Dogs or Children?

Its just that children are time limited - they grow up. Dogs, as they say, are forever

Germanshepherdsmum

Some dogs are extremely intelligent and interesting - hence my love of GSDs. They are far removed from being permanent toddlers.

And hence my love of Labs! Definitely so much easier to look after than a toddler - and a dog's love is totally unconditional. I cannot imagine life without a dog in it. The six months we spent between losing our old Lab during lockdown and getting our current boy were the longest we'd ever been without a dog - and our lives were so much poorer for it.

Iam64

I’m not suggesting you get a dog MOnica. Anyone who shares their life with dogs has to do all the things you suggest and more. It doesn’t equate to having a toddler. Dogs sleep most of the time outside of walks and training times. They’re house trained within a few weeks and don’t pester for snacks, throw themselves on the floor when they don’t get their own way. Their love is unconditional and generally, they get better with age

Indeed!!!!!

Germanshepherdsmum

Some dogs are extremely intelligent and interesting - hence my love of GSDs. They are far removed from being permanent toddlers.

Gracious yes!

Our dogs are/ always have been very clever, frisky, exercise needy, happy. Keep us active with walkings - love walks with dogs!

Nothing at all like toddlers, in my opinion. Quite different.

Not all children do those things. We could say all dogs are vicious. I can imagine how that would go down!

I’m not suggesting you get a dog MOnica. Anyone who shares their life with dogs has to do all the things you suggest and more. It doesn’t equate to having a toddler. Dogs sleep most of the time outside of walks and training times. They’re house trained within a few weeks and don’t pester for snacks, throw themselves on the floor when they don’t get their own way. Their love is unconditional and generally, they get better with age

But dogs have to be looked after all the time, fed, watered exercised, toiletted. You have to think about their welfare every time you leave the house, plan for their care on holiday etc etc.

No thanks. I prefer the canine equivalent of child free.

Iam64 (Sun 13-Aug-23 16:04:31). I would agree with your post.

MOnica no it really isn’t like having a permanent toddler. My big labradoodle was the most intelligent dog I’ve ever shared my life with. She was a joy to train, walk and live with. Way way beyond toddler intelligence or behaviour.

Even my current challenging lab at 2 is stuck in adolescence not toddler hood. Well he isn’t stuck there, progress is steady. He’s a sensitive, intelligent lad who was deeply affected by my husband’s illness and death last year.

I understand not everyone wants to live with dogs and confess to wishing some people had stayed in that group. There are far too many ‘fur babies’, spoiled rotten, over indulged and with no manners.

Some dogs are extremely intelligent and interesting - hence my love of GSDs. They are far removed from being permanent toddlers.

Children grow up and become independent and interesting people in their own right.

I have always thought having a dog was like having a permanent toddler in the house, with no hope of it progressing beyond that state.

Romola

I find it extraordinary that anyone could even think of prioritising any dog over any human.
Some of the comments on this thread are about the weirdest I have seen on Gransnet.

I said that that I would prioritise my dog over any human outwith my very immediate family (husband, children and GS) and I stand by that. He is as much a member of of our family as any other. If I had to choose between him and any other human, there would be no contest whatsoever and I make no apologies for saying so.

Me too Romola.

Romola I agree!

No Sodapop, some see them as child substitutes for sure

I;m child free because I've never had the urge to have a baby. In fact I'm not keen on them. They're OK when they get to 3 or 4. However, we have always got on well wit our friends children, possible because we've always spoken to them as if they are adults.

Some old friends were staying with us last week and their sons had both asked to be remembered to us. We haven't seen them for 15 years because we're in France but apparently they still talk about various outings that we had together. They were very fond of the dogs we had when they young and liked nothing better than to sit and cuddle them.

My DH and I have a phrase - "Children are substitute dogs"
We are child free!.

I think that, for whatever reason, children do not always live up to their parents' expectations or hopes. GN is full of people who have fallen out with the offspring, sometimes irrevocably.

Do you own a dog?

I find it extraordinary that anyone could even think of prioritising any dog over any human.
Some of the comments on this thread are about the weirdest I have seen on Gransnet.

Iam64, so true. I have one like that right now and although my teenage children had their moments, they didn't launch themselves at me and drop a ball in my coffee cup or mooch round the room looking for stuff on the sides to chew or run off with kitchen knives or write garbage on your posts on GN when they want attention!

tictacnana dog owners especially those with rescue dogs know that whilst they experience sadness when their pet dies they have given a dog a good life
I quote - between hello and goodbye there is love, so much love.

Iam64, that made me laugh out loud! Certain I have witnessed dogs who roll their eyes and seem too say "yeah whatever"!

Dickens

Germanshepherdsmum

Dogs are easier than children!

... and they don't have toddler temper tantrums, or teenage angst!

Dickens - many dogs have the zoomies when they’re toddlers. My current lab did a Kevin and Perry, went to bed one night a nice well behaved 14 month old, came swaggering down the next morning with a Manc accent and the question - what ‘sit’, ‘come’, down, ‘off’, leave it ….. you never asked me to do these things before
Ok, I fibbed about the Manc accent but teenage rebellion definitely arrived. At least it’s only having to be even clearer about expectations, rather than worry about teenage angst

hollysteers

There are a couple of female childless journalists on social media who speak witheringly of ‘breeders’ like myself who have children and speak glowingly of their choice to be child free and in fact, almost its superiority.

They both now have dogs and are utterly smitten. Photos abound of their ‘cute’ dogs and photographs (boring) appear almost daily. They are now ‘in love’ with their dogs and their lives are changed,
Am I alone in thinking that this could be the wrong way round?
Not having experienced having children, how do they know for certain (which they stress) they would not have enjoyed and found satisfaction from the experience?
Nothing against dogs BTW.

Perhaps they've experienced close relative's children. I'm aware that other people's children are not the same as one's own, but if one is unsure about having children, then being around a relative's or a close friend's child, could be a powerful decider! I applaud any woman who makes the decision not to follow the 'norm' and so decides not to have children just because it's "expected". Just as some women know in the heart that having children is exactly the right thing for them to do, some women know that having children is exactly the wrong thing for them to do...

I have two children . I was told that I probably couldn’t and shouldn’t have children but had them anyway. It took me a long time and was a struggle but so worth it. I also have had one dog in the 44 years since becoming a parent. He was a rescue and I loved him dearly . He died nearly two years ago and I was heartbroken. I’ll never do that again. How people, like my sister in law, have dog after dog, one replacing another, - instead of having children - I”ll never know. It seems like a life sentence of intermittent misery .