That Bro Life: Raising a Dog and a Toddler

“No. Gentle. Sit. Gentle. Stop it. Don’t snatch. No. Be nice.”….rinse and repeat.

This is what you’ll hear me saying to my two minions Milo and Kiaan all day, every day. One eye on my dog sneaking the toddler’s toys away and the other on my toddler getting ready to pull the dog’s tail. I feel like some kind of “mom ninja gymnast” ready to pounce and protect whoever needs it most. To anyone who may see my home and family might think it’s crazy and chaotic and it’s true. It is crazy and it is chaotic but I wouldn’t have it any other way because it is my crazy, my chaos, and most importantly, my happiness. 

I love telling the story of how my little family came to be. So grab a snack or a cup of coffee and read on.

I am a crazy dog lady. This was made very clear to my husband when we started dating. After many, many years of sending him cute dog (read: “this is why we have to get a dog”) memes, visiting pet stores to stare longingly at puppies and predicting what our future dog’s name would be; we were finally in a place in our lives where we could possibly get a dog. But then there’s a twist in the story: I am 8 weeks pregnant. With a human baby. So what should we do?

We should get a puppy too. And we did. I researched for weeks to see where we were going to bring home our new family member from and finally settled on a place: Facebook. Yes, I met Milo on Facebook. Milo was part of a litter born up north in Chiang Mai and I found his owner on Facebook. We exchanged a few messages and photos of the whole littler until I saw Milo and that was it: this furry little thing on my screen stole my heart and I knew it was meant to be. Christmas morning 2016 Milo is put on a flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and I am a nervous wreck as we’re on the way to the airport to pick him up hoping he’s ok and that we’ll know what to do with this sweet, innocent thing we’ve brought into our lives.

And just like a newborn baby, we loved and cared for this 8-week old puppy who captured our hearts in a way I cannot explain. It was a surreal experience being pregnant while also having to bring up a puppy: my maternal instincts were in overdrive!

I got all kinds of questions and comments and concerns about my choice to get a dog while newly pregnant because if you think about it…it is a bit crazy. But it’s my kinda crazy! Milo isn’t just ” a dog”, he’s my first born. When Milo’s little brother Kiaan arrived in August 2017 I became a mom of two. I was adamant that the two get to know each other and get along from day one. Milo was allowed near Kiaan with supervision. I also let him lick Kiaan’s teensy toes and inspect baby bro’s bath times. I used the phrase “Check baby” with Milo since the day Kiaan came home and now anytime Kiaan cries or I say “Check baby”, Milo is the first responder on scene. Vice versa with Kiaan, I’ll always ask “Where’s Milo?” and sure enough his little eyes dart around wondering where big bro is.

For Kiaan’s first few months he was too small to interact much with Milo apart from the odd sniff here and there — a baby lying down is not very interesting (to anyone to be perfectly honest). But once Kiaan was about 4-5 months and sitting up a bit, Milo started playing with him with small sneaky licks on his face and toes. Then they both shared playmat time with their respective toy boxes but insisted on stealing from one another. When Kiaan was 7-8 months old and started crawling, guess who he crawled like? His big bro Milo! No knees and just what I call “puppy crawling” all over the place. On Kiaan’s first birthday, Milo was there to help him blow out candles and try cake with his little bro for the first time (it was a fail!).

Raising a toddler and a dog together requires consistency, patience, lots of love and a sense of humour. It’s not easy but it’s also not hard; it’s fun and funny if you let it be. Now that Kiaan and Milo are both older, they understand they’re brothers and have their own bond. There are also days where they both drive me bananas but seeing them grow up together and wreak havoc in my house is a dream come true.

Watch these two hilarious hooligans on my Instagram Story highlights under “That Bro Life” by clicking to my Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/ankitasodhia/.

Note: I fully understand everyone feels differently on the topic of dogs / babies / pregnancy. This is just my story and by no means am I saying I’m right. I’m just sharing my experience. That’s all.