This Is Where I Rant About Having Dogs. No Judging!

This was true for me before: I'd rather have dogs than babies. For many reasons, like having endured a long and hard labor with my first-born, or economics, I thought that raising babies would be more challenging and I didn't think we would still enjoy going through all that.

Don't get me wrong. I used to dream of raising five kids. I had their full names picked in college. My main ambition in life was to become a stay-at-home mom, tend to cute little kids, cook, bake, clean the house (check! check! check!), just like the grandmother who raised me.

But sometime ago, when the thought of extending the family came up, I negated the idea immediately. My reasons were pretty simple, if not petty:

• Dogs are low maintenance.
• Dogs will never go to school. So, the hubs and I don't have to worry about college tuition.
• Dogs will never grow up, unlike babies. Who will decide that, by the time they're teenagers, Mom is not the center of their world anymore. 

We set our sights on getting a Jack Russell, as influenced by a favorite TV show. Then one Jack Russell became two, because we didn't want the new dog baby to be lonely.

And then they bred.  And then suddenly, we had 7 of them running around the house --- two females, five males. And then, foolishly, we decided to keep them all.

Here's the thing about Jack Russells, as I've read in books when we had the first one: it's a bad, bad idea to keep 3 of the males in a small house.  They're highly-strung and they will need to exhaust all that energy. If we lived in a farm, it wouldn't be such a problem coz they can run free and keep themselves busy all the time.

But because we don't own a farmhouse with a vast backyad, and because I'm such a know-it-all, I didn't believe what the book said. 5 boys? Pfft! How hard can that be? I've had countless dogs in my childhood. I know what I'm in for!

Fast forward three years later and I'm slowly re-assessing my thoughts on babies vs. our dogs.

Seven Jack Russells? Soooooooooooooooooo NOT low maintenance!

• Babies can be toilet-trained. Dogs can, but I've got two or three in the pack that just wouldn't want to be taught. We really need to clean up after them. Clean up more than usual. The other week I also discovered that one of the girls pees on my son's bed, if his room is open and no one is watching. What the hell?! I thought she knows her spot by now?? 
• Babies learn to be civilized by going to school. They pick up social graces. Dogs can get obedience training. But without reinforcement, they go back to being brutes. They are wired that way. There are days when I just do not have the energy to reinforce or if I leave it to others to do that, the dogs will not want to follow. Plus, with seven of these high-energy Jack Russells in one roof together, with their personalities clashing? A riot can happen at any time. It's instinct, since anything can set them off.
• Babies grow up to live their own lives. By the time they're adults, parents can enjoy their own lives in retirement. Our dogs will FOREVER be babies relying on someone else to tend to them. And that's usually me. Dang it! I would be 60, but I would still have babies. 

It is hard being a mom. I learned that in all 15 years and counting.

It is a million times harder to become a dog mom of seven. I learned that in less than 3 years.

Dogs, like babies, can be awfully jealous, attention-seeking and selfish. When you're having a bad day, they can either perk you up or suck whatever life is left from you. In my case? Seven lives out of me.

On the other hand, dogs do give unconditional love and their loyalty is so intact. Hugging seven of them can be a total stress reliever.  I could stay with them on the floor for hours, just scratching their bellies. It's monumentary bliss I relish. Until one of them starts to demand for attention again.