Are Puppies the New Toddlers?
Jul 06 2010
We adopted two puppies to roam our 5 acres and because we promised the kids. I also thought they would be good to chase the voles away. However, they’ve only succeeded in nabbing 2 Magpies and 1 ground squirrel. The vole holes are still popping up.
This is a new experience for us because we withheld from obtaining pets during MC’s career due to the moves and being stationed overseas. There were too many stories about the hassles of PCSing with pets. So, now that we have settled and found ample land, we adopted the puppies.
One thing I never expected was to feel like we had toddlers again – the similarities are amazing. For one, we’re talking baby talk – “Aach, aach” or “Did you go potty? Number 1? Number 2?” (As if they would answer – it was the same with our kids as well, and they never answered either.) Along these potty lines, our trip took me back to toddler days as I walked through the campground with the dogs with poop scoop bags in my back pocket, just like I used to carry diapers around.
And the training takes me back to when the kids were toddlers – positive reinforcement (“Good boy, Rocky!”); everybody has a different opinion on training; they want to play when I want to relax, etc. And sometimes, they want to talk, talk, talk (well, bark, bark, bark).
Even still, all is good – every home needs a good dog or two. The kids love the two pups, they’re training them well (the kids are even training the puppies sometimes), and we have an inexpensive burglar alarm.
