shih Tzu puppy, but they bleeped out the "Shit" sound at the start of the name. So she said "I love my new Su puppy".

Bichon fan here. I think they make great family dogs, very affectionate and smart. I think you should ask if it has any siblings left and adopt one. ;P

It sounds as if the puppy is very new and very young (yet to have it's last vaccs). In which case yes very like having a new born. Except that along with the crying at night there will be the permanently watching out for accidents and probably nipping too. So not totally ideal for having a visitor for very long although I expect that could be managed.

Personally I woudln't say that taking two weeks off was either very long or particularly responsible, but that's because I think it's far too short and that people who work full time shouldn't really have puppies, even with a dog walker coming in, I just don't think it's terribly fair on the dog.

My sister has just got a new puppy (this weekend) and it was difficult to even speak on the phone for more than a few minutes, but unlike with children this stage really doesn't last for very long.

Val I think I like your aunt too!

OP, a Bichon is a lovely little dog, wont grow too big and doesnt take up much space, unlike my 2 large hooligans!

It is nice that your brother is taking time to settle the puppy into its new home, but normal life should still carry on. (imho)

Who is SWMNBN?