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Original poster

Getting a cocker spaniel puppy then having a baby a few months later.

85 replies

Babylife202 · 29/05/2020 19:40

Anything I should be aware of? We have a puppy lined up that was born on Friday, and my second child is due in August. I’ve never had a dog before but my DH has. I’m thinking, never leave the two unattended and have lots of baby gates everywhere. I know the need for the walks. Anything else I should be aware of regarding day to day issues? Thank-you

OP posts:

IDontDrinkTea · 29/05/2020 20:04

Oh gosh. I feel like this is a decision you’d grow to regret...

SharkasticRhymes · 29/05/2020 20:05

Sorry OP, I wouldn't do this either. Both individuals need your focus and attention and much, much more than 50% of your energy and time.

chickedeee · 29/05/2020 20:05

Really bad idea 😳

Sturmundcalm · 29/05/2020 20:06

I really wouldn't - we got a spaniel when my youngest was about 2.5 and it was really, really hard work as the dog wanted to be alpha over the smallest human and DS couldn't leave it alone so there was never a minute's peace. my DD turned out to be allergic and when she was actually coming out in hives despite piriton, etc we had to rehome the puppy - kids were gutted but i have to admit i was relieved...

jollybobs89 · 29/05/2020 20:07

I would just suggest crate training. It's easy enough to do it will take the puppy a few weeks to get used to the crate but at least then if it all gets a bit much then the pup can go into the crate etc.

I got a cocker spaniel and found out I was pregnant a few weeks later!

I have two kids now and my spaniel is great with them. My DD is 2 and they are the best of friends, she pulls his ears and all sorts (I try to stop her) haha and he never bothers.

jollybobs89 · 29/05/2020 20:08

Maybe get a dog walker too.

Starshollowwannabe · 29/05/2020 20:11

I have a 10 month and a Jack Russell puppy. Bloody hard work. I’m constantly retrieving things from both of their mouths

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 29/05/2020 20:11

I’ve never owned a dog and even I think this is madness. I briefly entertained the idea but soon decided against it.

LillianBland · 29/05/2020 20:12

My parents cocker spaniel is 15, and he’s only just calmed down in the last 18 months ish. He spent the first 13 years of his life running from room to room in their house of an evening. And they’re dedicated to at least an hours run in the forest every day. Loopy creatures. My other parents have springers and they’re noticeably calmer than the cocker!

I was trying to be nice about cockers, without offending any owners, but you’re right, they never bloody grow up! I know so many people who get them, thinking they’re like an compromise between a King Charles and a Springer, because of their size. Give me a Springer, over a cocker, any day. It’s as if the cocker’s brain and body are working independently from each other.

Soubriquet · 29/05/2020 20:12

Are you nuts?!

Why would you get a puppy and have a baby at the same time?

I have a 2 and 3 year old dog, and 5 and 7 year old kids.

They are old enough to understand about leaving the dogs alone when they sleep.

The dogs still wee on the floor. Not a good thing with a crawling baby

Bubbletrouble43 · 29/05/2020 20:14

This sounds a nightmare. I love my dog, I got him when 37 and single, not imagining I'd have more kids. Few years later I met someone and had twins. At this stage my dog was a mature well behaved 6 or 7 year old but it was still so bloody hard, and though I love him loads if I'd seen into the future how hard it would be I would not have got a dog if I'd known I was having babies too. I would wait till your kids are older tbh.

SqidgeBum · 29/05/2020 20:14

We sort of did this OP. We got a sprocker pup in April and had our first baby in the November. By that point he was toilet trained and didnt bark through the night. We also put time into training him to sit, stay, and leave whatever he had. Honestly, I wouldnt do it with only week to go. We had our dog barely manageable by the time he was 9 months old. You need months, not weeks, to train a dog. By 9 months my pup still stole everything (nappies, wipes, muslin cloths) and had very little control (he used to try to lie on the baby). But we were used to him and although it was hard, he was just old enough. Now, with him 2 years old and the baby 18 months, its perfect, but we put insane amounts of work into him before the baby came so I could survive him with a newborn when DH went to work. Even then some days I hated him. He made my life so hard. I say now I would have 10 kids before having another spaniel pup again.

I think you have left it too late to be honest and it would be a disaster for you, baby and pup. Maybe wait til the baby is 2ish and go for it.

Katinthedoghouse · 29/05/2020 20:14

OMG

Bartlet · 29/05/2020 20:15

Why do people make such poor choices that everyone with any a modicum of common sense realise will be a disaster?

Don’t take the puppy. It’s an idiotic idea and you’ll regret it.

Luckystar1 · 29/05/2020 20:17

It’s also going to be an absolute no from me.

We got a cocker spaniel last year, I cried absolutely every day because of him. It was ridiculously stressful. My children were 2.5 and 4 when we got him, and it was a MILLION times worse than having a baby.

We couldn’t do anything or go anywhere and we couldn’t leave anyone unattended for even a second.

We ended up rehoming him when I got pregnant again (although I mc’d that baby and the following 2, so I’m still pregnant now 😂).

