How to convince your husband that it’s time to get another dog

When I told my husband that I wanted another dog, he was not interested. His big question was ‘why’ followed by ‘we don’t need one’. Of course then he followed up with questions about who is going to take care of him, who is going to train him, we are too busy and we won’t have time. All of this was then wrapped up in the “Don’t do it, Sarah!”

Well, I needed to figure out how to convince him. The first thing was to put the house in order. If I wanted a puppy, I needed to make sure I could show my husband that our house was puppy ready. I started organizing those ‘rainy day’ piles and decluttering various rooms in my house. My children’s rooms are now more organized and there are no toys within reach for a puppy to chew on or get hurt.

Next, I focused on our current dog. I convinced him that when we are away from home, the dog is lonely. With another dog, they will keep each other company. When we are at home, a new puppy will occupy our dog while we take care of the housework and will not beg for all our attention.

You have to be prepared for what you will do with your pup if you go out of town. Plan ahead, make sure you have a backup plan, so when he asks “what are you going to do with it when we get out of town?” you can respond with “my mother/friend is going to take her away”.

Start being more diligent about cleaning up your current pets. Sweep around food bowl areas daily. Venture outside and “poop” more diligently. Not only will this make your husband happy that he’s not cutting poop with his lawn mower, but it will also convince him how serious you are about wanting a new puppy.

Also focus on your children, get their buy-in and commitment to take responsibility for helping to train and care for the puppy. Work at the angle that will help children learn more responsibilities and take responsibility for raising a new baby!

Last but not least, increase the attention you give your husband! You have to assure him that he is not going to take the back seat of a dog!

I found that in the end all of this worked with the help of a “Pretty Please!”