Subscribe
Previous Post
I’ve noticed a lot of pregnant women walking puppies lately. Obviously, they are about to become first time mothers because they don’t have other children with them, just the baby dog.
Naturally they are absurdly cute, furry little puppies who emphasize the curvy roundness of their “mommies” bellies as they walk down the street.
Pregnant women have a lot of developing to do. One phase in the development is finding cute irresistible. Developing patience is another trait that has to grow as the fetus does.
While it’s very, very hard to wait for a baby while all the cuteness in the world becomes more and more irresistible, I would caution pregnant women not to get a puppy as a placeholder, even if they’ve wanted a dog for years.
While I see women with babies walking older, mellower, dogs who trudge alongside the stroller or buggy (not always happily), I don’t see women with new babies out walking unruly adolescent dogs.
Whic naturally begs the question: what happens to those cute puppies after the baby arrives?
Hi, I am 5 months pregnant, and my husband decided to get a neo mastiff X bull mastiff 3 month old puppy. I am extremely worried about this as I am very allergic to almost all dogs, as well as I have read that these breeds of dogs are very agressive. We are first time parents and I don’t know what kind of chanllenge is a head of us. If anyone has advice about this please share with me. He has not fully purchased the dog yet, so if there is time i’m hoping to save us both some grief, and cruelty to the puppy if we had to give it up later.
Very soon, you will be more than busy enough with your new baby. Properly training a puppy, particularly an aggressive-breed puppy, is a very time-consuming endeavor in itself…and just like with kids, you don’t get a second chance. A dog that wasn’t trained well, or didn’t get enough “bonding time” with its owners in its first year, can develop problem behaviors that are very hard to resolve later.
Of course, your baby will be your priority and will get the lion’s share of your time and attention during this critical period of puppy bonding and training. The puppy would be shortchanged. I really think you’re on the right track: you’ll save a lot of grief and stress if you hold off on a puppy until you have more time to put in the work. The last thing you want around your young child is an inadequately-trained mastiff. And the last thing you want in a puppy is the heartache of having to get rid of it only a few months later.
(Allergies + pregnancy, BTW, really doesn’t sound like a fun combination…..)
Best of luck with both your baby and your puppy decision. :)
Hi, I’m 11 weeks pregnant, and got a puppy who was 10 weeks old on the day of my 10th week, i couldn’t be happier i had just lost my last dog and couldn’t imagine life without a companion, i find that having a dog keeps me in a routine so far in my pregnancy the pleaser of training my puppy has helped me maintain my Pre-pregnancy weight, i thought and maitain that getting the puppy so early im my pregnancy was a good idea, it means when i have my baby the puppy will be old enough, and trained enough not to want to nip and play with my young child, i an looking forward to my baby growing up with my puppy,safe in the knowledge that she is safe with my dog .
i do think that people should choose the breed they buy very carefully, as some are better with children and are easier to train . i have chosen a lab only after meeting the pups parent who are both good with babies and very calm.
i am five and a half month pregnant. and i know taking care of a puppy who is only five and a half weeks old may be like taking care of a baby. the only diffrence is a pup can learn and be trained faster than a newborn baby. oh, and yes this will be my first child. My husband and i do have strange work hours but we make time and effort to give out pup the attention and the excersis she needs. For us its good training for when we actually have to go through having a baby in the house. Although it will be a lot diffrent. But, like i said my husband and i find and make the time for our pup, which we will later make time and effort for our new born and the pup as well.