I would never get another dog now (and I’ve grown up with dogs on a farm my whole life). It was honestly some of the worst times of my life.

Our boy was extremely needy too, he had someone with him constantly and was a complete nightmare if left alone for even very short periods.

In the year we had him, he still pooed in the house, and occasionally peed, despite being taken outside hourly.

Horrific. I urge you please to reconsider.

TARSCOUT · 29/05/2020 20:18

Sorry I have to agree with just about everyone else. Unless you are both at home then the first 3 months will be fine then the next 16 will be a toddler phase, then the terrible teenager phase and that's just the dog. I've always had dogs but last 35 years have been older rescues. Currently I have just done a 9 month sentence with a pup. Never again.

NannyPear · 29/05/2020 20:19

As a dog lover, dog owner, mother of two, vet, and concerned stranger on the internet, I have to strongly advise you against this!

KitchenConfidential · 29/05/2020 20:20

Also, I can tell you for a fact that you arent buying this puppy from a decent breeder, because no breeder who gave a damn about dogs would sell a pup to someone who has never had a dog before and is having a baby only a few weeks later.

aiejavah · 29/05/2020 20:20

I have a cocker spaniel, she is 10 years old and honestly such a pain in the arse around the kids. I love her but despite the cocker being 7 when the first child arrived she was still very much a nutty spaniel. A puppy will be so much worse 🤦‍♀️

Trevsadick · 29/05/2020 20:21

Without sounding all defensive.

I have a 4 year old cocker and a 7 month old cocker. Both working Both are great dogs. Calm in the house and on the lead. The younger is actually the more responsive.

Non of my cockers (had both show and working strain) have got to 15 and still bouncing off the walls. That would suggest the dogs are getting what they need in terms of stimulation.

I jave also fostered several springers/sprockers. A few of them have been insane but a few weeks of training and they calm right down in the house.

Some cockers can be insane. So can some poodles, sproodles, cockapoos, chihuahuas(I grew up with chihuahuas several were a nightmare), labs etc.

No one can say this is a good idea or not. Plenty of people do it and it works. Plenty do it and it doesn't. But then tons of people get puppies with older kids, no kids and they still end up rehoming.

That said i wouldn't buy a cocker now. Prices are through the roof. Buying puppies right now, means you are getting ripped off.

ChewChewIsMySpiritAnimal · 29/05/2020 20:23

Horrifically bad idea.

FeelingTheBurn · 29/05/2020 20:24

I wouldn't.
The puppy is going to need intense training, and you will be exhausted.
If the puppy isn't trained right, it's going to be a nightmare.

Hold off till the baby is older.

Betty98 · 29/05/2020 20:24

I know so many people who get them, thinking they’re like an compromise between a King Charles and a Springer, because of their size. crikey that’s optimistic of those people 😂 I’ve got a King Charles and he’s more like an oversized house cat, it’s hard to believe he’s even the same animal and my parents’ springers and cocker.

I’d add OP, my King Charles cav was 5 when I had DS, and he’s docile and lounges about for most of the day and yet it was still such hard work. DH actually evicted him for the day today because he barked at a delivery driver and woke DS up from his nap. (Evicted as in sent him round his parents house!!)

Glowcat · 29/05/2020 20:30

The walks are the least of it. There’s a rough guide of 5 minutes of on lead walking for every month of age so 15 minutes for a 12 week old puppy. It’s debatable how valid that it, but it does illustrate that you can’t rely on walking to tire out a puppy. It’s bad for their bone development. That means you will have a needy, toothy ball of energy in your house along with your current child and your new baby. If the puppy can reach it then it can chew it or wee on it. However clean your house is now it will take more effort to keep it that way with a dog living there. How will you feel about having a crawling baby and a puppy on the same floors?

The only way they learn is by monitoring what they’re doing and directing them towards the behaviour you want. The more time and attention you can spend on toilet training and substituting a kong or chew for the tv remote or a shoe in the first few weeks, the less problem behaviour you’re likely to have in the long run. It’s a lot easier to deal with it right in the first place than to try to correct it later.

I would be very wary of taking this on unless you’re 100% committed to this, especially as you’re going to be dealing with a newborn, as well as a child and a puppy. It’s not that it can’t be done. It’s that it’s harder than doing it with older children.

Betty98 · 29/05/2020 20:31

Non of my cockers (had both show and working strain) have got to 15 and still bouncing off the walls. That would suggest the dogs are getting what they need in terms of stimulation.

You are potentially right, but isn’t that more of an advert not to do it? My step dad hasn’t worked the entire time they’ve owned him so the dog has had company all day, he’s also a stickler for walking him for miles every day (off lead in the forest), my parents have many children and grand children in and out the house constantly, and he’s a well trained dog (as in, isn't destructive for example). He still spends the evenings excitedly bouncing from room to room (or as I say, did until he was about 13). He certainly didn’t spend much time curled up on the sofa until the last year or so. What more stimulation can a dog possibly be offered?

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