Anyone have a big dog

JMarie1291

So I have a 100 lbs English mastiff who just turned 1. She is not done growing yet



Arghhh i wrote like 4 paragraphs and when I posted it....it all got deleted some how.... Im not retyping it now. Not sure how to delete post or I would sorry! ( it was about advice on having a big dog and baby on way, and how big dog keeps me up all night with her walking around the house and sounds like an elephant. I hope she doesn't keep baby up when he gets here. My husband lets her sleep in our room which is were baby will sleep first few months since im BF. So i want the dog kicked out of room. But he thinks thats unfair to dog... Anyone else have similar situations?)

kyraaD

i suggest going to a pet store & buying a large crate for the dog to sleep in at nights so he isn't walking around the house disturbing you & baby while you sleep.
the dog is young & not used to sleeping in a crate so it will take some training & patience, but being in 2nd tri, you have plenty of time to get your puppy used to it. good luck!

cmerribury

If your baby knows nothing other than the sounds of a dog walking around at night, odds are, he/she will be fine. I think "kicking the dog out" at night would be unfair and would likely cause other behavioral issues (whining, scratching, etc.) since the dog is used to being with you in your room at night. Mastiffs are extremely gentle with babies, and I'm sure that after the first few weeks, they will be existing in perfect harmony. 

Jules08

Adding on to what @cmerribury mentioned: when DS was itty bitty, he would often fall asleep in the swing, and I would vacuum right under the swing.  He never woke up from it and now is a great sleeper at night, we don't need to worry about keeping the house quiet.

JMarie1291

@cmerribury thats what im hoping for! Im at FTM (and not a huge fan of dogs, i told my husband she was cute... 3 days later he surprised me with her lol.) She is a great dog and I would hate for her to feel punished when baby gets here. I guess im over thinking the situation.

cmerribury

JMarie1291 said:

@cmerribury thats what im hoping for! Im at FTM (and not a huge fan of dogs, i told my husband she was cute... 3 days later he surprised me with her lol.) She is a great dog and I would hate for her to feel punished when baby gets here. I guess im over thinking the situation.

I wouldn't say you are overthinking it, it's good to be prepared, but odds are they will be fine together...most of the time, babies sleep through a lot, especially when very young. 

ETA: We are English Bulldog people, and nothing makes me happier than seeing my dogs and son interact. They are really protective of him, and super gentle. I was in love with my dog before my son came, but he's on a whole other level now...they are best buddies, and it's really sweet to see. 

Miss Lilac

Honestly, crate training is the best thing I've ever done for my dogs and myself. Not only do you know they're safe and comfy, but when you need a reprieve you can put them in there. I highly recommend it. If you look up crate games on YouTube it will give you a good idea of how to get her started with positive associations.

Kurtni

Getting a crate for our dog (who is little and just a wiggly sleeper) was the best thing we did for our sleep. We got her a nice bed and blanket. We put new toys in it and gave her treats for going in her crate throughout the day. After about a week, we shut her in at bedtime, gave her a treat and slept soundly. She was fine and puts herself to bed now, we don't even shut the door on her crate to keep her out of our bed. Dogs like having a "den".

Additionally, we never used the crate as punishment. It's just for sleeping and getting treats.

msdoyle

We have a 120 lb Rottweiler and he sleeps in his crate in our bedroom. I would recommend getting a crate and keeping your dog in the room. You have plenty of time to have your dog adjust to the crate but consistency is key! Large dogs are gentle giants with big hearts!

GoatSnakeMouse

Definitely recommend crate training. When your LO is up and running around, the dog will love having a safe place where s/he can go to be alone.

