to say, no, having a puppy is not like having a newborn baby to look after!

[HellAtWork]

Lovely couple - no DCs as yet - we know got a puppy about 6 months ago when DS was 6 months or so (not a newborn any longer).

Puppy has own FB page. We all have to be friends with it . It posts amusing status updates and photos of itself over the park.

Now despite their loveliness (I can live with the FB page even if I think it strange and it can be quite amusing at times) AIBU to get fucked off with having a puppy constantly being compared to the hard work of a newborn?

I was lucky with my DS and he has turned out to be a good sleeper from about 4 months or so, so I know I did not have it bad at all and therefore did not do too much moaning about sleepless nights - I think.

I have sympathised with them being up all night (puppy sleeps in their room), trashing their house, and his apparent in ability to be exhausted even by 3 hour walks but the constant comparisons with "it's just like having a baby, it really is" are wearing thin. When we're on the phone for a chat (and DS is tucked up in bed) , friend can't really speak on the phone because puppy is growling and friend is constantly issuing instructions (get off the table, oi Tonto leave that alone, I told you not to chew those shoes). When friend visited with puppy it was a nightmare - I love dogs, have had a dog growing up and now enjoy my sister's dog from a distance. DS and puppy were fine (short interaction before bedtime) but we did not really get to talk, or even eat (puppy jumping up to table, taken out every 30 minutes in case Tonto "did a naughty" on the carpet, friend's words not mine).

So AIBU to say no it bleeding well isn't the same as having a baby (and you're in for a shock if you think so)?

In jest I have pointed out that if I left DS alone in the house for 3 hours at a time SS would want to have a word, but I am almost tempted to say (due to puppy's behaviour) actually having your particular puppy is much much worse especially after friend told me indulgent story about puppy running through family's picnic on a beach and how funny it was! (Reminded me of the dogshit picnic thread on here and I was outraged on family's behalf to him and said it was not on.)

You hinting that you want to be friends HellAtWork?

possibly. i've always had very difficult cats. honestly, in comparison with the cats, having a newborn child was a breeze. people use to comment that i was taking to a newborn easily and i used to tell them that compared to pets i'd had over the years it was really easy. can't compare on the non-feline pet, but i'd take a newborn child over my current cats anytime. newborns don't move - which i loved - plonk them down and they stay there. puppies / kittens after a few weeks are everywhere.

the FB page is unreasonable though.

that said, there are different types of cats / puppies / newborns and perhaps i had difficult cats and an easy newborn?

Or at least a mummy who has no fear of hot shit. Or runny shit. Or 'oh no, he ate something grim in the field' shit.

Wildfig No I partly posted this AIBU as a joke, I am sure they will grow out of it as new doggy parents but I was hoping that a few months ago and still no sign of it - in fact after the picnic story it has got worse. Ha ha should have posted in the doghouse you're right!

And I do think it is bad of them - because dog has been thoroughly indulged and they don't know what to do with them. I did give friend a bollocking on the phone about the picnic japes and told him how that would go down on MN.

And I see that Irish terriers are moderately easy to train from my independent research so am going to slip that in the next time there is a tale of woe/high jinks in picnics

The strangest thing to see is my friend leaning into puppy and saying very slowly and deliberately in this mock outrage voice "How dare you! How daaaaaaare you!" Apparently the dog trainer told them to do this but it had me in stitches because the way he says it is more akin to the Catherine Wotsit (name forgotton sorry) character who says How very dare you! The dog meanwhile is biting his shoes.

Monty Luger

is awaiting friends requests.

Bring it on d0gface - maybe I can set a record for having more non-human than human friends on FB (ps. another suggestion for your profile tv preferences Bones CSI)

SugarPaste - It is isn't it? I don't remember what we did with my dog, but my sister's dog is pretty good (actually he is fricking awful at home, chews remote controls/shoes/curtains etc but very good out with other dogs and children especially - is a Labradoodle) and she just removes whatever it is with a short sharp no, but all toilet training was done pretty quickly I seem to recall.

