Get a puppy

[GipsyDanger]

Mumsnet, pass me the grips! I need them. Currently on maternity leave with my 4 month old son. And I want a puppy!

Bit of background. I've grown up with dogs, big dogs. I've helped train and discipline said dogs so it's old hat to me. When I moved out I ended up getting cats as me and dh bought a flat and I thought it wasn't fair to have a dog under those conditions. So we had 2 ragdoll cats. We moved into our house coming on 3 years ago and now have baby. Sadly, one of my cats had to be put to sleep about a month ago and to be honest I think this is where it's coming from. I always said we'd get a dog after the cats. My other cat will probably hate another animal, they are house cats so can't go out. If we did go for anything it would be a small breed like a pug/French bull dog etc.
Pros
It's a puppy!
I'm off so can help properly housetrain/ give it loves
Cons
I've got a bloody baby!
Other cat will not be pleased

I'm being ridiculous aren't I. My cat that was pts was young and loved my ds, the other cat hates him lol

Don't do it!! Honestly.

We got a French bulldog when DD was 11 months old. Here's the positives -

• DD LOVES him.
• Nice taking him for walks together.
• He is cute and has the perfect temperament.

Negatives -

• At 9 months old he is still not house trained. If we pop out only for 5 minutes I can come home to shit on the floor.
• He chews everything. Just yesterday he got to the post before I got in and chewed up £40 worth of contact lenses. He's also chewed the skirting boards, door frames, ripped a hole in our floor (we have a brand new new build so extra annoying), DDs toys, anything fluffy (socks etc), the pushchair and my entire makeup bag contents just to name a few
• We can't go out all day unless we've arranged doggy daycare first
• He moults so badly all over everything despite brushing.
• Our house smells of dog despite cleaning and hoovering daily.
• He's ruined my new sofa by leaving crusty drool marks all over it that won't come out
• He follows me everywhere, which is sweet but I've lost count of how many times he's tripped me up. I've injured myself badly a couple of times.
• It's hard to entertain a toddler and a young dog. They both want all your attention.
• DD gets tripped up by him a lot too.
• He's woken her up quite a few times either by barging into her bedroom or barking. Frustrating.

I would wait until your DC is older. Having a baby and a puppy makes being a parent so much harder. I've also found that when the dog has been naughty (obv through no fault of his own, poor thing) and if DD hasn't been sleeping well then DH and I will be at each others throats! I've found having a baby much easier than a dog and like you I have grown up with and owned dogs all my life.

Of course I love my dog but bloody hell it's hard work sometimes!

Also just wanted to defend the Frenchies, mine does not have any breathing difficulties whatsoever. Very sad that some breeders are irresponsible enough to breed them that way.

I would wait until child is older. Ideally I would also not have a pup in a flat. Trying to housetrain a dog in a flat must be hard work. And the cat can't go out when the dog goes out. Nightmare!
Ideally. Child school age. House. Cat proof garden so cat can safely go outside.

What puppy have you been searching for daily?

They're in a house now not a flat

I would say get a rescue dog, but no reputable dog rescue will rehome a dog when there is a baby.
I would do some research into the best breeds with children. King Charles spaniels and Vizslas are good.

Well I did it. My baby was 2 months old when we brought the puppy home. It's very very hard work but it does work. We already had a dog though so the twice daily walks, clearing up the garden, dog fur etc. were already part of my life. I house trained the puppy in a couple of weeks and have no accidents in the house since. The hardest part has been the chewing our older dog was a rescue so we didn't go through the puppy stage with him.

However I'd you're not in the walking routine it might be hard to fit in. For a while I walked each dog separately so 4 walks a day until I had basic controls sorted for the puppy. So its very very hard but totally worth it for me.

As a professional dog behaviour consultant..

I would say no, really...

Consider this, what stage is your baby going to be at, when your puppy is a bolshy 'teenager' - thats around 8 or 9 months old, they pretend they forgot everything you taught them, they go back to chewing shit up, ignoring cues, pissing about.. and you've got a 13 month old human who is doing what?

Toddling about, falling down, grabbing stuff, throwing things about, exploring his or her world as they do... and you have a dog that is frankly, at the wanker stage...

Sure it works for some people, but I work with rescues and private clients for whom it isn't working, it didn't work... and in the end, the dog is the one who lucks out most often.

(And i have a pup at the 'wanker' stage right now and boy is she a little witch having been a dream puppy, aced puppy classes, aced intermediate classes, but now she's 10 months old and full of 'fuck you I'm a hound and I SHAN'T! ' )

The two sensible options open to you right now are:

Wait until kiddo is old enough to follow instructions like 'don't sit on the dog' and 'don't get in the dogs face' AND old enough to cope with puppy biting, and general puppy behaviour - this age varies from 5 for some kids and 25 for others!

Or, get an adult dog from a reputable rescue that use foster homes and assess their dogs SUPER well, and have really good behavioural back up (these do exist, you'll need to shop around for them, I know they exist because I work for two of them!).

If you do decide to go ahead with it, I highly recommend you get a behaviour consultant in before you even get a puppy to help you pick a/ the right breed and breeder (its SO much eaiser with an unbiased person helping!) and b/ sort out sensible management plans and tactics.

There are people who do this (I am one of them but there are a fair few now) - and they will offer support through the first few months as well which certainly all my clients who have gone this route (and most have had dogs before) have really RAVED about it, wishing they'd known about that before hand or that it had been available to them with previous dogs.

I think you'd be mad. We are getting a puppy now because we don't plan on trying to have kids for a couple more years. If we don't get one now I would not get one with young children. Toooooooooo much! I am quite strict with my dogs though and invest lots of time in them.

Pugs and French bulldogs are rife with health problems and often lead miserable lives
www.vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/2016/05/09/vets-to-end-suffering-of-brachycephalic-dogs/

Also because of their fashionable status breeding is often indiscriminate as backyard breeders try and make a quick buck.

A decently - bred Frenchie is likely to set you back over £3,000

They're also breeds that are difficult to housetrain and can be easily injured by toddlers