I think it gave me a 5% heads up on what parenting would be like.
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Haha yea, pets gave me a very small insight into parenthood. Maybe the 'keep me alive" part, but nothing else! Haha
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Not at all! Pets are so much easier.
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Yes! If course pets are easier but for sure
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not at all. i think my baby is easier than my dog!
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Nope!
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It was a good starting point. It's like in Kill Bill when Uma Thurman is coming out of a coma and planning her revenge but, "first thing's first, wiggle your big toe". Having dogs was like wiggling my big toe and having a baby is like being a total ninja.
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I think it does!
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I think so, it changed our lifestyle because we had to be home, care for something, etc.
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I absolutely think so. Of course, the magnitude of having pets is nothing compared to kids, but my dog forced me to revolve my life around her (having to make sure she is taken care of before we do anything/go anywhere). I've stayed up all night b/c she was sick, spend $ on them, worry when they're sick, etc!
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No. Not at all. Not even close!
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Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. NO.
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No, not at all. We only have cats though. They are easy peasy.
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Nope
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I took her everywhere, gave her tons of attention/paid attention to her, had to train her, feel what it was like to love something that much when they are sick (or ran off in the case of my dog!), in addition to the other things mentioned. .. she was also a very wild puppy. I think pets also develop patience, I think yes in a million ways, I could go on...
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Not at all... And we have a whole farm. Raising kids is still way harder!
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Nope.
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I make myself feel better about my blind, deaf, and geriatric dog by telling myself she's preparing me for a baby. She's 100% dependent on me and she's been waking up in the middle of the night when I have NO idea what she wants, so I try all the things. Food? Water? Potty? Snuggle? I've been up as many as 7 times per night with her and I think, this MUST be serving some purpose, like preparing me for parenthood. Right? Right!?!?
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@IRunForFun: yes! I too have cared for pup prebaby - I spent a whole summer nursing her back to health- all my time, all my money!
it does prepare you!
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Ha, I wish it was that easy!
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No...because I've had animals my entire life. They have never completely changed my life the same way having a baby did.
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While kids are obviously harder, I think that my best parenting lesson came from my dog! She was a wild strange puppy, and my previous dog was very obedient. So I expected the same level of obedience from her. She was a big challenge to train, so I kept on reading books and doing different and increasingly intensive course with her, and she did not respond at all - maybe even became worse. We did not have the best relationship because I was always struggling with her. Finally after about a year of this, I decided "f*ck it" and that I was going to be who I was as an owner and let her be who she was as a dog, and see what happened. Once I let go of her being well behaved like my other dog and got back into who I was as a pet owner and focused on who she was as a dog, our relationship improved greatly and her behaviour improved as well. So as a parent, I avoid applying any method that doesn't fit right with who I am or who my baby is. I avoid taking parenting advice very seriously, because it all conflicts and people are super worked up about how what worked for them is the correct method, and really everyone is just guessing (like with dogs). And I don't mind changing what we're doing if it's not working for us - I don't feel attached to any particular method. So I am super glad that I screwed this up with my dog so that I could have a happier and more relaxed time as a parent of a baby!
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Yes! The responsibility of a life depending on you... I think some aspects of having a dog are harder than a kid. Like you don't have to take your kid for a walk before bed when it's freezing and raining. DH and I always comment how similar having a LO is to a dog but we don't actually say it to other people because it's not a very popular opinion.
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Nope! Pet ownership just isn't on the same level. At least not for me!
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I think it depends on how devoted you are to your pets... ie, lap dog vs outside dog.
Our 3 pugs DEFINITELY prepared us. The not being able to go away/out on a whim, arranging child/pet care, vet/doctor costs, staying calm when something is wrong health-wise, being woken up in the night, cleaning up pee/poop/puke... SO many ways.
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No! We have the laziest, low maintenance dog. He was like our child before Sadie, in that we gave him tons of attention, but he has never been hard to take care of at all. He practically potty trained himself. I mean, we had to feed him, groom him, etc. but it was never difficult or demanding like parenting.
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Nope. Not at all. Maybe if we had dogs there would be a percentage of that would be comparable.
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Puppies do somewhat, because they can't hold it through the night, so (like with babies) you're up with them every 2-3 hours. Besides that, I don't think having pets really help prepare me for parenthood, though pre-parenthood I thought they would!
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Having two small dogs absolutely helped ease our transition to parenthood. We got used to everything @kjpugs mentioned. But I have a very high maintenance yorkie who didn't STTN until he was three or four months old. He is six years old and still requires a lot of attention...
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Yes I think so!
I had to wake up super early every morning to let them go out to pee, potty train them, take them to dog discipline school, put them in doggie daycare if we were gone for an extended period of time, feed them, bathe them, groom them, take them to the vet. Give them enough exercise to burn off energy. It's a lot of work. Nowhere near as much as kids of course, but still… they definitely helped teach us some responsibility and having to work our schedules around their needs! They even kept me up at night when they were puppies (i.e. newborns) with all the whimpering and crying!
it does prepare you!
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