How to prepare for the unexpected?

Can one ever really prepare for the life-changing event of having children?  I know there’s really no way to prepare for the “suck” to use an old Army adage (not that I’m saying having kids will suck but let’s face reality that it ain’t gonna be a stroll through the park nor is my Fall football watching ritual ever going to be the same)  But I do believe that you can set yourself on the correct path by doing a fairly common thing…

That one thing (congers up the thought of Curly from City Slickers) is becoming the "Dogfather”.  Cue the theatrical and Italian music.  By the Dogfather, I simply mean becoming a parent to those loveable four-legged creatures that, not unlike children, can become the bane of our existence. 

This fall, Shannon and I will have been ‘parents’ to our beloved beagle, Eve, for 9 years (or 63 dog years, if you’re counting) and this summer we’ve had our mini-dachshund, Oscar, for 5.5 years and our lab, Ziggy, for 4 years. 

While I can’t say that owning dogs is comparable to owning (maybe raising would be a better term to use but there’s always that upside of indentured servitude also known as child labor) children; it is at the very least similar in the duties it entails.

First, dogs (or at least ours) are known to literally cry out loud for their meals.  When I get home each day, they recognize that time as the time when they normally get fed (forget that my schedule recently changed so they now DEMAND to be fed when I get home versus their  old ‘normal’ time an hour later).  While I would normally prefer to come home to dogs that only wish for their father’s time and attention; no instead, I get dogs who could care less that I’m home only that I ‘bring’ dinner home with me.  So I believe I’m up for a crying baby wishing only to be fed… although I’m sort of off the hook for the first while since I can’t ‘physically’ feed the baby myself (thank you Lord for evolution).

Secondly, our dogs do not seem to wish to abide by normal protocol of sleeping through the entire night.  No, instead Shannon and I rotate nights that we have to get up with the dogs, in the middle of the night mind you, to let them go out and go potty… or in Eve’s case to eat bugs or anything else that had the misfortune of falling in our backyard.  Therefore, the middle of the night wake-ups will already part of our normal routine.  I wonder if we can’t potty train the baby to poop outside with the dogs which would kill two birds with one stone (must check the dog training book for tips).

Thirdly, our dogs fight for our attention.  Okay, in reality it’s only Ziggy who fights for my sole attention as he has the frustrating and annoying habit of licking any exposed limb to death if, God-forbid, you love on any of the other dogs (this I believe will benefit me when the baby decides to drool all over since I don’t think there’s too much difference in spittle).  He has taken to moping if his Daddy doesn’t want to play with him (child pouting and dog pouting, again not much difference although one is cuter… the dog J) but in the end I always relent to his actions.

Lastly, is the feeling of powerlessness when they are hurt and can’t tell you what’s wrong.  This, Shannon and I had experience our fair share of and is the worst thing to deal with.  I can’t even begin to think how much it’s going to hurt when our lil’ one is hurting/sick and we are powerless to do anything about it without the excellent care of a physician.  Maybe our Veterinarian can give us some good recommendations? 

Seriously though, how do you parents deal with this?  I’m in the profession of helping people and my mentality is to go into an issue and attack the problem to get a resolution but how can I do anything if I don’t know what to do?  Hopefully, I’ll pick up parenting with relative ease or if not, my family and friends will get many ‘a frantic phone call to help me decide what to do.

 

So does having doggies prepare this future father for the upcoming journey?  You bet!