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Original poster

"I don't do children' I have a dog and I can't imagine loving anyone more than him........

34 replies

northerner · 01/03/2007 17:40

said a woman I met today. She was in her 30's I'd say.

I didn't think these people really existed....

OP posts:
ohsmellyjelly · 01/03/2007 17:42

Message withdrawn

MamaGee · 01/03/2007 17:42

sounds just like my boss (female)

Babyramone · 01/03/2007 17:42

I knew someone who felt that way about her Ford Capri.

BarafundleBayisBeautiful · 01/03/2007 17:43

I could understand it if she had a cat...but a dog? well really

satine · 01/03/2007 17:43

Oh, I know two couples who don't have children and both of them treat their dogs like bloody Kings and Queens (hand feeding them tea and toast for breakfast, in one case, talking to them on the phone if they are away from them in another - and then saying "Oh, she won't sleep if I don't say goodnight to her", all letting the dogs sleep in their beds with them,). With one couple in particular I do catch myself thinking boy, if you did have children, I wonder if they would be as indulged as your awful dogs?

ohsmellyjelly · 01/03/2007 17:43

Message withdrawn

ohsmellyjelly · 01/03/2007 17:44

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MeMyselfI · 01/03/2007 17:45

I thought I couldn't love a child as much as my cat until I had my children. Sounds barking now, but I had no idea how it would be to have a baby.

Until you have a baby you just don't know how loving a child feels and although we all know now that kids are a different ball game altogther, I can understand why someone would feel the way this woman feels.

Although I would never have spoken to my cat on the phone ... there's mad and there's barking.

fireflyfairy2 · 01/03/2007 17:45

You've got to feel sorry for people like that though

My bet is that they may actually like a child.. I know that's the case for my sister. She has a 10 yr old & never had any more... she treats her wee dog like a child..

DeviousDaffodil · 01/03/2007 17:45

I know several paople like this who are happy to pick up dog crap with their bare hands, yet visibly blanch if a small child comes any where near them.
I used to work with a woman who used to show dogs and dhe had their framed phot on her desk.
I placed a small one of my children on mine, she tutted!!!

HuwEdwards · 01/03/2007 17:46

I can remember feeling like that when I was in my late 20s (have never talked to an animal over the phone though, nor let them in my bedroom)

satine · 01/03/2007 17:49

Oh, this one relative will talk to her dogs on the phone several times a day on the rare occasions she's away from them. And she's currently annoyed with me because we saw them on Boxing Day and I didn't have presents for her dogs (naturally she had a special one for our dog - oops, sorry, her dogs had a present for our dog, silly me). She's a very kind and nice woman but she and her dh are completely unhinged when it comes to their dogs.

Babyramone · 01/03/2007 17:57

My best friend uses to make me talk to her dog! She'd then say "he's smiling, knows it's his Auntie Babyramone"
She has a DD now and whilst stilldottty on the dog has much more normal attitude. I think she was just broody.
The Capri woman would even lovinly stroke it. Spent a fortune doing it up. Did look retro cool.

danceswithnewboots · 01/03/2007 18:04

Oh, now I feel hot shame at how much dh and I used to go on about our cats. We must have been so feckin boring.

fryalot · 01/03/2007 18:07

Northerner - did she use those exact words, and if so, is she quite large with artificial red hair? If so, I think I know her!!!!!

Frizbe · 01/03/2007 18:17

Our old nextdoor neighbours were like this, but they couldn't have kids, so all the cash went on the dog, then he died and they couldn't bring themselves to have another one, but they have it written in their will that all the money from their estate goes to the dogs home

Original poster
northerner · 01/03/2007 18:20

No Sqounk she was slim and blonde.

Are you in Harrogate?

OP posts:
fryalot · 01/03/2007 18:21

No, but in North Yorks. The person I was thinking of travels all over Yorkshire with her job (and her dog). I have heard her use those EXACT words which was why I thought of her.

wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe · 01/03/2007 18:31

reminds me of a conversation I had with the cook at ds' nursery. it went something like this:

"my little boy isn't very well at the moment, he has a tumour in his stomach they think, he can bearly walk and they don't think he has much longer left" me "oh am so sorry to hear that" while all the while thinking that this woman was holding it together remarkably as if that had been my child I would be in bits. "he's lost so much weight, and he's so weak" me "oh that's such a shame", "for weeks he hasn't been able to eat anything really" and by now I'm wondering why this poor woman is even at work if her child is so desperately ill. "he was on prescription food, but in this past week he has managed to eat normal dog food again".

How I kept a straight face I shall never know.

Original poster
northerner · 01/03/2007 19:27

lol Wannabe!!

OP posts:
snig · 01/03/2007 19:36

Aahhh i'm afraid i was the same pre ds, well perhaps not as bad but i did wonder whether i could love a child as much as my dog. Of course now i've had my little boy i love him with all my heart and the dog is definitely bottom of the pile. I never talked to my dog over the phone but i used to sign her name on christmas/borthday cards.
I was probably v annoying!

mistressmiggins · 01/03/2007 19:49

I have friends who have 2 cats.
They sign their names on Christmas & birthday cards & draw paw-prints.
They moan about having to get up early in the morning like we do with kids.
Their cats are their children.

satine · 01/03/2007 21:12

Wannabe, that's a great story!

TinyGang · 01/03/2007 21:21

Has anyone noticed a certain band of dogwalkers who wear fleece jackets with big pictures of dogs all over them?

Aloha · 01/03/2007 21:25

I've got a childless friend who interrupts our phone conversations to speak to her CAT!

me: 'Hi, how are you?'
Friend; "Oh hello! Yes, I'm fine...Felix, no, naughty boy, mustn't scratch the sofa, that's it get down now...busy at work and my mum's not been so well.
Me: 'I'm sorry to hear that, what's wrong with her?'
Friend 'Well, she had a bit of....now, now Felix, that's not nice is it? Making a mess with your dinner like that! Silly boy...

I feel like putting the phone down sometimes