Those of you with pets, what's your pet strategy?

UndecidedChange · May 2011

I guess this is more geared towards people with dogs.

Are you leaving them with someone?

Are you leaving them in doggie day care?

Is someone staying at your place to dog sit? Someone coming in to feed/walk them?

A friend of mine has keys to my place and will take my dog with her to stay (they have two dogs and my dog and their dogs are besties) - and admittedly, she coming over to pick up our dog is one of the many reasons I'm obsessed with keeping the house clean, I don't want there to be a mess if we have to leave in a hurry and she come over (ha!), but now I'm worried that I want my dog to be at home when we come home from the hospital. I wonder if it makes a difference.

McAllie5 · May 2011

Cat is cool as a cucumber, dog is high strung. The hospital is 2 minutes away, so DH can stop in to check on them, and my parents will probably stay at the house with them. As far as coming home, I was wondering about how to introduce the new family member as well. I think as long as you show a firm hand with the pets and let them know how close they can or cannot get and that this new person is a human, they'll be fine. Our pets are pretty agreeable, though.

JasmineCapri · May 2011

Our dog Luna is staying with a neighbor while we're at the hospital- she hates to be left alone and will HOWL. DH will pick her up from the neighbor when we/or my mom gets back. I want Luna to be there when we get home.

jreese14 · May 2011

I have grandparents that live close by and are still pretty young, so we are lucky enough that they will come get our dog when we leave for the hospital and take him to their house. Then, when we leave the hospital they are going to bring him back to our house so that he is there when we get there. I have talked to the vet and pediatrician about this and both were on the same page, wether you bring baby home for the first time with the dog there or not, it needs to be the same experience for the dog. The dog will need to be welcomed by you and whoever else lives in the home while someone else takes the baby to another room, once he is calm and has seen everyone, then bring the baby out in their carrier and let the dog sniff around the carrier while you pet him and tell him what a good boy he is, maybe even offer treats.

Hope it helps

mizzmeg · May 2011

We have a pet lodge that Indy loves, so he is going there when we get admitted. Our next door neighbor will take him there once I call her to say that I wont be coming home. If I go at night, she will take him the next morning.

JasonKristen · May 2011

DH's grandparent are our neighbor's so they will be taking care of the dog while we are in the hospital. It is so nice that we won't have to worry about her while we are admitted!

Actually another thing that I heard you should do is send a blanket or something with the scent of the baby on it home early so the dog can get used to it.

AZ123 · May 2011

let your dog go have a doggie vaca away from the house. I don't think it matters much. The dog won't feel displaced or resentful when it comes home (unless it is some high strung dog as it is). if anything, the dog will wonder why it can't nap 22 hours a day and what is keeping it up at night with all that crying.

pinkpear · May 2011

FIL always takes care of our dog for us when we are away. We are very grateful to him but I think he secretly loves it. Those two are best buds. Plus it gives FIL something to do to feel useful to us for the baby. He is someone who always needs a "project" so that he feels like he is helping us.

PhunkeyMonkey · May 2011

We have a little boy pup who is very attached to us (and honestly people in general) so we're going to have him stay with family for a few days while we're at the hospital and probably for a few days after. I would prefer that when our pup comes home he is surrounded by the baby's smell and sounds. I want to make sure that we establish the pecking order early for him. Baby first. Dog second.

We have decided to get the dog a new present for the baby's arrival. Probably a new Kong filled with peanut butter or something similar. (I mean he was our FIRST baby!)

MrsD1 · May 2011

We are having some friends watch our dog while I'm at the hospital. We will either drop our dog off at their house when I go into labor or they will come by and pick her up.

kassinator · May 2011

my friend is picking up Lulu (my great dane) when she gets the labor call and then we will visit Lu after Autumn is born but shell probably stay with my friend for a few days so taht we can adjust.

rainfallki · May 2011

The hospital isn't far from home, so DH will be able to go by the house whenever he needs to. The ILs will also be staying there, so our dog will be taken care of.

