Experiences of a baby and a puppy

[Crazymummyto4]

We have been considering getting a Labrador for a while and were planning on doing so in a couple of years, however the perfect on for us has come up now! It literally ticks all of the boxes. We have an 11 and 8 year old who are really keen to help out (although I am very aware that the burden would be on us!) and they've been brought up round dogs so know how to act round them. I'm returning to work one day a week which will be flexible around d my husband's shifts, so there will always be someone at home. However, our youngest would only be 8 months old. I keep switching between thinking it would be good for them to be brought up together so that he is always used to having a dog and the dog used to a baby, then thinking it would be the most ridiculous decision! Does anyone have any experience of having a puppy and a baby of a similar age?

I really regretted it. I took on a rescue pup in an emergency really and didn’t think properly. I had a 2 year old at the time and could only see the positives. Soon after ddog arrived, I found out I was pregnant.
Dog is now 10, child is almost 9.
Dog is very well trained, although I never cracked lead walking properly due to the constant focus on toddler or baby. I trained him really well aRound food and children.
I felt guilty ALL the time - I had three to share my attention and the dog was always last in that.
I love him. He’s a brilliant dog. He’s meant that the children have grown up with long walks and being outdoors in all weathers.
In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it.

Hello, we have had our lab 3 weeks now so she is 11 weeks old. She is gorgeous, but completely and utterly crazy. She sleeps a lot, 18-20 hours a day, has been excellent (so far) with toilet training and sleeps pretty much 9pm to 5am. I have two children who are 6 and 8 and in the times they are all away together it’s hard work. The puppy goes from fast asleep to an instant nipping terror who has the zoomies (which actually feels like daggers!), she is only playing but it’s hard keeping the children away from her when she is like this. Throwing a baby into the mix personally would be very hard work. But we have never owned a lab before so perhaps my expectations were totally unrealistic. We wouldn’t be without her but the biting (thinking she is playing) phase is hard when you have children too in my opinion. We are doing clicker training and she is very obedient when she isn’t too excited. Thankfully I can see the bigger picture!

My kids are 5 (just) and 3 but they were 2 and 3 when we got our St Bernard cross and she is the best most wonderful pet we could ever have asked for. Big giant lazy fluff! A bit of 'she's in the way mum with her big butt' every now and then (big floofs get in the way alot) but we all adore her, i wish i had 10 more!! Although she did eat the skirting board when she was a puppy. She's now as tall as me if stood on her back feet and takes up the whole sofa, but a wonderful pillow x x

Thankyou for your replies. Our children were 5 and 14 months when we got our current dog and it worked really well. We had baby gates so we could separate them when the dog was being particularly playful or we were doing floor play with my baby, and we had a crate and taught the children that it was the dog's safe place and she was to be left alone when she was in there. It's been lovely for them to grow up together There are so many pros and cons to whenever a dog is bought, it's a tough decision!

My lab was born in May and my baby January of the next year, so he's 9 months or so older than her. It was fine, only thing was time to walk him properly was hard to find (she was a high needs baby) but as you have older kids they can do that I presume. My lab is now nearly 5 and him and my daughter adore each other. She sneaks him food, brushes him, tucks him in at night etc and he is very protective of her.

@Mylittlepony374 They sound like the best of friends! Our eldest will be old enough to walk her, although I wouldn't really plan on him doing that for a couple of years once she's past the puppy stage. My husband work shifts so he's either home until 3pm or back by 4pm on the days he works and he gets blocks of four days off, so one of us would be able to take her out alone for lead training at some point in the daytime each day.

I bought my dog when my child was 4, then I went on to have 2 more children.

The dog is sweet and gentle with babies/young children and very well behaved but in hindsight it was a big mistake and i shouldn’t have bought her until all my children were older.

Like a PP I never cracked walking properly on lead because I just didn’t have time and when I did have time I was permanently stressed and tired because of said children and I just didn’t bother.

I haven’t been able to give her the time and attention I wanted to and I feel guilty she is old now and has to put up with all the years of tantrums, screaming, shouting, overexcitement etc in her ‘prime’ when she should have been enjoying a peaceful, quiet life with my full attention.