3 kids and two young dogs

[raincitymum]

We have 2 boys ages 5 and 9 and a baby girl on the way.

We got a jack Russell mix just over a year ago and a boxer who is 5 months now.

I'm starting to think that date nights will be non existent unless we take one dog with us. I can't imagine a sitter being comfortable with 2 dogs. Especially since the older one eggs on the boxer and can get a bit too snappy. We have to constantly watch them so that they don't get in a fight. They love each other but the jack Russell is very territorial over certain things and is 800x more energy than the boxer puppy.

We don't have family here so that isn't an option. They are crate trained but I am thinking that unless we put them in the garage, our kids will insist on bringing them out which I think is not a good idea. Anyone ever been in a similar position?

Unfortunately this is life with dogs - and you have two of them who don't appear to get on very well, which only makes things harder.

You could pay for home-boarding in the evening but I suspect it won't be cheap and you'd need to plan it well in advance. The other option, like you say, is to take one with you, but you'd need to make sure your babysitter is happy to referee two children plus a dog.

Unfortunately you’ve made your bed you have to lie in it.
Don’t mean that to be harsh, I have 1 child, 1 on the way and 3 dogs. I don’t get to do much at all lol

Personally I'd not mind babysitting in these circumstances. A dog experienced babysitter is not impossible

Thats an awful lot of responsibility for a baby sitter especially if the dogs are prone to fighting. I'd look into dog boarding/kennels for one of the dogs when you want a night out.

Snappy?
Fight?
Jeez. If your dogs are too dangerous to have in the house with a sitter then they’re not safe to have around kids.

All sounds like an accident waiting to happen really.

Kennels for the dogs and babysitter for the kids- unless it's family or close friends who are very familiar with all- we have 3 young kids and 2 (well behaved) dogs. Date nights are very expensive (and so happen only for birthdays!)