DH will be bringing home a baby hat/blanket/something ahead of time so our pup can smell it and it will be somewhat familiar. We were told in our childbirth class that when it's time to come home with the baby, to have DH walk into the house first, holding the baby. Then I come in (no delay, just after DH) and pet the pup, calming her down a bit. After she's calmer (she's always SUPER excited when we get back home), I'm supposed to sit on the couch and DH hands the baby over to me and then he pets the pup.

I'm not sure of the why behind the order of things, but I couldn't see any flawed logic in it, so that's probably what we'll do.

MrsK09 · May 2011

My parents are keeping our 2 Jack Russells. We can't leave them in doggy day care/board them. They are both rescues and the one time we tried to leave them at the vet's boarding facility they were terrible the entire time they were there and they were a mess when we got them home. I think it must have reminded them of being abandoned at the pound, I think they thought we dumped them too. My parents will come and get them when I go into labor and keep them until a day or two after we come home. Our hospital is an hour away and so DH running home to care for them won't work (plus my parents LOVE and spoil them, so they don't mind!).

BrendaLou1969 · May 2011

We have three cats. We are bringing home a blanket with the baby smell on it and giving them lots of treats ON the blanket. That way they will associate the baby smell with something positive. My cats are pretty laid back however, so I'm not too worried.

theaustins05 · May 2011

Our house is a 15min drive from our hospital. DH will visit the house daily to take care of our dogs and cat.

MarJo03 · May 2011

My mom and step dad are going to take the pets to the doggy resort we use, and they'll be boarded for a week once I start laboring. It'll give Dh one less thing to worry about while we're at the hospital. Plus they're paying for all three dogs to be there for a week, so we can bring home LO and start adjusting without having to take care of 3 dogs and a cat on top of learning/adjusting to our first child. Then we'll slowly integrate the dogs into the house (1 dog 1 day at a time) with the oldest, calmest dog first (also how we have our pack hierarchy set up). The cat will just chill at home the hole time - she's an attention whore, but otherwise self sufficient.

heysupnatalie · May 2011

theaustins05:
Our house is a 15min drive from our hospital. DH will visit the house daily to take care of our dogs and cat.

This. I may possibly ask a friend to come let them out (3 dogs) because I know they don't want to be locked up all day in their crates. They are used to being out most of the day now because there is always someone home.

SLSeibert1 · May 2011

My younger cousin is going to come stay at the house while we are at the hospital to take care of the two pooches and parrot.

aimeecasey · May 2011

Our game plan is to leave our pup at home. The hospital is literally 3 minutes from our house so either DH or my mom will check on her. (She's super low maintenance) For coming home, we're going to send a blanket home early and rub it on some of the baby's stuff and leave it in her crib for the pup to get use to while we're still gone, then I'm going to come in first without the baby and greet the pup. (she's my dog and gets anxious if I'm gone for awhile) Then DH is going to bring the baby in for her to "meet". We've already been working on boundaries with her and baby's things and she's doing well leaving things alone that aren't hers.

kimberlymautz · May 2011

I live with my parents (temporarily) so leaving my dog isn't a problem for me. I have been told that the best way to introduce a dog to a new baby is to have someone leave with the dog (my dad will be taking ours to a nearby park) and then when the dog comes back in the baby will be there and it'll seem more like it's supposed to be there than having the baby coming into the dog's territory. Not sure if it'll do anything, but my dog has never been around babies before so we figured we'll try it.

PinkGirlInCali · May 2011

Once I was admitted to the hospital my sister came and picked up our pup and took him to a friends house who said she was more than happy to keep him a few days. One of the pet strategies I actually heard about regarding dogs and new babies is to have the dog outside of the home when you bring the baby in. That way when the dog returns and seed the baby there they will understand this new person is part of the home and did not need the pets permission to enter.

I think it made a big difference, in fact we didn't pick up our dog until the day after we returned from the hospital and although the baby seems to be wearing him out with his middle of the night crying I think he is adjusting alright.

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