Question for mom's with large furbabies

oandmplus1 · October 2011

We have 2 dogs and 2 cats at home, all have done great with DD (other than lots of face licking). The dogs are both 65 pounds and very happy and friendly. I am not worried about the dogs hurting her on purpose. I just worry about them stepping on her or knocking her off by accident. She is learning to sit on her own, which so far I let her practice in my lap or with me right next to her on the floor. I have a baby gate on her room so I can either shut the dogs out or let them in as I please. I have been working on trying to get them to lay down calmly next to us while we play, but sometimes my excited sounding voice gets them excited too.

What do you all plan on doing with your large dogs when your LO starts learning to crawl. I know not to ever leave them alone together, but I hate to think I can't put DD down to play on the floor unless I am standing right over her. We have an open floor plan so the living, dining and kitchen area are all one big room. Should I buy a large pet gate to gate off an area for when DD will be playing on the floor?

Right now, we don't play on the floor as much as I would like because I basically only do it in her room. If I want to put her down when I need to do something near by she goes into a bouncy seet or jumperoo.

Thanks for any suggestions you have.

ele617 · October 2011

Our house has an open floor plan as well. I got one of those foam puzzle floors and set up a superyard around it to keep our two big doggies out of LO's face. It's not the most attractive setup, but it's worked really well for us so far.

lindsayj09 · October 2011

We have a 100 lb. dog that spends most of the time outside. We do let her in occasionally and will be doing so more as winter approaches. There is no gate to contain that beast, so she'll be in a separate part of the house when DS is on the floor. If I were you, I would do a pet gate, but only if you think the dogs won't jump over it. They make extra tall gates as well.

MomlovesEloise · October 2011

I'm definitely not an expert, but we have 3 large dogs. When she was still wobbly, we kept them separate unless the dogs were sleeping. We did a lot of training with them so they weren't alarmed if she fell back on them, pulled an ear or tail, or chased them. Once she started cruising, she'll play with their paws while they sleep. They'll walk by her calmly and maybe just give her a quick kiss. She'll beat her toys on them, pull rawhides out of their mouths, and if we don't keep an eye, she'll climb right on top of our mastiff.

We are also very careful with their interactions with each other. I'm not scared in the least that they'll bite her, but I'm more nervous that she'll get in the middle of their rough housing. So we made a rule when I was pregnant that all play is done outside. If they get testy about a bone, it gets put away. I also got their puppy crates down from the attic. If they are in her space or getting rowdy, I'll put them in there for an hour or so. They get at least an hour of exercise every day too, so they have attention.

But we never leave her alone with them. We are always within 5 feet of them. Accidents can happen in an instant.

ITGurl0626 · October 2011

lindsayj09:
We have a 100 lb. dog that spends most of the time outside. We do let her in occasionally and will be doing so more as winter approaches. There is no gate to contain that beast, so she'll be in a separate part of the house when DS is on the floor.

This exactly what I do.

oandmplus1 · October 2011

ele617:
Our house has an open floor plan as well. I got one of those foam puzzle floors and set up a superyard around it to keep our two big doggies out of LO's face. It's not the most attractive setup, but it's worked really well for us so far.

This was what I was thinking of doing. Was hoping there might be a better solution. I would keep my dogs in another part of the house as others have suggested, but they are very needy and would just bark and cry until they could be with us. I think this is probably our best bet with our floor plan.

Gatorney · October 2011

I've been trying to figure this out myself. We have one big dog and one little dog. Like PP said, I don't have any real concerns about them hurting her (other than the "you never know" type). I only put her on the floor when I am right there with her because the big one is likely to accidentally step on her and hurt her (he does it to us all the time). I'm honestly just planning to play it by ear - there isn't a whole lot of time for her to play on the floor in the mornings and evenings in any case, because we aren't awake/home long enough before her bed time. So the weekends/days off would be the time it will be an issue, and I think most of that time I will be down on the floor with her anyway, or I can just lock the fur children outside for a little while (weather permitting).

RMiranda09 · October 2011

We have FIVE dogs (three 40lbs and over) and had to install permanent swinging gates on both entrances to our kitchen and keep them in there while we're in the family room. At first they hated it and whined and barked, but now they're so used to it that they don't seem to mind. I keep beds in there and of course water and they're pretty content. This way I can let Jackson play on the floor and not have to worry about them knocking him over or getting hair all over his play area. They are allowed upstairs where the bedrooms are so we're going to have to figure out something different when he's actually crawling / walking around up there...

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Question for mom's with large furbabies

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