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3rd Trimester
Introducing dog to baby?
How are you introducting the LO and your dog when you come home from the hospital? Any advice?
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Re: Introducing dog to baby?
LOL. We just started doing this with our dogs and they think it is a toy!! And they also give us the "You are crazy" look! We will need to try something else. Our main issue is our bigger dog barks when he hears babies cry on tv, so we need to get him used to the sound!
Any suggestions on that??
We will bring the baby in and let the dogs sniff him while he is still in his carrier. We didn't do anything to prepare ahead with my daughter and everything went fine. Even my mom's crazy chihuahua did fine with her.
you want to start now doing any changes in their behavior, if they sleep in bed with you now or are allowed on the couch and won't be allowed when the baby comes then you need to start breaking this habit now.
when you introduce the blanket or onesie with the baby's smell praise them with words, so they associate it with good things! Try not to use food caues you don't want them to associate the baby with getting food.
if you have more then one dog introduce them seperately when you bring baby home, start with your alpha, and remember to praise good behavior with words, if they lick, nip, or do any thing you don't want them to do with baby, you want to quickly say "no" and put them in a sit stay or take them out of the room for a min. and then try again until they give the right behavior.
Just be smart, you know your dogs, if you have a mischivious dog don't leave them alone with baby, If you have a lab with a crazy tale don't leave baby at tale level where it can get hit.
O and some male dogs will pee on baby's things maybe even on baby when in a carrier or bouncer, i've never really heard why, maybe territoy, but to me this means they are still offened by the smell of the baby. You need to change their thinking that the baby is a good thing/smell, praise them when the smell a blanket and don't pee, or you walk them past the crib and they don't pee.
GL sorry so long but I hope it all helps
I have been told that you should have the dog in the house when the baby comes home. You and your husband take turns going in to say a huge hello to the dog as a way of saying "we love you just as much as before", and then you bring the dog to where the baby is and then bring them into the house together. We will keep our pup on his leash and let him sniff the baby - he is learning the word gentle with our nieces/nephews and infants of our friends. We have been working on teaching him that people of different sizes need to be treated differently, and that if he reacts as we want, he is rewarded. (he still acts like a puppy and is very jumpy and playful, so we knew we had to start early)
We have also gotten travel size bottles of baby powder/lotion etc. and put it on us for him to sniff. This way he learns the smell a little and gets used to it being on us. (unfortunately he won't smell it on the baby ahead of time, but there is obviously no way to do that.
We are planning to bring home a hat from the hospital that the baby has worn - we were told to use the 2nd one, as the 1st one goes on before the baby is cleaned fully - so the smell will be different. My husband will bring it to the baby while I am still in the hospital with the baby so he can sniff it, and we will teach him to be "gentle" when smelling it.
Just be careful and don't make a mistake I did yesterday - it isn't a big deal, but I wouldn't do it again. We bought an outfit that came with a bib - and we didn't realize the big has a squeaker in it - my dog loves squeaky toys - so when I was holding it, it squeaked and in less than 2 seconds the dog was next to me wanting to play with it. Luckily he listened to the "gentle" cue, but I think we will avoid that bib until he gets used to the baby being home some. Ease him into the noisey toys so that he doesn't think they are his. It was kind of funny at the time to see his reaction, but we also learned a lesson from it!
Good luck!
I bought a great crying baby for $12 at Toys R Us called "You and Me" and yesterday was the first day that we had teh doll out. Dog looked as us shocked and confused as to what that noise was (he's a 7 mo puppy). We will start carrying it around more in the house, etc.
Other rec's:
Have DH bring home something baby wore for dog to sleep with BEFORE you com home
When you come home, have DH carry baby -- dog will be so excited to see YOU that if you carry baby it will be harder to greet dog without getting anxious
Walk dog with empty stroller around neighborhood to get used to stroller, etc
Bathe in the bbay's shampoo so dog gets used to the new smell before baby comes
Wipe baby doll with diaper wipes so dog gets used to new smell, etc