About a month ago at work, I was talking to a coworker about how on Saturdays, Cooper will not go back to sleep once my husband leaves. He whines from 6:15 onward until I begrudgingly roll out of bed and go down the stairs to start the day. My coworker told me to just simply tell him to go back to bed (thank you, because I’ve never thought of that one.) and then proceeded to say, “Oh, you’re a bad dog trainer, you’re going to be a bad mom.”
I responded with a, “Gee, thanks,” and walked away flabbergasted that anyone would have the gall to say that to any woman, much less a pregnant woman. And as much as I do not take it to heart since I am not necessarily fond of this woman nor does she know what kind of mother I will be, it is something that worries me.
When we first got Cooper, after MONTHS of my begging the Mechanic for a puppy, I feared I made the wrong decision. He woke me up around 5 times a night to go potty and often wouldn’t go back to bed, leaving me up with him at 3 AM for an hour or so. He also had anxiety about leaving our apartment, so in order to get him any exercise, we had to literally carry him somewhere, and walk him back to the apartment. (he had no problem RUNNING back to the apartment, but if you walked him away from the apartment, he wouldn’t BUDGE.) He taunted Molly, cried and was cranky due to teething and growth spurts, would nap at strange intervals, and had this very odd behavior of faking a broken or hurt paw when he knew we were mad at him. I’d asked for a cuddle muffin of a puppy, and instead I got an infant and toddler in one on my hands. There was a lot of crying and a lot of doubt.
While now, at 10 months, he’s a lot better, I swear that this dog is not a dog, and in fact is a small child stuck in a dog’s body. He whines and gets cranky when he’s hungry or tired, but never seems to be able to figure it out for himself to just eat or sleep. He gets the crazies before he has to go poo, and runs in circles. If he knows anyone in the house is asleep and he is not, he will go to their room and whine and cry. If the Mechanic works late, his whole schedule is off and he whines because daddy isn’t home. But alas, he is my baby and I love him.
I will admit, though, it scares me how easily I get annoyed or frustrated with him. He’s being a dog or wanting me to love him, and I just want to be able to lay down and relax, so I yell at him to stop or give him ANOTHER treat to distract him just for five minutes.
I had a bit of a breakdown a few weeks ago when the Mechanic once again related the dog doing something bad while I was home (he’d gotten and began to chew a silica packet from my MIL’s room – he’s fine, though) to the fact that we’d have a baby soon. I cried, telling him how every time he says that, and I know he NEVER means it in a malicious or rude way and is just being matter of fact when he brings it up, I get upset because I am already so worried about that. If I can barely take care of a need 10 month old dog, how on EARTH am I going to take care of my child?
At the end of the day, I do believe that I will be a good mother. I watch Cooper know (most of the time..) to be gentle with the cats, that he can’t jump on people when they first come home, that if he has to go potty just ask, and most importantly that mommy and daddy love him so so much, and I know I can handle this baby. I know that motherhood will just come naturally and that, thankfully, babies give you a bit more of a learning curve than puppies do. I have time until the baby wants to eat everything off the floor or stay up late or annoy the sleeping cats or ingest a paper towel (okay, I hope he never wants to eat paper towels. Especially not ONLY used ones, as my adorable dog seems to prefer.) I know that a dog, while a good training tool for parenthood, is not the end all be all of how I will be with a baby or how great of a mother I will be.
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Did you ever have anxiety about how good of a mom you will be?
Moms, do you think that your pets prepared you at all for motherhood?
Does anyone else’s dog literally eat used paper towels and tissues? ..Anyone?
managing mommyhood 
Love this post. My first dog was an adorable black lab. To sum her up, my mother once called the vet to ask if we should be concerned that she’d stolen and ingested a bag of Hershey’s kisses, a bag of M & Ms, a dozen chocolate chip muffins and (wait for it) a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans in one day. He replied not to worry, last week someone had called because they thought their dog had eaten razor blades. My mother replied, THAT WAS US! The dog made me miserable, crazy, horrible, sad, plus allergic. And it made me scared to become a mother because she’d drive me so bonkers. What I’ve learned four kids later? I’m a decent Mom, I just may not be getting a dog ever again.
Motherhood is so totally different. And I think those kids might even be easier than that dog. (Also, get the book On Becoming Babywise if you’re into sleeping. I couldn’t teach my dog not to growl at people, but I could teach all my kids to sleep through the night! Ha!)