Almost daily diary!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Puppy love

I am very lucky to have moved into my new house at about the same time as my neighbours both sides. I guess that's sort of normal on a new housing complex but I've never been in the situation before and so it seemed quite novel. Anyway, over the last 6 months (yes, that long since we moved in) I have slowly got to know them.

The Piano Teacher and Wife, have just bought an adorable puppy, well a week ago in fact. The children and I have negotiated visiting rights and I am now 'hounded' more than ever to get a puppy/kitten/lizard; no guesses to who asked for the latter!

And I have to say I did have a plan to have a pet once we were settled. A cat was my preference, but Small Sprog is the sort of boy who needs a dog and I have been doing a lot of thinking as to which would be best. Needless to say, the Lizard option was a non starter with me.

However, the more I think about it the more confused I become. Dogs are portable, for when we go away at weekends, but cat's don't need to be walked everyday and no matter how many times the children enthusiastically say that they will be the ones to walk the dog, I am not fooled.

So, just when I think I've come down on the side of a canine friend, next door get Murry, the most adorable back spaniel pup. We go and have a look. He is very cute. Perhaps we can share, I start to think; perhaps not.

Over the last 7 days, or should I say nights, I am woken at least 3 times from my slumber by Murry taking a wee. Whilst his owners are out they make encouraging noises and then congratulate him on his success. But 3 times a night?! And then, when Piano Teacher gets home from work, at about 7pm, apparently he feels compelled to put on his old clothes and 'play' with Murry in the garden. It looks a hard life but at least there's two of them training Murry... until Thursday when Wife went away, leaving Piano Teacher and Puppy home alone.

So you see this weekend when I saw Piano Teacher, as he left the house for a bike ride, I wasn't at all surprised to see him looking exhausted, and he hadn't even cycled anywhere yet. "Puppy fatigue?" I asked him wryly. He nodded. He had the pallor of a father of a New Born, and I have to say I can completely understand why. Though I think their devotion is admirable, don't get me wrong.Then, later in the day I was chatting to his Mother in Law, who is a lovely lady, who commented that the puppy was getting them used to what it would be like when they had a baby. I did think afterwards that it was more likely to be a good contraceptive rather than an incentive for more broken nights but may be I'm just an old cynic?

So now I am thinking, NO. A puppy we shall not have, there's no way I'm going back to 4 hourly feeding and nappy changing (so to speak), twice was plenty thank you very much!

Rescue dog or old moggie, that's my choices now! What do you think?



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure about that. Cats destroy furniture and are not so good for the environment, but they dont need walking on a dark December Monday morning in the rain.

But I'd still go for the dog (not a puppy).

Or a snake...

Maggie May said...

You can't just leave a cat for a weekend. We still have ripped wallpaper from the three we had a long time ago. They killed birds regularly and ran up large vet bills. I did love them though.

We had 2 small dogs when the children were small but then again we were very unlucky with large vets bills. They often cried to go out in the night and would wake us up very early on the weekend to let them go out. Dogs don't like to be left alone for long.
Personally, you might be better off with a lizard! I don't know much about their care, though.
Good luck with it.
Maggie X

Nuts in May
I love my rabbits to bits but it is difficult to go away and I can't find any respite care for them in case I need to go into hospital or anything.

Rob-bear said...

If you think of getting a dog, how long it takes to train them depends on which breeds. A Border Collie, Poodle, German Shepherd, or Golden Retriever will practically train themselves. A Beagle will take longer. We've had four Standard Poodles. Very wonderful family dogs, and it's easy to work with them.

Steve said...

It all depends on the temperament of the animal I'm afraid and you won't know that for sure until you've had them for a bit and they've come out of their shell (not a reference to a tortoise). Dogs are better companions and easy for kids to pet. Cats are a little more stand-offish and don't require so much attention... but that doesn't make them any less demanding.

Sorry. Not being much help really, am I? You sure you don't want a lizard?

Suburbia said...

Dicky, my mum has a phobia about snakes so...!

Maggie, I know what you mean about wallpaper, the two I had before children used to wreck the sofa! Never clever enough to catch birds though, but dozens of rodents per night on a regular basis was the order of the day! (we lived near woods then)


Rob, yes I forgot you had dogs. I had heard beagles were a bit dim!

Can't cuddle a lizard Steve, and then there's the live bugs you have to feed them, I'm sure one or two would end up in a bed or somewhere, most likely a big sisters bed!

Rose said...

Puppies are certainly a lot of work, not to mention all the shoes, carpet, and other objects they manage to chew up. But they're so adorable! An older rescue dog might be the perfect solution, although they still need to be walked, just not in the middle of the night:)

Anonymous said...

Hi Sub,

I have mentioned your post about small sprog on my blog.

nick said...

I can't give you any useful advice, I'm not a pet person at all. But a workmate was telling me today about her newly-acquired kitten who's exhausting her with its constant frolicking and attention-seeking. I think some of the shine is already coming off the joy of cat-owning!

Liz Hinds said...

Tricky. Kittens are less hassle than puppies but cats do go wandering and go missing - unlike dogs who never wander off!!! (Sorry, I realised as I was writing that George is the exception to the rule.)
Old cats are just boring.

Rescue dog sounds best option but I'm prejudiced. And dogs are a tie and a commitment. What about a guinea pig?

Furtheron said...

Get a huge Lizard!!! I'm with small sprog... you have to buy it "live feed" crickets and things the local pet shop here sells them, ideal for a boy ;-)

Honestly - I'm no pet lover, too much time and energy - although a big old soppy Labrador would be my choice ;-)