Preparing my dogs for a newborn

ellie1788

Hi,

I'm currently 21 weeks pregnant and have two Dogs, I love them both to bits but i'm worried about how they might act around or react to the baby.

This is the first baby in the family and neither have ever been around children much. We have a 4 year old rescue dog ( had him since he was 16 weeks) who is a cross breed and a 3 yr old Hungarian vizsla, they can both be quite lively and are both medium to large in size, neither have ever been aggressive, just ovely playful.

Does anyone have any suggestions about getting them prepared for the baby?

Sally_A

When you bring the baby home, it will smell of you, so should be accepted - let the dogs have a good sniff but be in control (suggest cover the head, but let them have a good sniff of the rest) - my dog tugged on the feet of the baby's romper suit, not in a bitey way, but a curious way.

Don't disregard the dogs in preference to your baby, jealousy and ostracisation are the worst feelings for a dog, and can lead to repercussions.

The health visitor may disapprove, usually because of what they have been taught to preach, and not what they really think.

Mind out when the child is a bit older, say 18m-2yrs, as this is when they start pulling tails, winding up the dogs, and pushing all bounderies.

Good luck, and well done for pre-planning for the dogs.

ellie1788

Thank you!

They have been less jumpy (on me at least) since iv been pregnant, so i think they know at least a little.

I'm going to try and introduce things like the pram sooner to give them time to get used to it all, i'm just hopeing they will be ok with it all.

the older dog has experianced toddlers ( small cousins and family friends children) and he was fine, let himself be lead around by the collar by a 3 year old at a party all evening once. But the younger dog has never even met a small person, so im more worried about him, im sure they will be ok, probably be more interested in stealing her toys than in her.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Never mind 18 months - there is trouble almost as soon as the little one is sitting upright. I am thinking of one spoon of yoghurt for herself, one for the cat sitting on the sofa next to the high chair and then one for the dog waiting patiently underneath, repeated until you realise why the yoghurts go so quickly.


Get the dogs used to eating their dinner undisturbed in the kitchen the other side of a baby gate.

And it's unfair on the dogs to have to sit there as a nine month old baby steals their kibble or starts examining their teeth.

(very funny to watch, but certainly not approved of by many people)


I was a good mother, honest.

:whistle:

Sally_A

You should be fine, as you seem to have a good attitude towards the dogs feelings.

Only recommendation I can say, is that if the dogs are boisterous in the home now, maybe start making the house a relaxed place, and leave boisterousness to the field. That way they are less likely to become over excitable and snappy in the house.

Edit: Jojo, you forget to mention that bonios are a great teething aid ;-)

Person_one

When you start buying things like car seats and buggies and moses baskets let the dogs have a good look at them and a sniff of them with no baby in.

These objects are weird and new to the dogs, leave them lying around so they start getting used to them before they have a squirming gurgling weird pink thing in them to complicate matters!

If you haven't already, try to train really solid 'stay' and 'drop' commands, they'll come in really really handy. The baby will inevitably drop toys, bottles, dummies etc. and the last thing you want to have to do is wrestle a dirty nappy from a dog who took it off the changing mat for a snack. Trust me on this.

Fosterdog

I agree with adding things like baby gates, prams, bouncers etc. as soon as possible so the dogs are used to them and when the time comes there's only one new thing in their lives. It will also give you time to teach a good "leave it" command around the baby's things. If they are already taught to ignore these things then it will be easier to stick to once the baby is in them.

The gates are better to introduce now so the dogs won't feel like they are being punished by being shut away, if they see it more as a time they get a special toy or treat (filled kong maybe) they will be happy to take themselves off to the other room and be shut away.

It may also be worth setting a radio to go on and of for short periods through the night to get them used to life in the house at all hours, again it will make it easier to adjust to night time feeds etc.

I'm sure you can get CDs/MP3s with baby sounds too so they can get used to the type of noises that will be around.

As long as they are still treated as part of the family most dogs cope surprisingly well with a new addition. Don't forget the baby won't do much more than eat, sleep and fill nappys for the first few weeks and all new things baby does will come in stages that the dogs will have chance to adapt to (as will you). It's not as if overnight there will suddenly be a toddle tearing around the house by that stage the dogs will be well used to the little one being a part of their lives.

pawsies

I would in addition start training the dogs to walk alongside the pram nicely. It's so much easier to teach without baby.
You could put a doll in there to simulate what it would be like and every so often lean into pram and pick doll up so dogs learn to understand what might happen.

Glad you're not giving up on the dogs though, some people would.

zaksmum

When my first grandson was brought to my house, we let the dog go over and have a sniff. All was fine till the baby whimpered...the dog's ears shot up and his fur too, all along his back.

He ran upstairs to hide.

next time the baby came he had another sniff, positioned himself next to the moses basket and fell in love with my grandson from that moment on.

They adored each other and my grandson was devastated when my dog passed away when my grandson was 9.

Person_one

pawsies wrote: »

I would in addition start training the dogs to walk alongside the pram nicely. It's so much easier to teach without baby.
You could put a doll in there to simulate what it would be like and every so often lean into pram and pick doll up so dogs learn to understand what might happen.

Glad you're not giving up on the dogs though, some people would.

This is great advice, but be prepared for some funny looks while you actually carry it out!

GracieP

Yeah, I did the pram thing when we first got it and got a lot of ribbing for it. That said my dogs surprised me at how great they were with the pram (one of my dogs is missing a leg and I thought we would have problems setting a pace that suited him) and I might have looked a bit deranged but the fact that I am now confident about our near-future walks was worth it.

The best bit of advice I have, which I am unfortunately not able to follow, is that if you have someone nearby who can walk your dogs, arrange for them to take the dogs on a big long walk on the day you bring the baby home. That way the dogs will be a little tired and nicely chilled out when you arrive home.