It's time for a new story of a family that chose to add a pet to their family after they had children. Everyone loves a puppy but sadly getting a puppy doesn't always work out exactly as planned, partly because puppies are not all cute and fluffy loveliness, they are also high energy monsters with sharp teeth, demanding personalities and the capability to pee everywhere. So let us step into another families shoes and see what we can learn about choice and planning.
I’m Jodie, mum to a headstrong almost three year old and partner to my wonderful man, Andrew. We live in a second floor flat and once having our daughter and celebrating her second birthday, we felt as though something was missing. I’ve always grown up with dogs and Andrew has always wanted one, but his mum has a cat. After a log of nagging (sorry Andrew) and a lot of thought - we decided to research into what dogs are better for being kept in a flat. We had no intention on moving into a house any time soon, so we wanted a small furry friend that’ll enjoy being a part of our family. My mum and sisters are all severely allergic to cats, so that was ruled out of the equation.
So after a lot of thought and consideration we spoke to a lady about buying one of her new puppies. A chihuahua mix Jack Russell. We went to her house to see him and ended up taking him home there and then. He was absolutely tiny ( as you can see from the photos!) but we loved him and couldn’t wait to get him home and settled. We named him Dollar! That first night was HARD! I’m not sure what I had expected, but he cried the entire night and went to the toilet everywhere. I woke up after little sleep and the flat smelt so bad.
We trained him as best we could and took him for walks every day but something just didn’t feel right. I really struggled and although I loved having him, it was harder work than I had imagined. Daisy really didn’t like him. She would whinge and cry when he ran off with her toys, and she’d get frustrated when he jumped up at her. We decided it had to change. We tried training him as best as we could but we discovered he really just needed a garden and a larger space to run wild in.
Andrew’s lovely mum (who owns a cat!) took up the offer of seeing how he’d cope being at hers. It’s safe to say he LOVED it. He play fights with the cat a lot, but they secretly love each other. She has a large garden and has the door open the majority of the time, so it’s incredibly ideal for him. He has a much nicer life over there. I do miss him, but he is only a 7 minute drive away and I see him all the time. He recently turned one and he’s a right little character. He performs tricks for treats and show so much love and affection. We don’t know what the future holds in terms of his whereabouts. We know that rehoming a dog at a later stage in it’s life isn’t ideal, but we’d love for him to live with us when we have a garden. We’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it!
All in all, he’s a lovely little pup and a loved member of our family.
Thank you Jodie for sharing your story - it's true they are hard work and that not all dogs are good with small children, and I think you were brave to take on a puppy when you had no garden! It's great that you managed to sort such a good compromise with Dollar living with Andrew's mum, staying in your family. I shall look forward to seeing more photo's of him (he's adorably cute) and hearing how he gets on as he grows up.
Follow more of Jodie's family over on her blog.
And her Instagram: www.instagram.com/dearlittledaisy
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