Shortly after my husband and I got married, I decided to get a dog. Initially, I wanted a nice size dog so I would feel safe and comfortable while my husband worked the graveyard shift. I ended up falling for a bite size puppy and we named him Frankie. Frankie was taken from his mother young, and was abandoned, so we knew he may be a little more difficult since he wasn’t ready to be out on his own yet. However, we cared for him and he quickly became part of the family.
Frankie is now 10 months old and he can be quite sneaky. He’s really fast, so when you do catch him doing something he’s not supposed to do, he runs away. He’s only 12 pounds and slender so he can also dive under couches and beds. This can make it hard (and frustrating) to deal with sometimes, and I’ve admitted this to my family. I don’t know how we got on the subject, but my grandmother insisted if I was having a hard time with Frankie, I certainly would struggle as a mother.
This hurt my feelings quite a bit. For one, no one said I was ready for motherhood any time soon anyways. That’s one reason we got a dog and didn’t make a baby. For two, I argued (respectfully of course) that dogs and kids are apples and oranges. I believe that behavior issues with children can be combatted in the beginning with the right discipline. I admit, I didn’t give my full and undivided attention to properly training Frankie because I was going through other personal issues, but I wouldn’t allow that to interfere with raising a child. I told my grandmother that my child wouldn’t be able to outrun me, dive under beds and couches, and dart into the middle of the street to bark at the neighbors. She chuckled and said she hoped she’d be around for me to eat my words.
Now, I love dogs, but I love children even more. I happen to think I’m very good with kids. I’m patient, yet firm. While I’m not knocking the difficulty of raising children, it’s a lot easier to be able to catch them in order to discipline them. Kids understand what you’re saying, while you can ramble off a monologue to a dog if you want to, but they’re only going to catch a few of the words they have in their smaller vocabulary.
There are professional dog trainers out there and that’s how they make their living: they teach dogs commands and tricks and certain mannerisms. There’s no professional child raiser. That’s your job as a parent, even though it takes a village. My children would no doubt get my attention, while sometimes I expect my dog to act independently and play with his toys or even take a nap. I just think it’s hard to compare the two, and hate when people try to relate one to another so easily. Some people treat their dogs like kids, and believe it or not, some people treat their kids like dogs. However, I just don’t think raising one and training the other is the same thing.
Do you think my grandmother had a point? Will I find myself completely overwhelmed in the future when I become a mom since I’m not complete in control with my dog?