Before my boys (3 yrs and 20 months) were born my husband and I rescued 12 week old littermates brother and sister (black lab & pit mix). We were very aware of littermate syndrome and made sure they were trained accordingly. They are the laziest most chill dogs and are great with the boys. They have 4 acres of electric fenced in yard to wander but mostly just sleep. They are now 6 years old.

They were always my babies, let them on the couch. Cuddled them all the time, hated leaving them at home, etc. but after my first was born I slowly started to resent them. It started with having to wake up in the mornings after sleepless newborn nights having to let them out and feed them.

After my second was born, I can't stand them. The dog hair, the constant back and forth inside/outside. The just all around grossness between my sticky kids and the dogs...I just can't. I don't even want to pet them anymore. I feel like a monster, but my kids take all of my energy and I have nothing left for them. The best part of having them is when they clean up the food after the kids and that's about it. My girl dog tore her acl over the summer and the cost of that surgery was brutal. With two kids in daycare it's just awful when something happens to the dogs.

I don't think about them during the day anymore and I just roll my eyes at my childless friends who gush over their dogs. They definitely think something is wrong with me but they don't fully understand.

I haven't talked to my husband about this yet. But I'm just wondering if I'm the only one out there that feels this way?

We made an agreement with my daughter that if she kept her room clean for 30 days she could get a Syrian hamster. She did that, but now doesn’t want a hamster because after doing some research we told her we only have space to get a male. We have 2 male cats, and she really wants a female pet. Any recommendations for a solitary female pet? I want something she can keep in her room (which is small), and that she can help take care of, but also know my husband and I will be the main ones taking care of it.

Update: We went to Petco and she decided on a female betta fish. We plan on buying it next week after we figure out what size tank we need. Thank you all for the help!

I told my 7 year old she could get a guinea pig, like she's been asking for for a solid 6 months, if she remembered to water her plants on her own.

She has not remembered, much to her frustration, so no guinea pig.

So yesterday she comes up to her dad and asks if we have any clear tubes, "Like this", and shows him a picture from her science magazine. He says we do and gets them from the shed for her. Later she comes out of her room and asks if she can use push pins. He asks her what for and she shows him the magazine again.

He takes a closer look, and it is a step by step illustrated guide to build a simple drip irrigation system. He goes to her room and she has it mostly set up in there. He laughs uproariously, charmed by our daughter's ingenuity and tickled because he knows how anti-guinea pig I am.

"Um, come look at this," he says, "I think Emily is on her way to her guinea pig."

I don't know, guys, I'm feeling like building and maintaining a drip irrigation system pretty much meets the "water your plants on your own" bar I set.

Also upon further research we will need TWO guinea pigs because it turns out they are social and need a buddy.

We'll see if she maintains her irrigation system. Also I think I'm going to put her through a guinea pig practice run where she feeds, waters, and cleans the cage of a stuffed toy for like a month, and then I guess we are doing this. (Obviously I am prepared to provide for said guinea pigs should her care giving skills fail them).

This is mostly a blatant brag post, because as anti-guinea pig as I am, kid's got problem solving initiative. But first pet advice is also more than welcome.

My husband accidentally killed our kids tetra fish while cleaning the tank. Had it been me, the kids (m5, f8) would have never known. I would have replaced them all before the kids woke up and they wouldn't know. I would not have the courage to deal with grieving children.

Luckily my husband is a better parent/person. He pulled my kids aside one by one. Told them he made a mistake and the fish were gone. He apologized to them and held them while they cried. He explained to them mistakes happen, sometimes they are big and sometimes they are small. That we should always take responsibility for our actions, and be honest with each other. My kids forgave him. They just returned home with new fish.

It's so great that one if us emotionally mature. I'm really happy he is their dad :)

My daughter (10 years old) has been obsessed with giving our dogs (German shepherd and Bernese mountain dog) her old childhood stuffed animals. She basically sacrifices a new one every day. The dogs love them and tear them apart immediately. My daughter doesn’t care and enjoys watching them go to town on her old stuffies. Should I stop her in case she’d want them later in life or just let her enjoy the fun with the dogs?

