Puppy = Baby
I can’t tell you how many parents I have offended by comparing my puppy Charlie to their baby. You always hear new parents talk about their sleepless nights, lack of a social life, general frustration and stress, lack of a sex life…
When I hear a new mum in my neighborhood talk to me about these things I nod my head and say “I know exactly how you feel. Why just the other day my husband and I were reminiscing about when we used to sleep past 6:30am on weekends.” Or something like that.
Well, people think I’m ridiculous. But I tell you people- a puppy is like a baby, except you can put it in a cage (though they do have playpens for that). The sleepless nights, the whining and crying, the constant need for attention, the running around after the puppy to keep him out of trouble; and the latest: my husband and I are going to his brother’s wedding at the end of this month and we need to find a babysitter.
Sounds simple enough right?
You cannot leave a puppy for more than 4 hours in his crate. Our baby only spends 4 days a month in his crate all day because, though I work five days a week, my husband works shifts and is home much of the time for Charlie. On those days, because I am so close to home now, I go home and let him out and feed him his lunch. Also, I work flex hours so I can be home earlier in the afternoons. So our life revolves around Charlie. Which is the way it should be, I think, otherwise why get a dog? But anyway.
Thinking about leaving Charlie for a night in the care of someone else brings tears to my eyes, literally. I know this must sound ridiculous to non-dog people. This is the dog that has become a terrorist in our house; destroying our shoes, keeping us up at night, waking us up early, preventing us from having a life. But I love him and I am so in love with him that even though he chews on my arm while I “cuddle” with him, I cannot bear the thought of leaving him for a night.
So I am going to visit a small doggie farm near our house that boards dogs and lets them “roam free the way dogs should” instead of putting them all in little crates. My only concern being that Charlie is still little and not neutered and I don’t want him getting into trouble with other older dogs. My husband and I have an interview with the owner who also meets Charlie to see how well she thinks he will adjust there. All this for one night. But if I like the place, at least I will be able to have a few drinks and enjoy myself at the wedding – and it will be the first morning my husband and I get to sleep in. Though I imagine we’ll wake up early to rush home and get my little bean (that’s what I call him).
So there you have it. I do have a baby after all. And I think he is good for training us for when the human kind finally joins our family.
When I hear a new mum in my neighborhood talk to me about these things I nod my head and say “I know exactly how you feel. Why just the other day my husband and I were reminiscing about when we used to sleep past 6:30am on weekends.” Or something like that.
Well, people think I’m ridiculous. But I tell you people- a puppy is like a baby, except you can put it in a cage (though they do have playpens for that). The sleepless nights, the whining and crying, the constant need for attention, the running around after the puppy to keep him out of trouble; and the latest: my husband and I are going to his brother’s wedding at the end of this month and we need to find a babysitter.
Sounds simple enough right?
You cannot leave a puppy for more than 4 hours in his crate. Our baby only spends 4 days a month in his crate all day because, though I work five days a week, my husband works shifts and is home much of the time for Charlie. On those days, because I am so close to home now, I go home and let him out and feed him his lunch. Also, I work flex hours so I can be home earlier in the afternoons. So our life revolves around Charlie. Which is the way it should be, I think, otherwise why get a dog? But anyway.
Thinking about leaving Charlie for a night in the care of someone else brings tears to my eyes, literally. I know this must sound ridiculous to non-dog people. This is the dog that has become a terrorist in our house; destroying our shoes, keeping us up at night, waking us up early, preventing us from having a life. But I love him and I am so in love with him that even though he chews on my arm while I “cuddle” with him, I cannot bear the thought of leaving him for a night.
So I am going to visit a small doggie farm near our house that boards dogs and lets them “roam free the way dogs should” instead of putting them all in little crates. My only concern being that Charlie is still little and not neutered and I don’t want him getting into trouble with other older dogs. My husband and I have an interview with the owner who also meets Charlie to see how well she thinks he will adjust there. All this for one night. But if I like the place, at least I will be able to have a few drinks and enjoy myself at the wedding – and it will be the first morning my husband and I get to sleep in. Though I imagine we’ll wake up early to rush home and get my little bean (that’s what I call him).
So there you have it. I do have a baby after all. And I think he is good for training us for when the human kind finally joins our family.
posted by vegan mum at 8:30 AM
1 Comments:
If leaving him alone is a problem because of accidents, can I suggest baby gates? If you have washable flooring in the kitchen, set up a baby gate at the door(s) and let him have free reign of the kitchen with his toys, food, bed, etc. At least you'll have piece of mind that he's in the comfort of his own kitchen and not getting raped by the big dogs.
My mum has a pomeranian and even though she's a little dog... and an old dog she gets put in the kitchen every day while my parents are out at work. If she has an 'old dog' accident, it's in the kitchen and it's easy to clean up. She's been going in the kitchen every day since she was a wee pup and she's to the point where you can just say 'kitchen' and she goes and sits in her corner and waits for the baby gates to go up. It's good for when the grandkids come to visit so the dog can be somewhere safe away from little baby hands.
She's also crate trained and sleeps in her cage by my parent's bed at night. That way if they ever go away on vacation and take the dog with them, she's always got her crate for any of those scary hotel rooms... or if they send her to 'Sister' Katie's house (yes, I'm a sister to a dog) for the weekend to be taken care of while 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' are out of town, she comes complete with her bed and is more than happy to sleep in the crate beside my bed.
We have friends who have a husky... the biggest teddy bear you've ever seen. His name is Moose, if that gives you an idea of the grandeur of this beast. He goes to doggy daycare 3 days a week. Talk about expensive! They would leave him at home while they're both working, but this guy would eat everything in his sight. Or his giant tail would whack something off a table top.
Charlie is definately getting you ready to baby proof. Puppy proofing is almost the same as toddler proofing... except toddlers have been known to climb bookshelves (at least mine do) and I dont know too many diggies who can do that!
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