For those of you with a furbaby...

eklanger

I was playing youtube videos of babies crying to see what my dog's reaction would be to the noise.  He was mainly just curious what it was all about.  But has anyone else done this? Do you think it helped/will help? 

Also it makes me sad that some parents would just stand there with the camera and not pick up the crying baby.  I think it was harder for me than for the dog.  LOL.

sweetky_06

I haven't done it and don't plan on it. I think it depends on your dog's temperament. 

I think my dog's reaction will depend on the time of day, as odd as that may sound. If it's a time he's normally sleeping himself, he'll just sleep or retreat back into his room where his bed is, which is DH's home office (which we have no reason to be in with our LO). If it's a time he's normally hanging out with us, he'll probably want to follow us around and figure out what is making all of that noise!

As far as the cats go - I think one will run and hide and the other one will just go about his normal business. 

SoonToBeMsP

We haven't done it and don't plan to, either. 

Our dogs have very different personalities but I have a feeling they will react in similar ways. I imagine they'll both be very interested in why the baby is crying and make sure that DH and I are both doing everything in our power to "fix it". Just the other day a baby was crying across the street and Macintosh (the male) stood and stared until the crying stopped.

We've pretty much trained them to stay on the level we're on, so I know they'll continue to shadow us, and I know they'll continue to sleep near us since their world revolves around us... So I didn't feel the need to prep them for the crying. 

theladyjess

A lot of dog trainers recommend playing sounds of a crying baby, softly at first and slowly getting louder, to help dogs get used to it.  The aslo recommend the same thing if you have a dog that's afriad of thunderstorms or fireworks.  It's a very common training technique.

It's also recommended that you bring something the baby has worn or been wrapped up in home for the dog(s) to smell before baby comes home.  This way the dog(s) are used to the smell of baby and adjust better when baby actually comes home.  We did this when I visited my friend in CO and when she brought her son home her dog and mine sniffed at him for a moment and then went about their business.

 

SoonToBeMsP

theladyjess:

It's also recommended that you bring something the baby has worn or been wrapped up in home for the dog(s) to smell before baby comes home.  This way the dog(s) are used to the smell of baby and adjust better when baby actually comes home.  

We will definitely be doing this. DH will bring a piece of article home each day so they can smell her (and get some scent of me, too).  

fyrefairie

Haven't done this...DHs cousin had a baby in July and when she brought him by we let the dogs (closely supervised) check things out...(cousin was fine with this has dogs at home)  baby was sleeping and didn't cry during her visit but the dogs sniffed him for a moment and then quickly lost interest. 

bigbear

Yup that definitely helps.

Our dog has fear aggression from being attacked 5 times and then also being teased by two boys when he was a pup so he's not too friendly with other people and dogs. We played the baby crying videos, first low volume and then kept increasing it and he's completely numb to it now. He used to bark every time he'd hear it. So it definitely makes a difference!

We also keep saying "baby" and "Zoe" and "gentle". They pick up on those things very quickly

erineileen317

I tried it one afternoon.  My two dogs are very different, the big one is very mellow and the smaller one is a typical alert hound.  I was definitely more worried/curious how my hound would react, considering she howls like someone is breaking in every time a leaf blows through the yard.  I'm still not sure if this was a good gage or not, but they were both sleeping and the mellow one didn't even look up (had it on full volume) and the hound picked up and cocked her head, but seemed more curious than anything and then went back to sleep.  I hope this is what I can expect in the future.  I'm really not looking forward to her freaking out every time the baby cries.

Tracilaroo

I haven't done this because I think my cat won't give a single ****.  My guess is that she will sniff the baby and then go about her very important business. I do assume that she'll be sleeping with the baby once she's in her crib though since she loves a good snuggle buddy and she has already claimed the crib, pack 'n play, glider and changing table as her own. 

I think dogs are different though and I don't think it can hurt to get them used to the new sounds. I have played the mobile and stuff around the cat and at first she was like "wtf" but after about 5 seconds when she saw where it was coming from she didn't care.  

lisac1017

We did this - I had my rottie/lab mix listen to lots of different baby sounds/cries/screams from youtube while prepping him for LO.  He's not great with kids or unfamiliar things (we rescued him as an adult) so we also had a behaviorist work with us. 

We've been home with LO for 3 days and he's done great, except when the crying gets too intense he gets "concerned" so we put him behind the gate whenever we are waking LO up or doing anything that may elicit some real crying.  So, as much as you can listen to them on youtube, it's a totally different situation when its his Mom being screamed at by a live thing in his own living room. 

Also, we tried having him smell a blanket of LO's before bringing him in the house but he was too excited to see me to even care about the blanket.  Unfortunately, we were unable to have a friend do this earlier for us. 

Good luck with both your babies.