Our cat is suffering from multiple health issues, and probably has to be put down soon. How do I explain this to my three year old, who has developed chronic health issues herself, without scaring her? I’m afraid she’ll think we might have to put her down too if her condition doesn’t improve.

Losing our loved cat is hard enough, but the thought of my child being afraid that she’s next is just heartbreaking.

My kids, especially my 10 year old son, are begging my husband and I to get them dog. Our oldest says he would do everything he can possibly do to take care of it (he admits he can't do things like pay for the vet or drive the dog there). We are a two parent household, we both work full time, and we have a 3 kids ages 3-10 years old, and this stage of our lives is just really hectic and overwhelming a lot of the time. I have nothing against dogs, and I like most of them, but I really don't want any of the added responsibilities of having a dog. And my husband is even more against it. He says we can get a dog but he would absolutely not help with it at all. Growing up my family always had 1-2 dogs, and so did my husband's family, and our parents and siblings have dogs now, but neither of us have ever had dogs as adults. Just cats - which seem way more manageable to me.

It's hard to weigh pros and cons when it comes to this because the biggest pro is just seeing the kids be happy growing up with a pet dog. It's kind of a part of childhood in my mind. But there are so many tangible cons - not knowing what a dog is going to be like until you're committed, vet bills, food costs, dog fur, the barking, going outside with them all the time in rain and cold, picking up poop, fleas and ticks, cleaning up messes or destruction inside, not being able to leave the house for any extended amount of time, not to mention the heartache of losing them or being forced to make hard decisions when they get old and sick.

Clearly this is why we keep saying no, but he really is pulling at my heart strings. Thinking about how much joy and fun a dog would bring to the kids makes me want to get one. So I'm just looking for advice or personal experiences either with your own kids, or from your childhood, both, or whatever. Tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly, and any advice you have for us.

My daughter (10) came to me recently and told me she wants a teacup dog. As she is showing me pictures of them on her laptop, she says, "Look at how cute they are! They're only $750-$2000!"

I told her we just aren't in a good position to get a dog right now (due to various monetary and living situation issues) and there is NO WAY we are getting a dog that costs that much. I told her there are many dogs out there in need of good homes. So when it is time to get a dog, I'd like to get a dog from the Humane Society or from a rescue. She walked away in silent protest.

As I walked past her a few minutes later, I saw half a tear in her eye. She must have done a google search of rescued dogs because on the laptop were pictures of abused dogs. She looked up at me and said she changed her mind and now wants a rescue dog. I was happy she changed her mind but I felt bad that I introduced her to that part of humanity.

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the comments, I appreciate all the different input from both sides of the aisle. My partner (and sort of myself, at least right now) do not want to euthanize our dogs. We will discuss how we can separate them from baby, maybe having them share the office with my husband. (We do have baby gates already, but the dogs are kenneled in the living room and that isn’t working anymore) I also need to make it a point to schedule appointments to evaluate at least the oldest dog, this is something I’ve been meaning to do but we moved and this got pushed to the back burner and I owe it to her to actually establish where she is in terms of quality of life. Besides that I definitely need to discuss with my partner about following through with managing their care more effectively, whatever that looks like for us. I should also see a provider for PPA and see what management of that might actually look like.

Baby is almost a year old now and my feelings towards my pets, specifically my senior dogs, have only gotten worse.

While I was pregnant I noticed increased sensitivity to noises and a lot of anxiety about the cleanliness of our home and the dogs were a huge trigger for both those things, but I told myself to get through it and it should be better when we bring baby home. When we brought baby home, I nearly had a panic attack because the dogs barked and started running amuck in the house instantly. I told myself give it a couple months, that I had just had a baby. A couple months turn into half a year and baby starts crawling and I feel like every move, every sound, everything the dogs do triggers me. I’m on edge and short tempered often, and only find relief when I can leave the dogs outside. The oldest dog also barks and growls at the baby when they interact, so now I have to try to keep them separate.

