On kids and dogs and messy houses

[Adina P]

OMD.  I don't know how anyone with little kids and dogs that chew things up survive childhood!!!  Luckily Rosco doesn't chew things up and Boca is only interested in baby socks (98% of the time put away) and really tiny things and paper and things that seem like they could possibly be paper or could be ingredients for paper.  Like wood.  Like the gnocchi sized wooden nesting doll my 18 month old dropped from the table as he was playing. 

Believe me, I have consciously made an effort to keep Boca's presence and said nesting dolls separated by time and distance.  When nesting dolls are out.  Boca is confined.  But I can't keep up.  So when I realized the two things were present in the same room, I panicked, then thought it couldn't hurt to ask.  So I did. 

"Boca drop it!"

Sure enough...out plops the bottom half of the middle sized nesting doll. 

"Boca, drop it!" has become my knee jerk reaction any time I see my little black doodle enter or exit a room she wasn't in 5 seconds prior.  This is probably the only command she listens to anymore without assistance.

Trying to keep stuff off the floor is an utterly ridiculous and a shoved-in-your-face lesson in futility. 

For all the lovely plans I have of helping/teaching my kids the lesson called "Before we get out new toys, we put already-played-with toys away" it never happens.  Oh it might happen once in a while when I'm not already immersed in cooking, computering, changing a diaper, tending to one crying kid, feeding dogs, tidying up, chasing one kid, etc...but the rest of the time 10 piles of toys appear magically in every walking space of the house. 

What I need is a play room.  A play room with a vortex that sucks toys back in should a child try to exit with any in hand.  Of course that doesn't keep the two legged kids from turning all of the rest of my household belongings into toys and spreading those far and wide. 

I used to be very staunch in the whole "if you have dogs, just keep the house picked up.  have your kids put toys away, close doors, etc."  But seriously.  How?  I have things to do, websites to visit, blogs to write! ;-)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Oh my, I remember this!  It really can ...make you crazy.  My youngest son, had a scooter. He loved it so much but it had no handles.  I got him another, again, the handles were chewed off.  I only had one chewer, but he loved plastic and Little Tyke Toys suffered.

I did get Chewies for that dog and many things were saved.  But, it just happens with the combo, Kids~Dogs

Get Boca and Antler then exchange the Drop it for the Antlers?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This made me smile.  Boca is such a good girl!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I met a lovely family yesterday while I was sitting outside (in the cold) with Riley and Boris having a coffee following a walk.  The children were young, three girls, six, four and two. They loved the dogs and then the parents were asking me lots and lots of questions. I could see they were thinking about getting a dog (most likely a clone of one of mine).  All I could think of was the chewing, the puppy play aka nipping and all the work entailed with both children and puppies.  I spent about ten minutes telling them all the pitfalls as I was mulling it over in my mind and imagining a scene just as you paint above. I applaud all of you who have young children and dogs. In our house Riley is our hoover of socks, underwear, shoes etc (luckily no toys). I don't even wait to see what he has and he just turns his head, waits for the 'drop it' command and then drops straight away. Definitely a most important command for everyone's sanity and avoidance of major vet fees and worse.

PS watch out for EASTER EGGS everyone, chocolate is poison to dogs!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I think we need to work on our "drop it" training before the baby arrives after hearing this ;)  Luna is pretty good but she is a smart little rascal and knows that we can't MAKE her do it if she's not within arm's reach.

I'm glad Luna isn't a destructive dog... but we're going to have some issues with baby socks too!  She LOVE socks...and stuffed toys...and anything made of wood... 

[Adina P]

Donna, I'm not sweating the small stuff as much as seriously wondering how anyone with a chewy or destructive dog AND kids manages. Mine are nowhere near bad and I still end up confining more than I would like to prevent barking during nap time and crushing of books and toys at other times. Soon as the dogs come out of confinement I rush to close doors and gates to keep them from rooms that haven't been proven safe. But I have to be vigilant in case the kids reopen doors/gatesas they go in and out of their room or go potty.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Those links are hilarious!

[Camilla and Darwin]

I have no kids and one dog and I still can't keep my house clean! I need to develop some better cleaning habits or things are going to get REALLY bad in the future. ha ha.

[F, Calla & Luca]

These crappy pictures made me smile. My kids are grown and some things don't apply. But I have a dining room full of dog crates and food. My sofa and one chair are covered with throws. I have two large dog beds, one more crate and a laundry basket full of dog toys in the bedroom. Upstairs and downstairs water bowls. And.... So you see it never ends. But I never did like those sterile rooms in design magazines : )

[Adina P]

Ooooh another good one: http://crappypictures.com/house-tour-with-amber-of-crappy-pictures/

[Adina P]

Some excellent re-enactments of housekeeping with a toddler nearby: http://crappypictures.com/cleaning-with-a-toddler-in-the-room/