Dog chat, child chat

[Nanodust]

I suppose I’m looking for insight. I find that I’m often cut short at work if I say anything about my kids but others who talk about their dogs are welcomed and shown a real interest.
I certainly don’t talk excessively about my kids, just the odd thing. It’s almost like it’s politically incorrect but okay to talk about pets, specifically dogs. Anyone get what I’m talking about?
I should add I love dogs and hope we can have one, one day.

I don't have kids, do have a dog (I'm only on MN for the dog chat)

Quite literally no one in my department of 30 has kids (even senior management) so we don't get a lot of child chat and I'd struggle to compare.

However, I suppose the flip side of it is that management would view "I can't work x evening event because I can't get childcare" rather more sympathetically than they would with dog care. Personally I think both dogs and children are lifestyle choices but there we go!

Ahem, confession. I find stories or anecdotes or comments around other people's children incredibly boring and I am not interested in hearing about them. I don't talk about my own either.

I do like hearing stories about other people's dogs though.

I mean, who cares whether little Johnny got sunburn on his ears because mum forgot to cream them?

Dog who is new / ill / playful / has done something awful or funny - bring it on.

I don't have children and I find it hard to chip in on some conversations because of that. However, if we talk about dogs then I immediately have a common thing to talk about.

Same with other conversations in that if I can't contribute to a subject other than superficial pleasantries then it's not going to be much of an in-depth natter.

Thanks everyone, I thought it was probably as you say above. I just sometimes find small chat hard so wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing some social clue 😲

I think making small talk is an art which I find hard. So much easier if you have a common interest.