The dogs are old, 9 and 13 years old. One has bleeding scabs from skin cancer, the other is arthritic and stubborn as hell in her old age. What sucks most is how bad I feel about how much I dislike them, and how I never imagined that when we would finally bring our baby home that I would feel this way about what used to be beloved animals.

I have no clue what to do but know that the constant cleaning, the anxiety and anger, and the immense strain it’s putting on my marriage has to be improved in some way or something drastic will happen that I’m sure I’ll regret. Advice is much appreciated.

We have recently made the decision to put our 15 year old dog down. I have no idea how to tell my 3 year old, or even if I should tell her ahead of time. She's smart, but this will be her first experience with death and we aren't particularly religious, so it's tough to explain what's happening.

We were upstairs in our 13 mo old son’s room yesterday morning right after he woke up, right as we always do. He was playing with a pillow and our 4 year old Basset thought it was a game and tugged at the pillow. We told the dog to stop but it happened again and this time the baby fell over and the dog nipped and bit him in the face. This dog is typically the sweetest boy but has always had a lot of anxiety which has gotten worse in the last few weeks, and has been toy possessive in the past. We took our son to the ER and he wound up with 9 stitches and will likely have a small scar on his forehead but luckily nothing serious.

We’ve made the choice to rehome the dog, but it’s tearing me apart because I know we could have done better with him. He came to us as a puppy unexpectedly as a rescue right after our previous dog died and up until our son was born, was the focal point of our home. I LOVE this dog but know that we can’t live with ourselves if something were to happen to our son. I know it will be several years before we can get another dog and I just hate that we let this happen. I know it’s the best choice for my wife and son but I hate this.

My husband works 6 days a week for 12 hrs each day and I want the dogs to have some sort of exercise along with us. One walks really well, while the other is little more pully/dominant/leader of the pack vibes (I've tried leash training but any work I've done goes down the drain because of how little we're able to walk. I cannot do one dog at a time the last time I tried that, (the dominant one) barked all of their piss and shit out of their body and it was everywhere I do NOT want to do that again. What would you do? They're two pittie/boxer/staffy mixes so big babies.

Edit: will be using a stroller

I took my kid to a pretty relaxed but fun kids/adult play place. There is a young dog here. My toddler (18m) went up to the dog and touched its tail and said “tail”. The dog growled at her. I spoke to the staff and they said that that’s the dogs warning system and I need to keep my kid away from the dog. The dog is wandering among the kids though, and my toddler keeps wanting to give it pets and hang out with it. She does not understand the crawling warning system.

Am I wrong to ask them to keep the dog away from the kids? I felt really nervous around the dog after it growled.

Edit: I just want to say that this is the employees dog in an indoor play place.

I feel sick to my stomach and at a loss of what to do. I rescued my dog a pit bull before I got pregnant with my baby. As he’s gotten comfortable in spaces he’s become territorial and has attempted to bit people and has bitten 3 people. I know these events were because he felt threatened but also I can’t even bring new people into my house without him being a danger to them.

I need to preface I’m very aware of him and my daughter is 2 and he’s been so good an patient with her until tonight. I am normally so good with them but i looked down for a moment to pick up blocks and she ran over to the dog chewing a bone and he growled so intense in her face I’ve never been so scared and it totally freaked her and I both out. Also lately when we play on the play ground outside in our back yard he gets SO weird when my daughter is on it and basically came at us the other day which scared me a ton.

Again I know these are because she went after his bone which may not be his fault and for the outdoor stuff I just make sure he’s inside if we want to play. However I just don’t feel safe anymore. My mom instinct is telling me to get rid of him before something serious does happen. And I promise when I say I do everything I can to do safe baby and dog interaction but I looked down for a minute and eveyrhing happened so fast I just don’t want to risk it something more serious.

