Puppy Love

I have a childless friend that I frequently talk to about my children and she often makes comparisons with my children’s behavior and training to that of her dog. She generally prefaces her statements, with “I know people hate it when I do this, but I had a similar issue with my dog….” In truth, her analogies don’t bother me at all. And actually, I have found children to be quite similar to dogs, up till as certain age, at which point, I would say they become better than dogs. Those of you that gasp in disbelief that I say this I suspect are either 1. Not animal lovers or 2. Have not fully looked at the similarities. Let’s start with newborns and babies – they would be akin to puppies – all newborns can do is cry, sleep, eat and crap – they haven’t learned any tricks and are more/less fully dependent on their mom/caregiver. Although this complete dependence quickly fades both baby and dog remain puppies for quite a bit. The puppy must be taught everything and much patience is required for training as are babies. Babies use diapers, puppies aren’t housebroken, puppies get into everything and require close watching, babies also require constant watching so as not to harm themselves or ones property, both babies and puppies are starting to learn “tricks” – such as how to sit, roll over, walk (walk on lease), learning the word “no” – in teaching these tricks we can use positive reinforcement – giving puppy or baby praise, a treat (biscuit, cookie, etc), negative reinforcement – letting a child continue to play with a new toy if he/she puts away the old toy (taking off the shock collar when the dog stops barking) or punishment – spanking or yelling at for doing wrong. Your puppy then becomes a dog as a child becomes a toddler. They can both do “tricks” on command, they are quick learners, and both can follow simple directions. At about age 4 (I am surmising, since I would say that none of my children are quite to this “Better than a dog” stage, although PJ is daily gaining ground) I would say the child begins to surpass the dog. The child starts to converse intelligently, learns to read and write, is more independent in dressing and feeding.


And in case you didn’t know, I used to have a dog, and I loved my dog, and I miss her greatly and I would love to get another dog. When I look at all the crumbs on the ground from my children’s meals, I think, the dog would clean that up.  But with three very young children I know now is not that time to get a dog. I don’t have the time or energy to look after a puppy and begin to train her. When I get the urge for another baby I will start looking at breeders – planning on having four legged fourth child, and hopefully by that time one of my children is begging for a dog, since I can’t “officially” get on until the kids want one. However, one of the benefits of being the Mama is convincing the kids that dogs are awesome and they need to tell their Da they want one.