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!

That would be the time to prioritise the child over the puppy, obviously. A missed swimming lesson is in no way comparable to a child needing emergency medical care, is it? In an ideal world you'd be able to drop the puppy with someone or have someone come and get it, but in a toss up between letting a child suffer or leaving a puppy to suffer, I don't think many parents would or should choose the puppy. It would still be cruel to leave it but if the alternative is your child dying or suffering of course you leave it, and deal with the consequences later.

This sort of thing is the reason I personally am of the opinion that people with young kids shouldn't have young pets at all, young kids are too unpredictable and young pets need too much attention and care. But that's a view that tends to get me shouted at on here.

I agree with you about having pets with young children. Don't worry, I get shouted at alot on here when it's about dogs because I'm not a fan at all and it annoys me when people don't keep control of them when out and about. But apparently that makes me a big meanie pants🤣

That's fine if it works for the dog, but for the first couple of weeks my puppy refused to go in her crate. We tried placing her in but she was distraught, climbing up the bars. I was worried she would break a leg. I've heard of distressed puppies fatally injuring themselves when left alone in crates, so you need to judge it on the individual dog. It took us weeks to get her to sleep in her crate, and a couple of months to leave her alone in it for any length of time longer than about 10 minutes. Equally my BIL's puppy came home at 8 weeks happy to chill in his crate so they're all different.

It's a puppy, it will be fine. Haven't you got a puppy cage?
He will likely sleep the hole time you're away.
You're making a food for your own back.

Do not let your son down. In my opinion that's ridiculous.

@PolePrince55 a wholly uninformed post

Can't that member sit with puppy?
Actually can't believe this question!

Why would you let your son down? That's unbelievable!

In my opinion you're not doing the right thing!
I think you're unbelievable!

Absolutely aghast at some of these replies.

OP you're being a responsible dog owner. Well done, there aren't enough of you around (clearly according to this thread!)

Getting a puppy trainer is brilliant.

The OP isn't suggesting her son never has a swimming lesson again. He's missing one. And he'll be fine as he is still getting to go swimming with a different session.

Training a puppy is responsible. There are many out of control dogs and dogs with no recall and reactive dogs out and about all the time. OP is doing what she can to train her dog not to be like that while also ensuring the dog isn't under stress it doesn't need to be.

Of course you made the right decision OP I think that's obvious to anyone with a little bit of a sense.

@PolePrince55 this happened days ago and was sorted

As for not believing my question - well I am someone who has no experience with dogs and lots with children. If asked I would be much more comfortable taking a child to a swimming lesson than looking after a tiny dog.

I'd have 100% left the dog for a couple of hours, people calling it cruelty, FFS.

I left my puppy from day one of having him to go to a BBQ. You know what he did? He slept in his bed all afternoon, even when I got back, spark out for hours.

I think you are a lovely mum. To both your boy and your pup. Invaluable lesson taught to him even if he doesn’t understand it just yet about being considerate and responsible.

Great 👍

Presumably you're not stupid enough to think all dogs are the same though, right?

This was sorted two days ago 🙄

And I tried to leave my puppy for 10 seconds to go to the toilet on day one and had to take her with me! Leaving her for hours would have been neglectful. Going to a barbecue the day you get a puppy is mad priorities. Couldn't you have asked the breeder to collect him the next day?

And for anyone who thinks I made a rod for my own back, mine is now a confident 4 year old dog who is happy to stay in the house alone for a few hours and sleeps downstairs in her crate all night. We're the only people I know who haven't relented and ended up with the dog in their room, or worse, their bed.

I mean, I'm pretty stupid. You?

@piccolorhinoceros I honestly think that after his five-hour trip home and being fussed by everyone for an hour, he was ready to rest. He had water, food, a bed, toys and a training pad with the run of a 20-ft kitchen.

All dogs are different, and most dogs' behaviour is influenced by their owners and how they are trained.

It sounds like the OP sorted her little issue out in any case. But to me, it sounds wild that she'd not leave the dog for a couple of hours, regardless of what she was going to do. Unless it had a history of wrecking the place while she was gone, and if that was the case, it would be in a creat.

@40YearOldDad I completely disagree. You'd only taken him from his mum (and the only home and humans he'd ever known) 6 hours prior. What he needed was company and comfort (not to mention regular toilet trips. I don't believe in puppy pads).

@piccolorhinoceros we shall have to agree to disagree.

I don't believe in the tooth fairy, but I still scoop up a tooth from under the pillow and pop a fiver underneath. Just as an aside, I think we used about 3 out of the pack because the last thing I want is a dog pooping in my house; the number one priority was getting him to go outside.

I think most of us go for a middle ground. I left my puppy for 20 mins twice the day after we got her, as I had to take my kids to school and pick them up. We built this up gradually and by 15 weeks she could definitely be left for 2 hours. She was/is crate trained. We also worked with a trainer, and got a puppy sitter if we had to be out of the house for longer than she would have been comfortable with. And at 1 year old she happily sleeps downstairs in the kitchen at night.
It’s always so binary on these threads… leaving them for hours on day 1 vs not leaving them even for 10 mins for the first 6 months, for example. It doesn’t lead to helpful discussion!
Anyway, the matter is resolved now.

To the person who asked what I'd do if I had to take my son to hospital, come on! Of course I'd send him in a taxi so my precious pup was ok

JOKE

Anyway, I think this thread deserves a photo of the pup.

Oh the little face!

He’s definitely looking accusingly at all the posters saying you should have left him at home alone for two hours 😂

He’s a real cutie!

You would really put the interests of a dog before a child’s?

Because it’s a CHILD not a trendy appendinge. Last straw.Leaving mumsnet.

WTF?

thank god for some sanity at last.