2-Step

Has you dog every been around children before? We've had two big dogs, one was here before kids and one we got after. Both have done really awesome and are our kids' best friends. Dogs generally have great instincts about kids being part of the pack. The exception is if you have a dog with neurotic tenancies or post traumatic stress of some kind. I have many friends with shepards, labs and large mutts and every single one of us has had a great transition with the dogs. My experience has been that small dogs are much harder to acclimate to children, nothing against them, they just get intimidated more easily with crying and babies grabbing them and tend to lash out more. LIke ppers said, your baby will get used to hearing the dog and it should be fine, but if you worry about it crate training is a great way to go. Our dog loves his crate and will sometimes just go in there and hang out with the door open when he wants a break from the chaos in the house. It's a nice place for him to relax without worrying about kids jumping around. As long as the dog is not a jumper and stays on the bedroom floor I don't see a reason to lock them out. We locked our cat out when we had our second son and it caused major behavioral issues and we ended up having to rehome him. That is a cat though and we all know they can be total jerks about jealousy!

JMarie1291

Thanks everyone! Looks like next week I'll look into crate training. (:

@2-Step we don't have small children of our own yet. She's been around toddlers and friends kids and does amazing! She's so big she won't even jump or run which is great. Im not to worried that there is going to be any issue introducing dog and baby.

Knottie59802221

I was actually wondering the same thing! We have a great dane, who is my husband's service dog so he has to remain at my husband's side. But OMG he is so noisy at night! He makes so much noise, crate or not, that I have a hard time sleeping myself. I ended up sleeping with headphones and soft music or well known movies in. I'm wondering not only how the baby's going to sleep but how in the world her crib, our bed, and the dog bed are all going to fit in the room!

kqualls5

We have 2 basset hounds (they're short but they weight about 90 lbs. they're big little dogs). Since they usually sleep in our bed we've just been kicking them off the bed and making them actually sleep on their dog beds on the floor. They're basically like children to us, so I wouldn't feel okay kicking them out of the room they've been sleeping in for a year. They're also kennel trained, so when they get annoying during cleaning time or dinner time, we put them in there (usually they go outside but I live in Oregon & it's rainy). I suggest kennel training 100%, just for your sanity. But make sure it's big enough that she'll be comfy in there!

ehowa499

We have a 140 lb English mastiff and a 90 lb lab/newf. The Mastiff was 11 months when DD was born. They are both awesome with her, very gentle and tolerant of her climbing on them, inspecting their faces, and her very enthusiastic hugs. Our only problem with the mastiff now is she is so food oriented she will take her snacks out of her hands, and will attack any food she drops on the floor. For such a lazy dog she moves fast, and we worry about her knocking over the high chair. Funny thing is, DD can take dog food out of the mastiffs bowl or mouth and she doesn't care. Sleep was never an issue when DD was tiny, and we have all hard floors. It is honestly harder now that she is a toddler, because of toddler behaviors and things. If your dog is good natured and well socialized don't worry about it too much!

ZoeyRaeJames

I have two Siberian Huskies, with the oldest being a Wolf/Husky Mix. The oldest howls off and on, and the youngest one barks. Even at night, the both do this. And in the bedroom at times. Thing is, the hubby and I wouldn't want it any other way! We prefer them to be in the room with us, after the baby is born. I don't think it would be right for your dog, if you kicked them out of the room. :-( It's where they're use to sleeping at night! And you don't want the whining, scratching at the door, and making worse kinds of noises, either. And chances are, since your LO "hears" your dog in the womb now, it won't bother them much after they are born because they're use to those noises and sounds already. Just like how they will recognize the voice of your SO, and of you, they will recognize the noises the dog makes and will adjust to them quickly!

sonoshark88

I LOVE English mastiffs! They usually get yo be huge! I have a 120 pound Italian mastiff, and I'm a little concerned how she's going to be too. She's almost 7 and has been an only child forever. I would suggest maybe getting her a nice comfy bed and putting it in another room for her to sleep, try to get her used to it. I read somewhere it's good for them to have a quiet comfy place she can go to when the baby's crying..and I'm sure the baby will get used to her walking around the house! Mine barks like crazy when people pull In the driveway or walk passed the house and I have no clue how were gonna handle that

surferP528

I am also a fan of crate training, but I would also recommend obedience training. We took our dogs to the classes at PetSmart, and they helped a great deal.  Our dogs are not perfect in any way, but they learned a lot and we learned how to control them better. Having a dog be able to truly sit and stay can be helpful when juggling a new baby and the doorbell rings or some similar situation.

