Second dog +/- children, help

[vichouse]

My partner and I are discussing getting a second dog. Our first dog is 2 and came from a lovely family not far from where we live. The mum of our dog has had a second litter (same Dad also) and the breeder has always said she’d only ever have two litters.

We adore our first dog and are both open to a second. Parter has a daughter who is with us 50% of the time but he and I have no children of our own at the moment. Whilst I’m unsure whether I want children I can’t shake the feeling that if I were to have a child I’d really struggle with two dogs + baby/toddler/child. Has anyone else any experience having dogs and children and how they manage? Do they regret anything? I wouldn’t bring a dog into our family unless I was confident i could give it a good life and I don’t want any regrets so wondering what other people’s experiences have been like?

I think it totally depends on the dogs to be honest, which is a gamble although some breeds possibly easier than others.

We have Labradors, a 15 month old and pregnant with #2 currently, it’s totally okay however a few things that make it that way:

• Neither dog was a puppy when we had our daughter, I absolutely could not have coped if they had been 2 years or under when our daughter was born, they were a full time job in themselves when young.
• They have no separation anxiety & are happy to be left home alone, so I still have that freedom.
• They are dogs that are quite happy to just relax on the sofa all day as long as they have had enough exercise so they really aren’t any hassle.
• They are well trained so walks/general life is not stressful, they do as they are told.

It depends on the dog and depends I think on how you treat your dogs. We love our dogs but we have always treated them as dogs rather than kids which meant when our child did come along there wasn’t too much of an adjustment really. In contrast my sister is currently thinking of ttc but their dog has been treated as their baby so she is not used to being left, is a nightmare on the lead & off lead due to lack of training, sleeps in the bed and is very jealous/possessive of space, all things that aren’t an issue currently because their lives revolve around their dog but if they do have a child and life has to revolve around that child they will really really struggle with that set up and she is very aware of that.

Unless you’re planning on having children soon then it’ll be fairly similar with one or two dogs tbh.

The bit that’s really hard going is being tired and sleep deprived and dealing with a baby and still having a dog needing walked etc.

Other than that there’s no huge drama with a well behaved adult dog and two shouldn’t maybe it harder.

It’s different if you’ve got a young pita dog still when a baby arrives or you add in a puppy with a very young child who’s not lived with dogs. Or obviously a dog with a behavioural issue is different too.

This is really helpful info thank you! You’ve highlighted some points we hadn’t considered! We’ve got a Jack Russell and he’s fine being alone, still sleeps in his crate at nights and hasn’t shown any signs of possessiveness so generally a great dog although could maybe do with some work with lead walking. Thanks again 😊