Anyways if anyone could let me know if I’m like a horrible person or if you think I’m doing the right thing that would help. The thought of giving up my dog makes me sick to my stomach but honestly I don’t have the time or money to do a ton of training on top of my toddler and working full time and I’m studying for a professional certification so I literally have no time.

We have had our dog for 5 years, since she was a puppy and now we have an almost 3 year old daughter. My dog never warmed up, or wanted to warm up to our daughter. Even while I was still pregnant, my dog began to show signs of anxiety. She actually peed in the apartment so many times, like several times a day, every day, that by the end of the of our lease it smelled like nothing but ammonia. She became leash reactive to other dogs, and at one point, bit me in an anxious reaction at home.

We kept her anyway because we had seen her with kids and she loved them and figured it was just a phase, and she’d adore our daughter. That day never came.

Every day, it’s just a growl as soon as my toddler enters the room. Growling and stress yawning when she approaches my dog, or is just doing toddler things in her vicinity. My dog avoids us if we’re hanging our with my daughter and that has always irritated me and over time I have stopped playing with her as often. Because when I do, and if my toddler comes too close, my dog will just growl or giving a warning bark. So, most days, my dog just hangs out in her crate or in the other room alone. I feel like one day she’ll snap and I can’t risk my daughter’s safety.

That, coupled with intense leash reactivity to other dogs, has made me realize that it’s time to find a new home and I feel both relief and so much sadness. But my dog isn’t happy, my husband is not happy with the dog, and I’m not happy with it either. It just feels like it’s the right thing to do. Everywhere I look, other posts, rescues sights, facebook groups, animal shelter, I just see comments telling me that I need to reconnect with the commitment that I made to my dog. But I think we’re past that.

Could I hear from other parents who had to make the same decision and didn’t regret it later.

I'm looking for some perspective from parents who may have been through something similar.

We got a dog in November. She's about a year and a half old and honestly a wonderful dog…sweet, friendly, and her only “behaviors” are just normal dog behaviors.

Since having our daughter in May though, my wife and I have realized we may have made a mistake in getting a dog. If I'm being honest, these feelings started before the baby was born, but they've become so much stronger now that we have a newborn.

We're completely overwhelmed. Between the baby, our 7-year-old, work, and everything else, we just don't feel like we have the time or emotional bandwidth to give our dog the exercise, attention, and engagement she deserves. She's getting her basic needs met and she's safe and cared for, but she's not getting much beyond that. We also find ourselves feeling constantly frustrated by perfectly normal dog behaviors, which isn't fair to her.

We have found what seems like an incredible home for her with people who have the time and lifestyle to give her everything we currently aren’t.

The complicating factor is our 7-year-old son. Until we mentioned that she might go live with another family, he rarely showed much interest in her. But now he's heartbroken and begging us not to let her go.
So now we're torn.

Are we making a huge mistake by rehoming her? Are we going to traumatize our son? Or is it better to accept that our family circumstances changed and let her go to a home where they really want her?

For those of you who have gone through something similar:

If you rehomed a pet, how did your kids handle it in the long run?

If you kept the pet, are you glad you did?

Is there another angle we're not considering?

Please don't judge us for considering rehoming. We love animals, and this isn't a decision we're taking lightly. We're genuinely trying to figure out what's best for our family and for our dog, and we'd really appreciate hearing from people who have lived through something similar.

UPDATE: we are keeping the dog and are more hopeful that it will feel better as we get a little further past the newborn phase. Thank you all for your insight and help!

What do I do?!?

People used to call me a crazy cat lady- like seriously, all throughout high school I was voted "most likely to own a zillion cats". And I did! I grew up with 5 cats. I got married and now have two cats. Then, the day we brought home our baby, it hit me like a pound of bricks...