I have to agree that having a puppy while pregnant is not a good idea. In my case i bought the puppy a week before I found out I was having a baby. This is my second dog so I assumed everything would be ok because the second dog would learn from the first..WRONG! Ive tried to potty train the second pup but due to my pregnacy I do not have the patience like I had to train the first. My partner works many hours throughout the day and can not work with her either. It breaks my heart that I feel like I have to get rid of her but there are things that come first. A puppy who is not potty trainned is not sanitary for a new born baby
I am due in 9 weeks and we just got a puppy – I would hate for anyone to be judging me so harshly. I have had dogs all of my adult life and really want my child to grow up with a dog. I know what kind of responsibilty you need to put into a puppy and have several friends who have dogs/puppies and babies and are doing just fine with both. I think because the puppy is so young when the baby comes, it won’t be as territorial, plus it will force the baby and I out of the house for walks. I also have a very supportive husband who is willing to put in his time on dog walks and puppy training. I think we can all bond as a family and be happy and well exercised
I’m 15 weeks and just bought a little pomeranian x papillon who i 4 1/2 months and by the sounds of things people are completely & totally against this.
It’s not fair to say all women will commit the heinous crimes of neglect and at times abuse whilst pregnant. I’m an avid dog lover and currently own an older male pomeranian who is due a partner in crime and it’s something that will aid my partner in learning to get up when the puppy requires things just as a baby and at the end of the day, if a woman is going to ignore a puppy/dog as soon as a baby comes along and bought the animal on a whim, they don’t deserve to own pets and obviously cannot multi-task, try having 7 kids and 4 dogs, my brother & sister in law do and they’re just dandy!!
I don’t think anyone here is saying that a happy family can’t include both dogs and children. Everyone knows that dogs and kids make great friends. The point is simply not to get a puppy on a whim during pregnancy. A “puppy-craving” is not like an ice-cream craving. A puppy means years of responsibility. Loving a puppy for only a few months and then forgetting about him is a very cruel thing to do, and it is probably not what you want your new child to learn about pet ownership and respect for animals. If you want a puppy, wait until the baby is older, and then watch the magical bond develop between a child and their pet! Besides, isn’t the excitement of a brand new baby enough for the moment?
you all criticise but i have 4 dogs and 3 kids i have a partner that walks the dogs.. are all these pregnant women single then or is there someone else at home that helps them that everyone forgets to talk about
I think a lot of those dogs either get sent to the pound or put down. I just heard about a friend of Tisha’s who had her puppy killed because it growled at her baby (note, growled, not bit). What drives me crazy about this is that she should have at least given the dog a chance at a life in a home without children.
I heard even more stories about dogs who are left outside all day and are only allowed in one room of the house. Kids who don’t even know the names of their dogs. Even Tisha’s dog stopped being walked at all once she had kids. Before that, the dog was her baby.
I would like to have a dog and a baby at some point in time which is partially why I would like to get a dog now so that two years from now when I have a baby it will be grown and settled.
I was seven months pregnant when we got our puppy – we’d been burgled and I went a little insane about home security. It was super tough to manage a baby and a feisty puppy, but one great thing about it was having to get out of the house to walk my dog. He’s now eight, and he and my daughter are the absolute best of friends. We wouldn’t trade him for the world!
1711 days ago
[...] presents A Note About Puppies for Pregnant Women posted at Babylune, saying, “From the bad ideas [...]
Maria- I am glad to hear you manage to walk both baby and dog!
My husband and I got a puppy when we first got married, so I was pregnant walking our dog, but she looks like a puppy because she is a small dog. None the less, I also walk her next to the stroller, and the dog LOVES walks so much that she practically pulls the stroller along for me! LOL!
1714 days ago
[...] Mother love is cute, isn’t it? Having a baby is like living with a scene from a greeting card. It’s all fluffy yellow duckies and peeping chicks, furry bunnies and puppy wuppies…Yeah. [...]
You know, this is interesting: I had wondered why exactly it was that so many people made what I thought was the worst mistake of their lives around that time. I never thought of the cuteness implications, but it makes perfect sense.
I’m glad I only had a cat– an adult cat at that. (and for the record, I still live in fear of toxo if my husband asks)
At least I never had that problem — pets are way too much work. The child is plenty. I did think chocolate ice cream was mighty cute though when I was preggers.