A Puppy Is Not a Baby Accessory
- RuffStartDogTraining
- Jun 5
- 3 min read
This might be an unpopular opinion, but it's something I've been seeing more and more often, and I think it's worth talking about.
A couple announces they're expecting a baby.
A few weeks or months later, they bring home a puppy.
The idea sounds lovely. The baby and puppy grow up together. They become inseparable best friends. The photos are adorable. The social media posts get hundreds of likes.
It's the kind of story we've been sold for years through films, adverts, and social media.
But real life isn't a Disney film.
The reality is that bringing home a baby and bringing home a puppy are two of the biggest commitments you'll ever make. Both require huge amounts of time, patience, energy, consistency, and sacrifice.
Yet many people massively underestimate just how much work a puppy actually is.
A puppy isn't simply a small dog.
A puppy is a baby animal.
They don't arrive already trained.
They don't know where to toilet.
They don't know what you expect from them.
They don't know how to settle themselves.
They don't know how to walk nicely on a lead.
They don't know how to greet people politely.
They don't know what's safe to chew and what isn't.
They don't know how to cope with being left alone.
And they certainly don't know how to behave around a newborn baby.
For the first few months, your life revolves around teaching them all of this.
You're cleaning up accidents.
You're getting up during the night.
You're constantly supervising.
You're redirecting unwanted behaviour.
You're preventing destructive habits from forming.
You're socialising them properly.
You're building confidence.
You're teaching boundaries.
You're training every single day.
In many ways, raising a puppy is like having another toddler in the house.
Now imagine doing all of that while you're already sleep-deprived from caring for a newborn.
The reality for many families is that something has to give.
Unfortunately, it's often the puppy.
Training sessions become less frequent.
Walks become shorter.
Mental stimulation gets forgotten.
Behaviour problems start appearing.
The puppy jumps up because nobody has had time to work on it.
The puppy steals things because they're bored.
The puppy becomes overly excited because their needs aren't being met.
The puppy struggles with the huge changes happening around them.
Then the dog gets labelled as naughty, stubborn, difficult, or badly behaved.
In truth, many of these dogs are simply overwhelmed and underprepared.
And that's before we even consider the challenges of managing a growing dog around a baby.
Dogs and babies should never be left unsupervised together.
Parents need to learn canine body language.
They need to recognise signs of stress.
They need to create safe spaces for the dog.
They need to advocate for both the child and the dog.
That's a lot to ask of someone who is already exhausted and adjusting to parenthood.
Now, to be clear, I'm not saying families can't have dogs and children.
Some of the most successful dog-owning families have children.
Many dogs and children grow up to have incredible relationships.
But those successful outcomes rarely happen by accident.
They happen because the family planned ahead.
They understood the commitment.
They invested time in training.
They made sure the dog's needs continued to be met after the baby arrived.
What worries me is when people get a puppy because they think it completes the picture.
Because it looks cute.
Because they've imagined the photos.
Because they've romanticised the idea of a baby and a puppy growing up together.
Dogs are not props.
Puppies are not accessories.
And they are certainly not practice babies.
They are living, breathing animals that rely entirely on us to meet their physical, emotional, and behavioural needs.
Before getting a puppy, ask yourself:
Do I have time for daily training?
Do I have time for socialisation?
Do I have time for exercise?
Do I have time for mental enrichment?
Do I have time to manage a puppy through adolescence?
Can I still provide all of this when a baby arrives?
If the answer is no, there is absolutely no shame in waiting.
In fact, waiting might be one of the most responsible decisions you can make.
Ruff Start Take
Get a dog because you're ready for a dog.
Have a baby because you're ready for a baby.
Don't try to do both at the same time simply because it looks like the perfect family picture.
The best start any dog can have is joining a family that has the time, energy, and commitment to help them thrive.
Sometimes, the kindest thing you can do for your future dog is wait until the timing is right.
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