If you have an outside baby -- how are the dogs/other pets responding?
If you are (like me) still waiting -- are you doing anything to prepare them?
Our puppy boy is very much our first baby, and I really want him and LO to be good friends once she is old enough. He's good with other people's kids (though I know never to trust ANY dog alone with a baby) but I do want to set him up for success with LO. Any advice?
Re: people with dogs/other pets
We are letting Cooper around all our baby things. We run the swing and leave some things out for him to smell. He really wants to eat the stuffed animals, but is doing pretty well about just sniffing them.
We plan for the Mr. to bring home a receiving blanket that we will wrap the baby in so Cooper can get his/her smell before we come home. Then we'll have the pup meet the baby outside of the house before going in, so it's on neutral ground.
We also make sure he's around little kids as much as possible (he's really great with young kids, which is good). I'm just concerned about him getting jealous. The Mr. is going to make sure to walk and play with him every day. I had asked our vet for pointers and she said to be a little lenient on rules the first two weeks or so since there is so much changing so quickly. She also said to make sure he has things that are constant every day, such as meal times and even a few minutes of play time. So that is what we are planning to do. Hopefully it helps!
We are doing similar things! Our vet told us to give the little guy less attention before the baby came but that has been nearly impossible... he is just too cute. Another tip she has was to give our pup lots of positive reinforcement when the baby was around... I hope he will like our new addition. He seems to like kids in general.
What sort of dog do you have? I think that is a huge factor in how things will go. What's his personality like? Do you have a solid handle on training/routine at home? How does he normally handle change?
I feel like our dog will do really well, because we've established a nice, solid set of rules in the house. Buddy knows what's expected of him and knows what he's allowed in return. He's really great with commands related to calling him off of things he wants, and once he's told he can't have something, he leaves it alone. I think these sort of things go a LONG way in helping out when it comes to introducing change to your dog's environment.
I think one problem people tend to get in to when a situation like this arises with pets is getting too caught up in any emotional aspects of it, and ignoring training. Yes, you DEFINITELY want to try and give your dog as much attention as you gave him before, if not more. However, if you normally have rules set in your home (no jumping on the furniture, no begging at meals, etc) this is not the time to go back on them. Adding a new family member to your home is a major upset in your dog's daily routine, and this is prime time for him to start testing boundaries. If you give in here & there, you're not doing your dog any favors. All they see is that baby in the house = I get to get away with murder!
This might just be mildly annoying at first, but can escalate to real problems if you don't keep a firm handle on the rules in your home. If your dog is doing something you won't want him doing in a few months, don't let him do it. However, if you decide there are things you CAN let him get away with that you didn't previously, it's your own decision to be more lax. Just remember that if you let up on one rule, it can be a slippery slope leading to others, and it's important to have a well behaved dog when you have children, more than ever.
A good think to keep in mind is that dogs are not children. They're not going to look at the attention you give your baby and think about the time when they were an "only child". They're not going to take such an emotional approach to things, and you should try your best not to, either.
we have 2 big dogs and 3 cats.
DH brought hospital blanket home like PP said ....our younger (read:crazy) dog just snuggled with it
when we brought DD home, I came in to see the dogs first since it had been a few days....then we brough the baby in her carrier and held it on the table so then could sniff around, but not reach her
both the dogs have been amazing..our younger dog is actually protective of her and has been barking at guests when they get too close..we're working on this already with her..but they are both very gentle around the baby...mostly they just like to sniff her feet and make sure she's okay after she's been crying
the cats could care less....we just make sure to keep the nursery room door closed if we're not in there with her..we don't want them trying to snuggle with her while she's in her crib
We were just told to bring a piece of clothing or receiving blanket home ahead of time and then have H bring baby in so dog can properly greet me.
Our dog has already made herself at home on the new rug in the nursery and has sniffed everything. She sleeps about 23 hours a day and even though she is tall enough to put her head into the pack n play I am sure the worst she would do is give the baby a sloppy kiss. She is extremely obedient but although she is almost 6 and we have had her since she was a puppy we wouldn't leave her alone with the baby even though we know she wouldn't hurt her. An animal is an animal and you never know.
We have a young boxer, DH brought two blankets back from the hospital for her, when we got home I took the pup to go to the bathroom and made a fuss of her before DD came in with DH, she was still in her car seat. Pup said hi to her and all is good, she likes to check on the baby and if DD has been crying a lot she has to see that shes ok.
We have worked on having a well behaved dog since we got our pup so we didn't do much to prepare. We have friends with kids so shes been around them a lot too.
We have a cat and a dog (Catahoula) at home and have been doing minimal prep-work. Both are good around H's niece (dog was around niece at birth - 3, and now sporadically from 3-5 when she comes to visit) and the cat just ignores the baby stuff, although she thinks the crib makes a fun hiding place (under, not in).
With the dog we've been working a lot on stay, leave it, and wait to make things easier when the baby comes. We're planning on having H or my dad (he's watching the dog while I'm at the hospital) bring home a blanket so both animals can sniff it.
The plan for coming home is to leave LO in the car (AC on of course) while H lets out the dog and greets her, then I'll get out and greet her, then I'll carry the LO around her so she can smell her and see her. Katie doesn't jump so we're hoping the worst part will be the barking.
House / Baby blog
DD1, Kathleen 9/15/2007
No issue here. But then again, when I went to the shelter to pick out a cat, I wanted to find the most easy going cat there.
I picked up all the cats, turned them upside down, pulled their tails, poked them, grabbed their paws and their mouths (pretty much all things that a small child would do to an animal). Our cat was one of two that just laid there, purred, and took it.
The cat will sniff Corinne and will sit in her bassinet when she's not in there. But, I tried laying down Corinne next to the cat, and the cat got up and left.
We brought a blanket of Corinne's home from the NICU and put it on the floor for the cat to sniff before she came home. Each day, we find time to play with the cat, and don't freak out when the cat comes up to Corinne and sniffs her. If I'm holding the baby, and the cat walks across my lap, I'll reach out and pet the cat.
BFP #3 via cancelled IUI ~ C (2lb 3oz; HELLP) 5/16/11
BFP #4 via the natural (free!) way ~ E (8lb 11oz) 9/13/12