My Other Child-The Manny Dog

Howdo folks! I've been thinking a lot lately about my other child, my dog Manny. Given that there was a about comparing raising dogs to kids I thought I'd take a moment to hightlight my special buddy as well as talk about some of the dog training techniques that can be used to conjunction with all the other skills you need to raise a child.

Just as a little background Manny (named after Manny's Pale Ale from Georgetown Brewing) is a 6-year-old fawn colored Bullmastiff. Bullmastiff's are a larger breed of dog (110lbs -130lbs) that were bred in the mid 1800's to help the game wardens guard the estates from poachers. They are strong and powerful dogs that possess a great intelligence and willingness to please, which makes them a great family dog. They were bred to knock over the poachers and sit on them as opposed to biting them. They have thick necks to prevent them from being choked and square heads to prevent them from being knocked out. They are also pretty pain resisent. That and the fact that they want to protect the family they really are great dogs with kids. They don't mind when the kids pull on their skin (they have rolls) and faces. When the bullmastiff was bred they were essentially 40% Old English Bulldog and 60% English Mastiff.

Now that you know a little bit about the breed I'll share why we got him. My wife and I are planners by nature. We like to plan things out so we have something to go by. We probably overplan and this is a good example of that.

We'd just moved into our home in Woodinville and we were thinking that in a few years we'd like to have a kid. However we by no means ready for that kind of responsibliity. We thought that we needed to get ready for that kind of responsiblity. The best way we knew how was to get another pet (we had a cat, but they are so independnent they don't really need you much). We'd known a couple of bullmastiff's over the years so we figured that was the breed for us. I got in touch with a breeder in Oklahoma and Manny flew to us after emptying our bank account and began to teach us what real responsibility was.

Lesson #1: Be Home
Now we had to come home after work, not stay out at the bars all night, etc. We had to be home to walk Manny, feed him and all that other fun stuff. This is a bit of an adjustment to get used to for two free and easy 30-year-olds, but  if you want to have a kid, it's the first thing you need to be ready for.

Lesson #2: Poop Talk
The only time I've talked about poop more was when we had Jack. For the first year it was alwas "Did Manny go poop? How did it look?" Craziness. Now it's the same thing!  So having a dog prepares you for lots of poop talk and getting comfortable with dealing with poop all around. Disgusting.

Lesson #3: Teacher 
Dogs like kids don't come pre trained so you are going to have to teach them things. Training a dog will get you used to the feeling of success and failure that also comes with raising a kid. A trainer once told us a dog needs to hear a command 30,000 times before getting it. From my experience it's about the same with a 2-year-old. 

Lesson #4: Patience
The main thing that training a dog and raising a child have in common that they teach you is patience. They will both make you sit back, take a breath and just deal. Somethings things don't work out the first, second, third, or even fiurth time. Eventually it does and and when it does after a lot of frustation, success is all the sweeter.

So these were the things I learned from raising our awesome dog Manny. He's turned out really well. He doesn't jump on people, he doesn't sleep on the couch or bed, he's not food aggressive (if you are in the same room as him when he's eating he'll leave since he knows people come first for food), and he doesn't beg for food. He's run off a potential bad guy (creepy guy around some kids and Manny growled at him until he left), provided me with endless hours of entertainment and hugs, as well as providing protection for my family and our home.  

I don't know what I would do without my boy Manny. His being a large breed I know his lifespan is shorter than a lot of dogs, but that just means I have to try and pack as much good times as I can into the time we have. If you ever want to see Manny I have a webcam on him during the day when he sleeps (Mannycam): http://76.104.243.218:8081/. If it's dark out it's hard to see as we don't leave the lights on during the day, but as we get closer to summer and get some sunny days you can watch him. He doesn't do much more than sleep, but for some reason I find that comforting during a hectic day.

I'd love to hear how your dog helped you get ready for your little one, or if you've found lessons that you've learned from your dog that you were able to apply to your child. Until next time remember Jack's number #1 rule:  "No pushing, just hugs."