[krickets]

Are we crazy for thinking of getting a dog, either just before, or just after baby is born? The mister has puppy fever like you wouldn't believe. We don't want a puppy, but something closer to a year old. It's something we've been considering a long time, but we both work during the day and haven't felt we would have time to train one properly (which is a major priority for me with a dog). I have a year of maternity leave and it seems like a good time. Good reason to get out of the house daily, too. Any thoughts?

 

[NaturallyKait]

We had similar thoughts honestly, but we can't fit a puppy into our apartment now with the kitties and the baby coming. If we had a house we would consider it. For the reasons you mentioned, plus it's nice to see them grow up together. Funny enough, we were going to get a puppy this summer, but then the pregnancy happened haha.

 

[MountainMamaGC]

It worked out with our first dog, but later when we got another dog when my daughter was 5 she was not mature enough to act properly with the dog. The dog is now bitey with little kids, and shows treat and toy aggression like crazy so we made the decision to give the dog to my MIL as the dog cant be trusted with kids. (Well no dog really can be, but this dog is especially risky.) Our first dog is great. She is patient, and she gives clear warning when she is bugged. She has no treat or toy aggression at all. I dont know what happened since we trained them the same, but they are very separate breeds. Our older dog is a german shepherd cross, and the newer one is a small breed mix.

 

[Mallow]

We just bought a 8 week old Border Collie a couple weeks ago. We purchased our now 1 year old GSD last year when our youngest son was 2 months old, and we coped just fine.

 

[Emanresu]

I think it's a fine idea. I totally want nothing to do with pets, but if I did, I could see myself doing both at once.

 

[lerlisha]

We are looking for a dog too! It does seem like a lot to take on at once but I think it can be manageable, especially with a dog who is a little bit older. I've had dog fever ever since we bought our house in June last year.

 

[krickets]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'm pretty sure it's happening, so it's nice to have some reassurance.

 

[krickets]

Just to update this thread, we have decided to wait to get a dog until after the holiday we have booked at the end of July, which would be when the baby is about 2 months old. We also need to build a very big fence first, so that should give us some time to get that done.