We have 3 miniature pinchers in the house and an 18 month old daughter, as you may know. When I got pregnant we had to bring up the issue of dogs in the house and discuss it with my husband. It was not much of issue for me – dogs are our best friends, we love them like kids and I didn’t think something should change. It was a surprise for me to realize that my husband was not on the same page, and I’m putting it very delicately… If you are married to Cypriot you probably know what I’m talking about. And I’m not criticizing in any way; every nation has its beliefs and stereotypes. Having a dog in the same house with a kid is simply not in Cypriots’ culture.
I was fighting like a tiger defending the rights of “my babies” to continue living in the house. There were plenty of good grounds in my favor: I was raised with a cat and a dog in the house, the dog saved my life when I was a little kid, our dogs are not fit to live outside, it’s a pity to deprive our child of first true friendship, etc. It is worth mentioning that our pets are properly registered, we take a good care of them, taking them to vet regularly, bathing them every week and feeding them like little piggies.
Finally, after some days of passionate discussions we came to compromise: dogs will stay but under my strict control and supervision, not being allowed to touch or even come close to the baby for the first few month. Apparently it was a good thing to do because at first our dogs completely got insane with a little crying thing we brought home. Their eyes were glowing and we couldn’t calm them down for some days. I have no idea why they were this way, it could be jealousy, excitement, curiosity; maybe they thought we brought a cat or some other enemy.
My strategy was plain and simple: be strict when they do something wrong and show lots of love the rest of the time. In practice, it was a little more difficult. No problem with the strict part, but with the love… The baby was taking all my time, like it often happens with a first born. So, I wasn’t taking them out for a walk that often, we stopped playing loud games they love so much; I wasn’t petting them every free minute of my day, etc. And yet they understood and simply followed me everywhere, not demanding much.
After some months, when the baby started discovering the whole wide world, our dogs were there for her. They were standing still when she was touching them; they were barking if someone was approaching her, they were trying to lick her little hand every time she was pulling their noses. Ofcourse we are always there, never living our girl alone with the doggies, but it seems obvious to me that our spoiled pinchers are not dangerous.
In fact, the dogs are great entertainment for a little toddler. They run together around the house, playing very actively when mommy and daddy can simply sit down and enjoy the show. Our daughter learned all the body parts of animals with the help of the doggies; it is much more fun to point at the original eyes and ears then at the drawn ones. Not to mention how many useful things a child can pick up in between the lines when growing up with a dog, like the meaning of love, friendship, compassion, loyalty, being a leader, caring, being responsible for someone else and other priceless lessons of life.
I also learned something. Dogs are not like kids, they are still animals, which is a very positive thing. Their jealousy is not like human’s jealousy. They will accept another member in the family simply if you show that this new one is very important to YOU, because it’s you they love so much. Dogs are the best example of unconditional love - important concept which many people do not understand and therefore have difficulties giving or receiving it.
Irina Evangelou
LPN Mum
LPN is a pure community based site that adopts the true spirit of Blogging. As such we feature unedited raw content from our readers.
I was fighting like a tiger defending the rights of “my babies” to continue living in the house. There were plenty of good grounds in my favor: I was raised with a cat and a dog in the house, the dog saved my life when I was a little kid, our dogs are not fit to live outside, it’s a pity to deprive our child of first true friendship, etc. It is worth mentioning that our pets are properly registered, we take a good care of them, taking them to vet regularly, bathing them every week and feeding them like little piggies.
My strategy was plain and simple: be strict when they do something wrong and show lots of love the rest of the time. In practice, it was a little more difficult. No problem with the strict part, but with the love… The baby was taking all my time, like it often happens with a first born. So, I wasn’t taking them out for a walk that often, we stopped playing loud games they love so much; I wasn’t petting them every free minute of my day, etc. And yet they understood and simply followed me everywhere, not demanding much.
After some months, when the baby started discovering the whole wide world, our dogs were there for her. They were standing still when she was touching them; they were barking if someone was approaching her, they were trying to lick her little hand every time she was pulling their noses. Ofcourse we are always there, never living our girl alone with the doggies, but it seems obvious to me that our spoiled pinchers are not dangerous.
I also learned something. Dogs are not like kids, they are still animals, which is a very positive thing. Their jealousy is not like human’s jealousy. They will accept another member in the family simply if you show that this new one is very important to YOU, because it’s you they love so much. Dogs are the best example of unconditional love - important concept which many people do not understand and therefore have difficulties giving or receiving it.
Irina Evangelou
LPN Mum
LPN is a pure community based site that adopts the true spirit of Blogging. As such we feature unedited raw content from our readers.
