Baby with underwear in mouth (it is clean) - What dogs teach babies

Real Dad Blog Version:  It is funny when your dog runs around with underwear in their mouth.  It is even more funny when your baby does it and you have pictures to prove it.

It is every woman’s nightmare having a dog as a pet.  They have company over everything is going great.  People are eating and conversing.  All of a sudden, they hear a chuckling and they see their dog run around the house with their underwear!  How embarrassing!  Our dog has not done the embarrassing wife’s underwear thing with company over.  He has done it with company’s underwear that is staying over at our house.   I think he may be out of the stage of running around the house with underwear dangling from his mouth.    There were many times where our dog Tanner would find my wife’s underwear and let it dangle from his mouth while we chased him around the house in the past.  What a fun game for him and a challenge for us to get the underwear from him.

Even though our dog is out of the stage of underwear stealing, our son Rylan must have learned the underwear dangling from his mouth trick from somewhere.  The other night we were folding clothes and left the clothes basket on the floor.  He must have grabbed my wife’s underwear when we were not looking.  The picture is how we found him.  Thanks, Tanner!  I just hope Rylan does not do the underwear trick with underwear dangling from his mouth with company over.  OK… Maybe I do.

It is great being a new dad and watching your son and dog grow up.  It is also great to get funny baby pictures.

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A Fat Dog transforms into a...

I am one of the biggest penny pinchers there is.  The Frugal Dad would be proud of the way I pinch my pennies.  There is one thing I learned that I couldn’t do, cut my dog’s hair.

The first time I brought our Cavachon to the groomer for his haircut, it cost over $50.  Being a penny pincher, I thought I could do the next haircut myself.  I cut my own hair, so I thought it could not be that hard.  Heck, I do everything else for my dog like brush his teeth, bathe him, clip his nails, and even express his anal glands (ick!)

Cavachons are non-shedding dogs, so, their hair is thick and grows like no tomorrow.  When a Cavachon has long hair they look like a fat Bichon Frise.  When they get their haircut they look like a skinny King Charles Cavalier.

We need to cut Tanner’s hair every 4 months.  That fourth month came; I bought a cheap dog shaver at Wal-Mart and went to town on my dog. Going to town on my dog is an overstatement.  The electric dog clipper was not powerful enough to cut my dogs thick hair.  I could only do an inch every five minutes because it was like cutting 1,000,000 human hairs in that one-inch.  An inch every five minutes would take me about 8 years to cut my dogs hair.  I then switched to the scissors.  That was a little better but still it took me over two hours to cut my dogs hair. The whole kid bathroom was covered in dog hair.  I was also covered in dog hair.  It was a mess.

After all the cutting of thick dog hair I was proud of myself.  I finally cut my dogs hair!  I gave Tanner a bath.  I then saw a horror story of the haircut.  All that pride went away.  My wife saw Tanner and just started laughing.  She said that he

To Skinny Dog Cavachon - Dad's Best Friend

looked just like the dog in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”  Whoops!  Needless to say, I returned the electric dog clippers and saw my career as a self-proclaimed dog groomer end.  (I am very sorry I do not have pictures of this.  At the time, I was not a new dad and did not have a camera in every room).

Now we pay $50 every four months for the Cavachon haircut.  Tanner turns from a fat looking dog into a skinny looking dog.  Learning the lessons of being a dad of a dog.

Real Dad Blog Version:  Does anyone know of a pet-grooming place that is cheap in the north metro area of Minneapolis or a used nice electric dog clippers that they will sell for cheap?  This dad’s dog like have a man’s best friend that is cheap.

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Dad’s Best Friend – Boy’s Best Friend – The Dog

Rivi and Tanner Looking out Dad Blogs Window

We all know the first best friend for a dad is their wife.  I am lucky to have a great wife in Melissa.  The next best friend, our man’s best friend, is the dog.

Melissa really wanted a dog.  So I though to myself, “Happy wife, happy life.”  We had to find a non-allergenic breed because she is allergic to most dogs.  We found one that would meet our family needs in a Cavachon (King Charles Cavalier and a Bichon Frise mix).  We really wanted a good family dog and we came upon the Cavachon breed.  We found the dog before we decided to have children.  We made the down payment and a few months later, we found out Rylan would be in our future.

Tanner came into our life as a puppy.  He was full of spunk and energy that is still in there 18 months later.  I never knew a puppy could be so much work with a pregnant wife.  I ended up

Tanner and Rylan - Baby's Best Friend

doing a lot of work because Melissa couldn’t handle some of the care with being pregnant.  I thought to myself that this was a lot of work and I hope having a child is not this much work.   I was the one responsible letting the dog out in the middle of the night, cleaning up the poop and urine and taking away the “toys” he was not supposed to chew on like our rugs and chairs.

Just like parenting though, days did get easier with Tanner and a lot better by the time Rylan was born.  Tanner is still a lot of work and sometimes more work than Rylan.   He still has a lot of puppy in him.  He still gets Rylan’s toys like his stuffed animals and balls.  He needs to go for his walks and sometimes be encouraged to pee and poop. Rylan is a content baby and it is pretty easy to get the kid to laugh. Tanner can be stubborn.  You can tell he is thinking of the next way can get in trouble without us knowing.

Well, dad blog, how does this relate to the title?  Look at the pictures.  The pictures speak for themselves.

Rylan and Tanner First Halloween - Dad's Best Friends

With all of the troubles a dog can be, there are many benefits to having a dog.  One of the great benefits is seeing your child and dog growing up together.  The day we brought Rylan home from the hospital, Tanner was excited.  He was most excited about the spit up.  Ever since they have been together, Tanner has been an excellent dog to Ryaln.  Rylan is now playing with Tanner, and Tanner lets him pull his hair while Rylan laughs.  You can already tell that Rylan and Tanner love each other.

I grew up with dogs.  Rylan is lucky enough to grow up with man’s best friend, the dog.  I am excited to see Rylan to grow up with best friend.  He will play catch with him, take him for walks and run around with him in the backyard.  Rylan and I will grow up together as father and son, but we will grow up with the same best friend, our dog, Tanner.

Baby Playing with Dog.. I think he is going to win this wrestling match.

Dog Getting Into Baby's Toys with Guilty Look on His Face

As a new dad, get a dog.  It is another great job to have.  Fatherhood rocks!