I’ve got something a little different for you today. Instead of my usual No Frown Friday, I’m changing things up a bit. (However, I may still have some linky goodness in store for you in the near future.)

This week, I have the pleasure of co-hosting Heart Like a Dog‘s Follow-Up Friday. It’s the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Let’s get to it! We’ll start with some quick hits on my posts this week, and then end with the great comments I received about whether you have to choose between having a dog or having kids. That post led to quite a bit of discussion!

Your Friday cute: Double or puffin?

Dawn dropped some education on us:

It actually started out as a busyness of ferrets and morphed into business.

Who knew?

Pamela helpfully provided me with a new board game to add to my wish list:

We have a board game that has players put down picture cards that make them think of a word or phrase. You get points when your picture card matches your partner’s. Anyway, the card set has a picture of a puffin. Somehow, every word in the game (justice, happiness, politics, equality etc.) makes both Mike and me think of puffins.

Where can I find this game?

Dance of the push button puppy

Apparently, I’m not the only one that loves these little guys. Jackie even identified another benefit of the push button puppy:

And look how easy it was for you to train your PBPuppy to sit, stand, and play dead!

It was definitely easier than training my non-push button puppies.

Caption this dog: Paging Mr. T

I always love the captions you guys come up with. You should go read them all (and add your own!). Tavish taking a nap on the letter T got the creative juices flowing!

Do you have to choose between having a dog and having kids?

After reading an article on Slate this week that got my blood boiling, I knew I just had to post about it. I was overwhelmed by the thoughtful and passionate responses that I received on this post. The conversation on that post and over on Facebook have given me a lot to think about – and perhaps another post or two.

Honestly, I can’t do justice to them all here, so I’d really recommend that you head over and check them out. It’s been an interesting and enlightening conversation. However, I did want to highlight a few comments in today’s post.

Taryn really hit on something in her comment (which also happened to be the first one on the post). She summed things up perfectly:

I think there are “dog-people” and people who have dogs. There is a big difference between the two. Dog-people need a dog in their lives whether they have kids or not. This need is so fundamental that they can innately balance the load of having both.

Pam shared her thoughts on this distinction. I really liked her take on parenting your dogs and children in an altogether way as opposed to an exclusive way:

When a couple has one child, and then has a second child, it is important that they show their first child no less love or care. Right? They may receive different love/care, but no less. The dog must be thought of the same way. If you bring a new baby home, your dog should receive no less love/care than s/he always did. For a “dog person”, this would be rather natural. Just like parents of two (or multiple) children figure out how to parent those children as equally as possible, a “dog person” parents their dogs and children in an altogether way, not an exclusive way. For a “person who has a dog”, it would be a concerted effort. They tend to care for their dogs and children in an exclusive way… one is exclusive of the other. Because they just don’t see their dogs as children… they see them as… well… “just dogs”.

also talked about this distinction, and raised another interesting point to consider:

I was raised by people who owned dogs, but I am 100% “dog person” Maybe it’s a generational thing…Maybe society’s attitude toward our pets has changed a lot since I was a child (too many years ago to mention)

Katie shared the link to a post that is pretty much the polar opposite of the infuriating one that inspired my post: Why Pet Dogs Are as Good as Kids (Maybe a Little Better).

In her comment, Sue made my heart smile as well with this simple statement:

I was raised to believe that the more one loves… the more one can love.

Pamela raised several good points that got me thinking (as always). Among them:

In the end, I suspect the author’s children will have a rougher time of it than her dog.

Yes, her dog is not getting the attention or affection he needs. But he’s fed and warm. And he’d probably find it stressful to leave the only home he’s ever known.

But those kids are being raised by a mother willing to say terrible things for money and who is feeling stressed enough by motherhood to write a dreadful article.

While I sincerely hope that the author is not as heartless as her article made her seem, I think Pamela’s probably on to something here.

Racheal really touched on what bothered me so much about the original post. I had the most trouble with the author’s offhand declaration that she just didn’t love her dog anymore after having a child. It just made me sad, and Racheal’s comment really touches on that issue:

Of course having a baby will make your life totally different, and unfortunately your pooch will most likely not receive as much attention as they used to. But that doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t love it as much.

I thought that Jessica‘s comment touched upon this issue as well, and I love the first line I’ve quoted below:

I joke though that I couldn’t possibly have children because Chester and Gretel would NOT approve. My relationship with them would certainly change but I feel like it is akin to having a second kid – you love then both just as much, just different. Heck, I feel the same way about Chester and Gretel right now!

Jackie was one of many who shared a positive story about dogs and kids:

My nieces and nephews also grew up with dogs when they were little – dogs that were there first. They all love dogs now, but only 1 of the 4 of them has a dog – because he is the only one who is financially in a position to have a dog at the moment. So, apparently they all learned about RESPONSIBLE dog ownership. What a concept!

I really liked what Jodi had to say about all of this (even though she admitted elsewhere that she’s currently wearing all the judgy pants):

All of my friends had dogs before they had kids and not a single one of them seems to be overwhelmed by it. Is it perfect every day? Hell no, but at the end of the night, when the kids are in bed, some of our favourite times are walking the dogs in the dusk and they all say their dog is the one constant of love and affection in an otherwise insane life. The idea that it can’t be done or that AB shouldn’t have to is simply offensive to me. I’m sad for Velvel, sad for the kids that will be raised in a home with the kind of person who can dismiss another living being in such a way and even sad for the woman who is clearly so ill suited for her life.

Erin also spoke about how life has changed for her – and her dogs – now that she has a daughter:

Are their lives exactly the same as before? No. They do not go to the dog park as often as they used to, though that’s as much a factor of me having a new job with a long commute as it is being new parents…. So yeah, they get a little less of our time. They get a little less of our attention. And their daily routines have changed. But never would it occur to us that our lives would be better without them. Just the opposite, no matter how much we love our daughter, our lives (and her life) would be so much emptier without the dogs. But then again, when I check on my daughter at night and see both dogs curled up with her, I can’t help but think it’s the most beautiful sight in the world.

Jen, another dog-loving mom (and the author of a fantastic post on this very subject) brought up a very important point:

I still think there is a message here that is overlooked. I think it’s a completely different situation when a baby is brought into a home where a dog already exists rather than a dog being brought into a home where a baby or child already exists. When I had my first child I wound up giving my dog to my parents. It wasn’t because I was a dog owner vs a dog person because I am totally a dog person, it was because I was overwhelmed being a first time mom and knew that my dog deserved more than I had to offer at that time. When I got my first dog I had no plans of becoming a mom in his lifetime but it happened. I don’t think my choices here made me a bad person but a responsible one.

If you know Jen from My Brown Newfies, you’ll agree with me that she’s definitely not a bad person. After reading her post on this subject, my already high regard for her shot up even higher.

Carrie talked about growing up on a farm, and may have shared one of my favorite parenthetical asides of the day:

while I was three until kindergarten, the dog was usually the only one who knew where I was

Over on Twitter, our pal Maggie Marton alerted me to an absolutely FANTASTIC post from Two Pitties in the City, entitled Pooches: On Dogs and Babies.

Whew. There were so many great comments on that post. I’ve barely scratched the surface here, but this post is already becoming the blogger version of War and Peace, so I’ll stop here. Stop by Tuesday’s post to read the rest and join the discussion about dogs and kids. There are also some brilliant comments on the posts that Jodi and Jen did on this issue. I’m loving these discussions!

Now it’s your turn! It’s a Follow-Up Friday blog hop hosted by I Still Want More Puppies and Heart Like a Dog, so please join us.

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