mcklough

we have a 100 lb great Pyrenees and we rescued her and she didn't react well to crate training at all (I think she was previously kept in a crate for most of her life because there are signs that she was used as a breeder dog and not well cared for. She was picked up still lactating eating garbage after being dumped). She would NOT go in the crate and we had to force her and was terrified. Even her absolute favorite treats wouldn't make her go anywhere near it after the second day. It sounds like you have had yours since she's a puppy so she probably won't have such a strong reaction.

I just wanted to say that crate training isn't right for every dog, but it is good for them to have a "chill out" space. for our dog that is the back porch. She loves it out there and if she's bothering us we can just put her out there. I'm sure she may need to go out there if baby is having a fit and upsetting her too.

Simona doesn't sound like an elephant necessarily but she does sound like another human. I hear her on the stairs and frequently wonder if it's her or my DH. Her toenails are very noisy though and I anticipate that baby won't ever know any different. It's surprising what sounds or things we tune out when they happen regularly.

I would work on a command to get the dog out of your bed if you don't have one yet though. We have one and it works 90% of the time, and we need to continue working to get that to 99% or higher since if the baby is in the bed she shouldn't be climbing around.

fourtsixand2

JMarie1291 said:

So I have a 100 lbs English mastiff who just turned 1. She is not done growing yet



Arghhh i wrote like 4 paragraphs and when I posted it....it all got deleted some how.... Im not retyping it now. Not sure how to delete post or I would sorry! ( it was about advice on having a big dog and baby on way, and how big dog keeps me up all night with her walking around the house and sounds like an elephant. I hope she doesn't keep baby up when he gets here. My husband lets her sleep in our room which is were baby will sleep first few months since im BF. So i want the dog kicked out of room. But he thinks thats unfair to dog... Anyone else have similar situations?)

Popping in to the conversation a little late, but I have 3 dogs, 2 big Huskies and a medium sized mixed breed.  I consider myself lucky that they are generally very quiet, unless the doorbell rings or someone passes by he house and they notice, etc.  
Having all wood floors in the house, the biggest 'nuisance' is just the tapping of their toes on the floor all night and day.

But, I actually like the thought of having our infant around noises at all hours.  I think it will help them get accustomed to sleeping in different conditions and situations.

I do have to second the idea of crate training if needed and right for the dog.  Personally, it wouldn't work for me, simply because with my dogs being aged 4, 10 and 13, I'm not ready to change their lifestyle due to our lifestyle change.  We may invest in some good baby gates to gate off any areas we might want to restrict the dogs from going in, though, from time to time.

kitkatbird

As a professional dog trainer.... everyone else has already given good advice! Only thing I would add is, yes the dog isn't going to like either being crate trained or kicked out of the room but she will get used to it and one thing I've learned is that if it makes you happy and keeps your stress levels down then the dog will be happier than if you were frustrated with her all the time. She wouldn't know what she was doing wrong and could cause bad behaviors to crop up. I see this with my own dog when I'm stressed and having a bad day.

mybigfatgreekfetus

We have an 80lb Weimarainer and I couldn't imagine dealing with him without the crate at night! He sleeps in the crate next to our bed happily, and knows the command "Get in your house!" If we don't tell him to get in his crate he snuggles with my pregnancy pillow on our bed all night (too much dog for one bed!)

yodiggity

I have two big dogs. Not quite 100 lbs but a 65lb sharpei/lab mix and a 55 lb pit bull mix. The only "noise" concern I have is my sharpei barking at the neighbors she's seen every day, multiple times a day for the last 5 years. I'm banking on the theory that if baby knows nothing but random barks, maybe she'll be used to it. We're going to figure out a way to cover the windows but she can hear the neighbor's garage door opening from across the street while in a dead sleep so noise may not be a simple.

tdart14

165 lb saint Bernard here. I agree with the first posts. The baby would adjust to regular noises of the house.