Remember when before you had kids, your dogs were your babies? You took them on walks, included them in Christmas photos, and maybe they even slept in your bed. Then your bundle of joy arrives and soon those fur babies have become a distant memory. It’s safe to say the dog days are over.
We have two dogs, Molly a Jack Russell Terrier, and Teddy a Cairn Terrier. We’ve had Molly for a long time as she will be 11 years old next year. She was our first baby–the one we had when we were in college, the one we had before we were engaged, and the one we had as newlyweds. So needless to say, she has been spoiled.
Molly is a smooth coat Jack Russell, so she sheds EVERYWHERE. It used to drive me crazy before we had kids, but as soon as I saw my baby boy have it on his face and clothes, I flipped.
Molly was ousted from the bed. Teddy was sprayed by a skunk and even after many tries we couldn’t get rid of the smell, so his crate was moved to the kitchen. Now over six months later, he’s still in the kitchen.
I remember having a friend that had young children and an older dog…she told me they were looking for a home for their dog because it was just too much. At the time, I couldn’t believe she would give away her dog…well until after I had kids.
It’s hard balancing two children under three and taking care of two dogs. They get neglected, the water bowl has to be moved outside because the youngest likes to play in it, and they get walked less because it’s hard to load up two kids in car seats, strollers, and two dogs.
It just has become so complicated.
I really love my dogs, but between having to make sure there is no food left on the table from the kids (Molly has jumped on my new kitchen table and scratched it), or that Teddy is outside or in his crate (he developed a habit of marking his territory on table legs after the first child was born), it just seems like another item to worry about it my already full mom brain.
I hope once my kids get older that it gets easier. Because I would really like my kids to enjoy their dogs. But right now? It’s hard.
Do you find it hard to balance having pets and young kids?
Yes! This is so us, too. We have 2 dogs, and life is completely opposite with them now than it was before kids. I hope when our kids are older they can help take care of the dogs more… guess we’ll see.
I hope my kids can help with the dogs more when they get older too!
I love my Lola, but my top advice to newlyweds is…”Don’t get a dog before kids!”. I think it would have been a better step to take after baby/toddlerhood had passed. Oh well!
I had thoughts we would eventually get Teddy a playmate since Molly doesn’t actually “play” with him. Then I had kids…so yeah not going to happen.
We had our dog, Phoebe, for 11+ years before having to give her up when the kids were 4 and 1. We battled all the things you mentioned above, as well as Asthma & severe allergies with my oldest son, and at about 18 months, my youngest began showing Asthma-like symptoms as well; so we decided it was no longer worth the fight to keep her. We searched long and hard for the perfect home for our dog and gave her to a friend of a friend who still lets us visit any time the kids ask to see her and we’ve become all-time dogsitter when they go out of town. It was the best case scenario at our house and my kids have shown so much improvement health-wise. While it’s still sad that we couldn’t keep our first “baby”; our kids come first always.
I’m so glad you found a good solution that worked for your family. It’s such a tough situation especially with asthma and severe allergies.