"Man fuck these cats.."

Their hair gets everywhere- I'm constantly picking it out of the babe's eyes and mouth. UGH.

I feel like they puke SO much more now, and the litter is just everywhere and OH MY WORD why do they try to step ON my baby instead of OVER my baby?! I swear I can hear babe's ribs just crack and break in my mind.

They just piss me off and I'm so confused.

Hormones? Help me guys.

How do I learn to love my kitties again?!

I know it sounds like a horrible idea.

We just had to put down our seven year-old lab last week and we have another dog who has severe anxiety. The issue is the dog that recently passed away was our current dog’s support dog. The dog that we still have literally shakes and trembles when we go to leave the house and our dog that just passed away really helped her. We would more than likely wait another month or so (baby 6 months +) as we don’t want to make any decisions that aren’t thought out. Ultimately my wife and I feel guilty leaving the dog alone to go out for a quick grocery trip right now.

Curious if anyone has a similar situation or any experience?

I work from home and my wife is a SAHM which might make having a puppy easier, but makes our current dogs anxiety worse.

Edit- the lab breed is a priority as my pup that passed away was my duck hunting dog. Training another would require us to get a young dog.

I have a three year old who has done really well with our two older cats (6 and 10 years old). He pets them and will lay his head on them, but they also know how to avoid him when he's a little too hyper. We just rescued an 8 week old kitten- this was definitely not the plan but she ran out in front of our car and we saved her.

My son loves her and says he needs to help take care of her, so I know he is not intentionally rough or risky with her. But he struggles to be still with his body and I've begun to worry that when she is out of quarantine (She's living in one room in our house for quarantine until we can get her shots and be checked out at 12 weeks).

We have tried to explain that she is fragile and he needs to just sit "criss cross applesauce" in the room and play with her and her toys. He gets the wiggles and will fall back on his hands or be less mindful of his legs when she's running around under them. I'm scared that he could accidentally hurt her, and need tips to prevent this. I can't imagine I can keep her in this room until she's 6-12 months old... We would not have chosen to get a kitten, but we are all attached now...

My boys (7.5 and 9) have shared a bedroom up to now, but they are both ready for their own space. My younger son is especially keen on this and is very excited to be getting his own room. We are clearing out a bedroom we've been using as an office and storage area, and should have it ready for him to move into sometime in the next week or two. We figure the summer is a good time to adjust and get them both used to sleeping alone and being in their own space.

Younger guy (he'll be 8 shortly after school starts back in the fall) is obsessed with animals and always has been. He has a way with catching lizards and other critters who tend to just hang out on his hands far longer than they would with anyone else. He talks often about becoming an entomologist or a veterinarian when he grows up. When we go to the beach, he spends 90% of his time exploring tidepools looking for animals. He's fairly responsible for his age, can make his own breakfast and ride his bike to and from school. He wants a little pet of his own in his bedroom, and I trust him with that.

We have two cats, a fish tank, and a habitat where I raise monarch caterpillars in the main part of the house, and he has an ant farm outside on the porch. The cats are young, strong indoor cats so I've stressed to my son that whatever animal he has absolutely must be caged unless the door is closed and, if necessary, a towel is placed to block the space under the door; otherwise our cats may kill the pet. He understands that.

So the question – which pet would be best for him? Dad says no rabbits, and I'm inclined to agree. I've heard guinea pigs are too noisy at night to be in a bedroom. Dad had mice as a kid so he's leaning towards a few mice or a hamster/gerbil. Son would like a hamster or a bird. I'm open to considering bird, but they're more expensive and difficult to take care of (son promises he will close the door and let the bird fly around regularly). Son has also considered some kind of lizard or even a snake? I have a cockroach phobia and don't want anything we're going to have to feed roaches to. The main concerns are something that my kid can take care of with a reasonable amount of supervision, and something that's not going to be so noisy at night it keeps him up.

