Raising a Puppy with an Infant
Both require LOTS of attention. You know that you must keep an eye on a child every moment. The moment you look away, they do something you don’t like. A puppy is the same way. Not only that, by they both need a lot of love and positive reinforcement for good behavior. Your attention is split between infant and puppy and both will suffer due to this. For example, a puppy needs to be housebroken. It can be easy, if you are focused and patient with the puppy. With your attention divided, it’s very hard to make sure your child is behaving and not in any danger and at the same time, teaching the puppy to go “outside”.
Children this young might not understand how to properly interact with a puppy or a dog. They think of them as toys to be played with. We did, however, train our daughter on my sister’s dogs and a stuffed dog how to “pet nice”. Our daughter does not grab at dogs roughly anymore or try to poke them in the eyes. However, she doesn’t grasp the concept not to pet or bother the dog when he is sleeping. Sometimes when he is sleeping, she thinks he is like her stuffed dog and will come close to stepping right on him as if he were a toy. Dogs do not like to be disturbed when sleeping, especially if they are dreaming. My brother learned that lesson and had to wear an eye patch as a result for two months.
Children can also be very jealous when the puppy is getting attention and vice versa. A puppy requires a lot of attention and love, just as a baby does, and again, you are forced to split your attention and deal with the jealousy issues that arise.
A lot of times, my daughter will wake up the puppy or he will wake up her. Can you imagine how frustrating it is not to get five minutes to yourself because either the puppy is awake, or the baby is awake, or both? It is very exhausting to take care of both and can drain your energy, your patience and really amp up the stress levels. I urge you to NOT get a dog or puppy until your child is at least 5 years old. Life with a baby can be difficult and rewarding on its own, just like a puppy, but dealing with a puppy and a baby at the same time is just pure insanity. While my daughter does well with the puppy most of the time, it’s me who doesn’t get a break. I am constantly trying to housetrain the puppy and get him to sleep through the night and deal with the newly arisen problem of temper tantrums with the baby. Of course, it is possible to raise both a puppy and a child at the same time, I really don’t recommend it for those with a baby quite this young.
