Get a dog

I am now a firm believer that every couple should get a dog before having children.  Why?  It’s a trial run.

Jason and I got our first dog in June.  His name is Sport and we love him like he is our child.  The last five months, however, have been full of ups and downs.  Here are some of the lessons we have learned from Sport which will translate to children:

• Sometimes bad behavior has no explanation.  Sport is generally a champ at not chewing things he isn’t supposed to.  EXCEPT our living room carpet.  He has now chewed on it four times, to the point where we would be justified in getting a new carpet.  Not that we will until we are sure he is done chewing.  Why does he do it?  We have no idea.  He has plenty of chew toys.  As soon as we see it he knows he’s in trouble.  Why doesn’t he just not do it in the first place?  Beats me.
• Even if it is cute, bad behavior must be punished.  Sport is not allowed in our bedroom.  We decided that on day one.  We wanted to have a place in the house where we could be alone and he wouldn’t follow.  Generally, he’s been very good with it.  However, the last few weeks we’ve been leaving him out at night.  He usually sleeps right outside our room, but he doesn’t like that he can’t see our bed from there.  So, he’s been inching his way into the room to the point where he can see us.  It is so cute, but we know that if we let him in that far, soon he’ll want to be next to our bed, after which he’ll want to be on the bed.  So we send him back out into the hallway.
• No one will love them like you love them.  I can tell that Sport drives some people crazy.  He’s still a puppy and gets excited to meet people – jumping on them.  He thinks when kids run away they are playing and chases them.  Jason and I have a lot more patience and understanding for that than others.  It makes us mad that people yell at Sport like he’s bad when he jumps, when their dog does the same thing – the only difference is they have a small dog and ours is big.  They are both still puppies and you can’t hold my dog to a higher standard than you do yours.  But Jason and I love him in a way no one else does.  And that’s okay.
• You’ll get to see how your partner disciplines.  Jason and I both take the same approach when disciplining Sport.  He doesn’t get away with anything – he is shown what he has done wrong, gets yelled at, and is put outside by himself in the dark (which he hates).  We came to this system collectively without arguing.  If I catch him I do the disciplining.  If Jason catches him, he does it.  If it is a really bad offense we both do.  I think this is a good sign for things to come.

Getting a dog is one of the most fulfilling things we’ve ever done.  I’m sure having kids will trump that someday, but, until then, we’ll continue using Sport as a guinea pig and hopefully our kids will be better off for it!

Related posts:

1. We Only Hurt The One’s We Love…
2. The Cool Kids are all on Facebook!