Raising a puppy instead of a baby: a Great Dane tale

 A few days ago I looked through my high school year book and I counted all the girls that missed out on school pictures because of being pregnant. Then I  counted all the girls who have more then 1 child, then I counted all the girls who’s kids were half there age or very close to it ( yes there where 3 girls who started popping out babies when they where 9, because in there pictures they were 18). I was lucky to not have to know what it was like going to school all day then picking up my son/daughter from day care, and trying to work on homework while breast feeding. But I knew I wanted a baby one day so my boyfriend and I decided to by a dog. Shortly after buying our puppy our 2 year relationship ended. And I felt a lot like I had a baby and was abandoned by his father. Its been a bumpy ride but I suggest that all young couples or even young singles buy a pet before they let a relationship get too serious and end up with a little bundle of expenses.

 The Similarities

When first buying a puppy its so cute and cuddly and up immediately fall in love with it, and then you bring it home and it starts crying. So you feed it and then give it something to drink and the crying stops for awhile so you find something to grasp the puppy's attention and then it pees all over the floor. Much like a baby, a puppy is going to need a schedule to go by.

• morning play time/ bathroom time
• feeding time
• walking time
• feeding time
• more play/ potty time
• bed time
• then do it all over again

 The Differences

Although babies and puppies are both very cute and cuddly, and yet stinky and have lots of spit-up and drool there are some major differences. When a puppy "messes" on the floor you put its noise in it and spank it with a newspaper while doing that to a baby is something that is...frowned on. Having a dog forces you to find restraint even when you just had a hard day at work and you really dont want to pick up the heaping piles of poo soaking into the carpet ( puppy poo soaks in because its runny, and is not fun at all). Another huge difference is that when you get tired of the puppy, because it stopped being so cute, you can always sell it/or give it away to a good home and get a different breed that you like better while I once again think that would be frowned on if that was the case with your baby.

 With baby’s it really depends on whom you decide to “breed” with, but the convenience with a puppy is that you can pick which breed you want.  I went with the Great Dane. They are very majestic beast. For a small built young woman I would recommend any large breed dog because they are not only very protective but they can actually protect, take for instance the Chihuahua, they are very protective and are great at alerting you when something is wrong but if someone breaks into your home and the Chihuahua runs at an assailant, all they have to do is just kick it across the room ( I would hate for that to happen but it would be easy for someone to do because of how light weight and aerodynamic they are) while on the other hand if someone breaks in to your home and they see a 200lbs dog laying on the ground they are very likely to turn around and walk out slowly.
Now while I do love my Great Dane baby he does require a lot of attention like lots of long walks to keep him exercised and lots of running to prevent hip problems (which are very common in large dogs)  . Although they are very large dogs mine really does  not eat very much  maybe two 35 pound bags of food a month but he is not done growing yet.

While Danes grow very fast and are very relaxed calm dogs its still very good practice before having a baby because they do love you unconditionally and depend on you for everything , and all dogs are different, even if they are from the same breed they have very different personalities.