To not take excited 4 year old to his first lesson

[JustSaltPlease]

Arggg help me out. Meant to take son to first swimming lesson today, he's been asking about it for a while.

Problem number 1 is I have a heavy period, although this isn't a massive bother.

Problem 2 is my puppy sitter has let me down and my little pup isn't used to being alone yet, between school pick up and lesson I'd be gone around 1.5 to 2 hours. So please confirm that I have to let my son down!

Dp saying to leave puppy in kitchen but God knows what stress he will be under and subsequently what damage he will do!

It's not "anxiety" to want your puppy to have the best start possible

I imagine so and they are also the people complaining about badly trained dogs without understanding that this involves time and patience.

How strange.

I booked one dog training session to help me with some commands and recall. Turns out my own research covered pretty much everything she did.

A puppy sitter was a must because I do work in the office twice a week.

My son absolutely loved his fun with floats session, then we went to the park and played ball with the puppy. Was a great evening.

Hope the posters pretty much telling me I'm a terrible mother have a great evening and sleep well tonight.

Ignore them OP. They are the sort of people who would get a dog, expect it to fit in perfectly with no training, extended periods alone and little exercise and then say their kids are heartbroken but they have no choice but to re-home the dog. Your dog and child will have years of fun together.

Well said.

Don't feel the need to defend yourself, a good dog trainer is a great asset. We did puppy lessons over Zoom (lockdown) and the trainer was fantastic, to the point we kept in touch for years. Although you can learn lots of the theory it's really useful to have an experienced professional to give you feedback, sometimes the most simple thing can change everything (e.g. where you're holding your treats, how to build up commands gradually, etc). I'm glad you had a good time at the pool and the park.

This is showing what a fab owner you are - you've done research, you've contact a trainer to give your pup the best start, and you're considering your pups needs when you work. Plus you found a perfect solution when you needed to with the swimming. Glad you all had a great evening :)

If you leave the puppy your kitchen could get wrecked.

I would leave the puppy.

Kid before puppy!
Obviously.
I can't believe you're asking!

Glad you found a solution! You were right not to leave the pup for 2 hours if he’s never been alone before, as puppies don’t understand that you’re not gone forever. 2 hours to a tiny puppy feels like years! Very good way to set yourself up for years of separation anxiety, so I’m glad you didn’t. You can explain things to a child of 4, but you can’t explain things to a puppy.

I couldn’t leave mine alone until he was about seven months old (granted I got him when he was five months) because he really struggled with toilet training and separation anxiety due to a horrible start in life. Your pup is very young, so he should crack it pretty quickly and this will soon become a problem of the past!

Ridiculous comments that you are ‘putting a dog ahead of your child’; anyone would think you were asking who you should take a bullet for 🤦🏼‍♀️

Yes you are, I’m afraid. Choosing an animal over a child and worrying about the dog’s distress more than your child’s is just skewed values.

I left both my dogs as puppies in their crates for short periods from the time we got them. Does he have a crate?

Jesus the replies on this thread are unhinged. For what it’s worth, I don’t think either option would’ve caused much damage but I’m glad you found a good solution. You’re certainly not a terrible mum (or dog owner) lol

Surely you are going to have this same problem every week?

Why would the pet sitter cancel every week? Also the dog will obviously age and adapt.

OP, download apps like Rover or borrow my doggy or Tailster. If he is fully vaccinated someone on there would have him for a few hours.

is he playing with kongs yet? If you leave him for a few hours in the kitchen, with a frozen kong or a a frozen licki mat I think he will be ok. Just remove stuff he will destroy or hurt himself! The moment you get home give him a reward (treat/toy)
don’t miss swimming, puppy will be ok. I have both a newborn and a lab (she is 8) so I get not wanting to leave your pet. When said newborn arrived my mum flew in from abroad to stay with our dog. She said as long as she stuck to the walking and feeding schedule our doggy entertained herself! And cuddles playtime etc were very much on the grandpooch’s terms!

The four year old got to go to another swimming session later - how is that having skewed values? 🙄

I thought the OP meant a toy for the dog trainer.

Just leave the puppy. It’ll be fine.🙂

I'd leave a radio/Alexa/ app for calming puppy noises on for the puppy.

I'd read the dates and at least the OPs updates before bothering to post... she found an excellent solution on Monday.

@JustSaltPlease

Don't leave your puppy by itself, apart from the fact it's cruel without any build up, you'll cause yourself a lot of problems with separation anxiety.

if you had a human baby what would you do?

you must have a neighbour or friend who would sit with the puppy for a couple of hours?

or use somewhere like Rover

if you're near me I'll come over (north Hampshire).

if you don't want to do any of those, then DS will have to wait until next week, maybe soften the blow by taking him swimming at the weekend (or somewhere else he enjoys)

you're going to need other people who you trust to puppy sit for you. It's not a 'few weeks' issue, it's long term.

@ErrolTheDragon

oops, big OOPS.

sorry people

So what if OPs son had an accident that needed a&e. And had nobody to look after puppy. What would you do then? Genuinely interested in the answer