Right, real talk.
After years of saying "No", I finally gave in to my wife's demands and bought a puppy a couple of months ago. She's a black Lab called Storm and is generally well behaved: Sleeps in her crate, pretty good on her walks, does her business outside etc.
My argument against us getting a dog for so long is that our lives are busy enough as it is:
We have three children and two cats already, two of the kids have ASD, with one of them being Type 1 Diabetic and Coeliac on top of that and the other one trying to navigate mainstream Secondary School as she's only recently been going through the diagnosis process. All of this requires us to be constantly 'on' due to the various complexities with their conditions, meetings with teachers and specialists that are required and just generally trying to make sure there's as little impact to their day to day living as possible. This in turn leads to very little downtime and us both being knackered for the majority of the time.
My wife's stance was that it would lead to numerous eventual benefits including lots of chances for head space while out on walks, her acting as a bit of a therapy dog for the kids, giving us something positive to focus on in amongst everything else etc.
The problem I have just now is that we hadn't quite appreciated just how much time, effort and energy has to go in to raising a puppy. Three things that we're low on anyway due to what's been mentioned already.
While not a fan of it at first, I've accepted that she chews things she shouldn't, digs up the garden, always wants to play, is excited by everything etc. because she's a puppy, and that's what they tend to do.
My worry is the impact that these behaviours are having on everyone else in the house. The cats have to be kept upstairs or it turns into a scene from Benny Hill when they're in a room together, and my two youngest kids are constant targets for her playful 'attacks'. My son is one of the two who has ASD and is taking quite a while to adjust, not helped by her never ending interest in him and his reaction to it.
It's recently got to the stage where I'm wondering whether it really will get better and what state we'll all be in when she eventually does grow out of it, even going so far as thinking about accepting we've done the wrong thing and looking for her to be re-housed.
I know this is a massive decision to make that will also have its own impact (along with being regarded as a straight up Terrible Person by just about everyone I tell about it...I'm sure there are a few of you who are already branding me with that title as you read this), but I'm honestly just so, so tired, stressed, anxious...the whole shebang. We've only had her two months, and the prospect of dealing with her at this level for the foreseeable future isn't something I think I'm mentally capable of handling. That being said, I can also see that giving her to another, better suited family would probably just make things worse in the long term.
I know that there isn't a magic solution, and perseverance is key, so I'd be interested in hearing about other people's experiences with juggling a puppy and a family, along with any reassurances of it getting easier that you may have