When you become a mom for the first time, you might find yourself in certain situations that give you some sort of deja vu feeling. You'll wonder, "Wait, have I done this before?" even if this is your first child. Yeah, you're not alone in that feeling. In fact, you probably have done this before, just with your pet. Training your pet to behave in a particular way is very much like raising your baby. Sometimes, you may be baffled by the things each of them do, especially together. I mean, babies and pets just get each other so it's honestly not that far-fetched that they share some wonderful (and at times, difficult) similarities.
Over the last few years, I have realized how similar raising a baby and teaching a pet really, and truly, is. On more than a few occasions I've told my daughter, "That is not for eating," and, "We don't do that in the house," and, "We don't potty on the floor," only to realize that I've told my dog the exact same things. I guess, in the end, I really shouldn't be surprised how much my daughter and our dog understand each other. It turns out, right now, they're pretty much the same (although, my daughter is definitely cuter. Sorry dog.).
Of course, this isn't to say that having a pet is the same as having a baby. I mean, it isn't. However, their lives run pretty parallel to one another for at least a while, which is only made more obvious by the following moments when a baby and a pet simply got one another. I mean, if this doesn't scream "partner in crime," I'm not sure what does.