A Toddler and Puppy survival guide.

In April 2017 my family and I made a really big life changing decision - we decided to buy a puppy.

Actually my children were not involved in the decision making, in fact they wanted a kitten. My partner and I were the ones who got sucked in by the beautiful little puppies, so much so that we decided to bring one home!

As you can imagine, children were delighted. Our eldest cried actual tears, I feel you son, happy days.

When buying a puppy you forget about reality. All the negative things preventing you from bringing new puppy home get pushed to the back of your mind - you know, like that big life changing decision you’re about to make, and the fact we have a toddler. Hmmm.. oh well, you say to yourself, they will be besties, a new brother without any labour pains! Yippee.

Here’s some advice created by me:

1. Do not leave puppy and toddler alone.
2. Make sure toddler is not trying to suffocate puppy.
3. Buy your puppy a big cage to start with. Our puppy loved his cage and would run inside every time toddler scared him (quite often). Make it cosy. It’s like a little home for them.
4. Puppies are for life. So are toddlers.
5. Toddler will be jealous if you’re stroking puppy for 20 seconds. Involve toddler every time you do this. And wait until toddler is in bed and then walk around with puppy as if he’s your baby (don’t judge me).
6. Teach toddler to be kind to puppy. Always let your children observe you being nice to the puppy and they’ll model your behaviour.
7. Be prepared to clean up shit.
8. Patience. Just breathe.
9. Our puppy went through a growling stage every time we tried to take a kids toy out of his mouth- nip this in the bud immediately. Say No very sternly. And then take toy.
10. Please teach your dog to recall as soon as the puppy can go outside. Not sure what recall is? Google it! Teaching your puppy is paramount to their needs.
11. Puppy will grow and so will toddler. The novelty wears off. You’re left to walk, feed, stroke etc. Luck I love dogs. And lucky my partner does too.

Thanks for reading :)