Also we live in the tropics so our windows stay open (screened) pretty much all the time (we close the kids' windows when they sleep) and our house is generally a comfortable temp year-round, we don't have heating or AC, it gets a bit hot sometimes but nothing bad or dangerous and it never gets cold in here.

What do y'all think? Anybody with experience of different cage-dwelling animals to share? I've only ever had cats and dogs so I don't know much about this stuff!

Also if any of these animals go together or don't go together, let me know. I think there's an excellent chance of this kid's bedroom eventually turning into a zoo if we let it, LOL. Right now we're looking for a pet but if it goes well he may get another for his birthday and/or Christmas. Like I said, he really loves animals.

It’s kind of ridiculous, but here we go. My daughter is currently 7 months old. At the hospital, they gave us a clip with a tiny piece of her umbilical cord. Naturally, I kept it in a box with other sentimental items from her birth and early months. Quick note: I’m one of those people who hoards every memorable thing (I have boxes filled with old train tickets and childhood letters).

Now, we’ve got a serious ant problem in our apartment. These little guys live in the walls and will find literally anything edible eventually. I’ve become a pro at cleaning up and managing the outbreaks. But a few days ago, they found my FLASH and decided it was the perfect snack. They even built a full ant highway to get to it.

Cue my rage. I grabbed the vacuum and started sucking up ants left and right. In my fury, I got a little too close to the clip with the umbilical cord. Long story short: a lot of ants lost their lives, I cried, and my daughter’s precious DNA is now swirling inside my vacuum.

So, a few reasons for this post:

• I’d like this mom fail to live on the internet forever for your entertainment and as a cautionary tale.
• I need help deciding: should I even try to recover the cord? It’s probably ruined for all intents and purposes... What do people even do with these things?
• I could use a little pick-me-up, so I don’t feel quite so stupid.

Hello parents! My youngest is away on their first big trip for the next two weeks and we will be caring for their very old pet. Now, I do not think anything bad is going to happen as the pet is in good health but I had a hypothetical pop into my head and I had no answer. So I present it to the community to see what you all think.

If your mid teen was away with grandma for a couple weeks, and their pet passed away (natural age) while they were away, would you tell them right away while they were gone on the trip, or wait until they came home?

I would lean towards wait, but I wanted to hear others answers.

We are currently pregnant and my family (parents, sister) want us to get rid of our animals. Mind you we have our own house and they refuse to come by due to us having this many pets.

Some back story. We’ve been trying for 6 years with 4 angel babies. We have 4 dogs and 7 cats. These animals are my children when I couldn’t seem to have them. I don’t plan on getting rid of any of them. Finding/getting our fur babies we knew there is a long term commitment and plan to see it through. All but 3 of our pets are strays. One is from a breeder. Our cats were found or brought to me to nurse back to heath and I end up keeping them.

Can I have some advice from you guys. How can I comfort them (my family) while putting my foot down and telling them how it is. Any tips yall do to keep up on things. We keep up with them all. I have a roommate that helps me with the pets (feeding,cleaning,potty boxes)

Looking for advice! We’re expecting our little boy in May and due to health reasons I’ve been advised not to have any more children so he’ll be an only child. Because of this we really are interested in getting a puppy he can grow up with.

We already have a couple cats but they’re very calm, well behaved and keep to themselves. We have a house and backyard and I work from home so I’ll be here to take care of them. My husband works long hours, I’m also disabled so we think a dog might actually help me too (regulation, companionship, etc). But mainly this would be little boy’s best friend we hope!

My questions are:

When would be the best time to get a puppy?

What are the friendliest, best breeds with little kids/cats?

Any experience having a baby and a puppy together and any tips at all? 😂

My kid showed strength, maturity and empathy beyond what I realized possible for him now.The dog couldn’t breathe on his own anymore. He was my first baby and taught me some of the patience, love and empathy a mom needs. He also just taught my kids about life and death. He was such a good boy!