I am reading nowhere that Irish terriers are notoriously difficult to train! Why would all these passers by be telling them that then? Is the Interwebs wrong? Noooooooo

Irish setters are notoriously bonkers hard to train. Terriers are generally quite quick to pick things up, but just a bit independent-minded about whether they apply their training or not. [Bonio emoticon]

My friends have a Labradoodle its a devil dog!

ooh i apparently used to love a nice bonio as a child - are they still around? My mum had to give them to dog one by one after I was found troughing in dog's bowl - I was just glad to hear I wasn't into the Chum - vom

Definitely not an Irish setter - my dog used to play with an Irish setter and yes, similar scattiness/you're not the boss of me attitude in my mind as Afghans and Dalmations

Aww- I'd cut them some slack! I'd much rather hear about people's puppies than hear then banging on about their dc. As a vet, I love to see puppy owners that take it so seriously (even if some of them seem to go a bit OTT ) Owners that are like this about their puppies are far more likely to listen to advice/ pay for behaviourists/ seek treatment than those who get a pup on a whim then get bored I am biased, of course, as people who genuinely dote on their pets make me ! Pets should be loved as a member of the family!

Obviously a puppy is not exactly like a newborn baby, but they can be a lot of work to the new owner, and similarly time consuming! I have hounds, which are very very hard work, even now at 11 and 16! I have often dragged my children out in snow and storms because the dogs need walked- there is a huge sense of responsibility when you have a dog (or dogs) and this can be very hard to get to grips with.

Several of my clients, who have had children, have told me that it is "like having a new baby again" and I can empathise!

As for him having a FB page, well, what harm is it doing? I'd much rather look at pictures of puppies than pics of babies- they are, after all, far far cuter!

Just wait until you are a puppy-owner.....

My dogs sad, nobody wants to be his facebook friend. Does a dogs sadness compare to a babies sadness?

Oh dear.

We have friends who have several dogs. They have told me repeatedly, over the years, that having a dog is just like having a baby, that they know they will be really good parents because of all the experience they've got of having dogs...

They've just had a baby. They're struggling.

Guess what - the dogs didn't really prepare them much.

Just to add - I am a dog lover and have been a dog owner in the past, and hope to be again one day.

It's just ...it's not like having a baby.

I've got a Jack Russell Terrorist Terrier who came to me at 8 weeks old. Despite them being comparable to a stick of seaside rock - cut a JRT in half and it'd say "Fuck You" all the way through - I found him remarkably easy to train provided you kept at the job. So while this training required absolute consistency and a certain relentlessness in the early days, the whole process was far quicker and a deal less argumentative than bringing a child up to adulthood.

YANBU, dogs are great, a baby is HARD work though.... I love that they love their dog so much, hope it was a rescue dog.

I applied all the theories of managing behaviour in teens with SN to the art of kitten rearing (i practised at home) and was the proud owner of a potential PAT cat (sadly deceased before his papers came through). 4mo bunny is now going the same way (towards Pets as Therapy not under the wheels of a car...)

Anybody care to place a wager on how my future parenting will be? After 6 years working with kids with SN I reckon 50:50 and it could go either way!

d0gface - yes it does, a dog's sadness is indeed just like a baby's sadness

I'm too scared to be your friend on FB seeing as you already know too much (shhhh...your dog name is the same as the one I had not mentioned - what a coincidence? You're not an Irish terrier too are you?)

Pandemoniaa Love the stick of rock reference - I always think of Afghans a bit like Nikki off BB - I could have imagined our dog stopping to say "Who is she? Just Who IS she?" anytime I tried to call her back (usually trying to her lead back on) before she ran off again

KickingKing This couple too have predicted how easy they will find it with a baby. I hope they do - I had a pretty easy time so couldn't wish anything otherwise....but I do wonder how they will do on the discipline front. I struggle with DS entering tantrum phase and having to be constant and consistently on his case in a pleasant non-confrontational way (distraction works up to a point) - i wonder whether they woul dbe less indulgent with a child?

I think its comparable, I had a kitten who used to sleep on my pillow and suckle my hair because it was taken from its mother too early. I didn't sleep for months. My 4.5 month old has slept through since she was 2 weeks old. Actually he was worse. Puppies are even worse than that

well, I have to admit that, knowing lots about dogs and zero about babies, I have possibly applied my dog knowledge to bringing up my children

In fact when dd1 was born I politely asked the MW what age their eyes opened at- there really was no need for such scorn! How the hell was I meant to know- it's not in any of those bloody baby books!!

My HV did warn me, however, what the repurcussions would be if she came round when I was potty-training and found newspapers on the floor

Well YANBU; but I can see their POV. Having UnWiseDog as a tiny puppy (PFD pic on profile) was as scary in some ways as bringing the newborn DD1 home. In both cases I had no experience and no real idea of what to do. There is also very little sleep!
Anyway, count yourself lucky that it is a dog and not a PFB yet. If they are this gaga over a pup, imaging what they'll be like when a real baby comes along. There will be dribbling, cooing videos all over facebook and OBVIOUSLY the PFB will be outstandingly gifted etc. etc......