My daughter woke up screaming today yelling “THERE IS DOG POOP IN MY BED! GET IT OUT!”
We don’t have a dog.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I rolled over to find my husband walking into the room, “it’s cat puke. And it’s on the floor.” And then he proceeded to go about his morning routine.
Apparently it’s just assumed I’m the cat puke cleaner-but whatever.
Despite 10 minutes of telling our little peanut this was cat sick and not dog poop-she still insisted it was dog poop and insisted it was in her bed. Again, whatever.
I cleaned, she cried, and then she told me how her stuffed dog poops.
Oh goodie. More beings to clean up after.
I’ve never really worried about my daughter’s animal fetish until now. She wants a horse, and since that’s totally out of the question it never really spent much time in my mind-but this new puppy fetish is getting out of hand.
She asked her DAD for a puppy the other day and I swore he couldn’t even LOOK at her when he said “no.”
Yeah, Daddy’s cracking.
But more importantly-she’s carrying a puppy everywhere. School, wherever. And while I’m thrilled it’s replaced the horse-head on a stick she was RIDING everywhere-I’m not liking the idea of being cat sick cleaner-upper and dog poop cleaner-upper.
Or am I?
Friends with animals-how old were your kids when they started REALLY taking care of them-or let me rephrase that-how old were they when you MADE them do it?
Don’t get me wrong, I highly doubt any new animals are entering this home anytime soon. But if I’m cleaning up stuffed dog shit from the carpet, anything is possible.
Cleaning up after animals is not in my job description. Poop, puke, and other assorted animal secretions are some of the main reasons I am not fond of critters.
we have a cat and a hamster and if I don’t clean up after them and feed them, they would die. My kids love them dearly, but actually CARE FOR THEM? Surely ye jest.
Good luck with your new family pet. 😉 I sense a dog in your future.
Sounds like a dog is on the way.
Really sorry to hear the stuffed ones crap at your house, too. Now THAT sucks….
Not to poop on your parade, but my 19 y/o’s bearded dragon now resides in our bedroom and we take care of it. The 8 y/o’s chinchilla lives in our room too.
When my sister left home when she got married, she left her dog with my parents.
So it’s never really THEIR pets until they are out of the damn house.
Have you gotten the stuffed dog fixed? You wouldn’t want him blowing out his ‘cotton balls’ and end up with a bunch of stuffed puppies running around all over the house.
LOL!
Oh yeah, we have a dog but hubby and I share the responsibilities (with clean up being his department exclusively). Our oldest are 5 and 7 and while they’ll “help” feed and walk the dog, they’re not his primary caregivers.
Well hubby and I have a system. I do poop he does vomit. It works for us.
As far as pets go, I am a professional dog trainer and I usually recommend that my clients do not get the kids a dog until the kids are responsibly doing all their other chores. I also remind people that the newness of the puppy wears off very fast so keep in mind no matter what the age of the child, you will be doing the majority of the care for 10 + years.
Also, TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING. If you want training, or breed recommendations, just drop me an email.
Dawson is three years old (almost 3 1/2), and he finally understands how to put food and water in Murphy’s bowls. But we got our dog three months before I found out I was pregnant, so the two have basically grown up together.
I knew Dawson was ready for the responsibility when he started dressing himself and putting his own socks and shoes on. And now he is in charge of feeding Murphy in the morning before we leave the house.
I didnt own a dog until about 1.5 years ago. My friends that had dogs as kids learned several valuable lessons:
1) The importance of loyalty. Dogs show that being loyal is a virtue and it helps both in friend making and friend keeping.
2) The importance of responsibility. Not of cleaning up poop (I dont think kids ever do this…shoot I pay some to clean my yard), but being responsible for another life.
3) The importance of happiness. Dogs are great at making me smile and being goofy in an endearing way.
4) The importance of following directions. A trained dog is a good dog, and learning how to train a dog is invaluable.
5) Finally, the importance of reading clues. My dogs dont speak, but tell me things with body language, a sound, or just generally through their actions. People are the same way.
I say buck up and get a dog. It can only make things better.
My son wants a dog and he is 4. He has it in his mind that he needs a black miniature poodle. I told him when he is bigger…yesterday he informed me he was bigger. I can just see myself cleaning up dog poop….not. I say when they are grown and move out they can get their own dog. They can go visit the Therapist on their own dollar and complain that Mommy did not let him have that black poodle. We have four indoor cats already…I am the one that cleans the liter boxes and the kitty puke..NOT my husband at all. Liked this post as this topic is popular in my household right now also.
Lol.. I’m really sorry about the cat vomit, and the stuffed dog poop.
To be honest, and to answer your question about being able to force kids to take care of their pets…
I didn’t start being responsible over my pets until I was 16. That’s only because I had to promise I would, or my parents would let them loose if they started to stink the house up. I have a snake and two guinea pigs.
I think I’ve done a good job. It’s been two years, and they haven’t complained!
But hey, everyone’s different. My parents never told me that our animals would DIE if I didn’t take care of them when I was little. Maybe if you stress that they are living, they would at least try?
I don’t know. I wish you the best of luck!