not to want to organise the date of a christening around somebody's puppy?

[DonkeyDaddy]

I've never had a dog, so I need some advice about something I don't know about. My wife and I are organising a christening and important guests would prefer us to delay from our preferred date because they most likely will have a very young puppy (that won't have had its vaccinations). I would have thought they could just bring it along for a day trip. There won't be other dogs. But apparently not. What do you think?

Ha! PFB pups! Of course Yanbu.

You cant really take an unvaccinated puppy out without risk. If this is a puppy that they know they will be getting on a certain date, then they can always arrange a puppysitter though.

It depends how big the pup is likely to be..it will need to be carried so if it's a Great Dane or some such they might have a point.

Is it a massive hassle to pick a later date?

Ummm, and I say this as a person who scheduled my own wedding around a dog show, YAAFLNBU (You are abso fucking lutely NBU). Good grief, I hope they never have children, can you imagine?

Having a puppy is a big commitment, especially for the first few weeks when they aren't vaccinated and aren't toilet trained. They cant just bring it along for a day trip if it hasn't been vaccinated, what do you expect them to do with the puppy while they are in church? It seems sensible to me that they are warning you that if you want them there then it will need to fit in with the puppy.

It won't be allowed out without vaccinations. Whether or not there are other dogs.

It is a bit PFP, but young pups (like any other very young creature) need to bond with their caregivers...

Hilarious. Plan your day. Sans dog.

They must have a neighbour or somebody who can look after a puppy for one day surely! Hope they aren't the godparents because they aren't exactly taking it seriously.

Leaving out a whole discussion about maternal antibodies and herd immunity that means that puppy will be just fine, why do they need to take it to a christening? It will cope with being left home alone for a few hours.

What on earth...
Your baby, your arrangements..
Their choice to come to not.

Book whatever date you want but then don't moan if they can't make it.

Surely they know someone who wouldn't mind looking after it for the day? Sounds bizarre! Plan it anyway, if they really want to come they'll get a friend to look after the puppy.

Ummm... What...?!? Who the hell takes a pet to a christening?

Make your arrangements for the best time for you, your partner and your baby.

If your friends cannot come because their puppy is more important to them than supporting you, now you know where to place them and their needs on the scale of things.

Have a lovely day, with or without them.

When my dog was a puppy we had no one to look after him for a day and I wouldn't take him out unvaccinated so I would have to decline your invitation. It's not like a very young dog could be left alone in the house either as it wouldn't be toilet trained and could easily get distressed.

YANBU to have the christening whenever you want, it is completely up to you but don't complain if they can't come! They have told you, for whatever reason, they can't make certain dates. It is then up to you to decide whether they are important enough guests for you to avoid these dates or not.

How important are the guests? Are they the grandparents or godparents? If so then maybe look at compromising on the date, if not then accept their apologies and arrange the date that suits you.

Thank you for your helpful comments.

They are important guests, so if they can't come, we'll change it.

I know an enthusiastic youngster who would love to look after the puppy whilst we are in church, so I think that should be fine.

Can a puppy manage two hours in a car, twice in the same day? Perhaps that would get messy. I really wouldn't know.

A very young puppy is likely to become extremely distressed if left by itself for 2 hours. It will have recently been removed from its mother and siblings and needs human company. It will also need to relieve itself (its bladder will probably be too small to hold it in for very long!) and so would soil the interior of the car (as dogs are clean animals, this would likely distress it further).

A much better idea would be for your friends to arrange for a dog sitter to care for the pup for a day.

Sorry--just realised I misread Donkey' last question! I thought you meant leaving the pup alone in the car. TBH, a 2-hour car journey isn't ideal: a lot of puppies get horribly (and very messily) car sick

YANBU they need to fix it their end of things not expect you to be flexible.

It's the same as the age-old children at weddings debate. It's your right to organise your christening any way or on any date you want, it's their right to decline the invitation if it doesn't fit with their family.

It isn't that easy to leave a young puppy alone or travel for several hours with them. But it's cheeky to ask you to change the date, they should just politely decline the invite.