For those of you who treat your dog like your child..

fennyann · August 2012

i have a 2 year old yorkie poo and she is my baby...but i am so worried about how she is going to be when the baby is here! she is spoiled rotten, we take her everywhere and she sleeps with us every night. i have been trying to get her familiar with baby scents and showing stuff in our babys nursery..and of course she thinks all this stuff is hers. haha. are any of you in the same position? not quite sure what to do with her. my mom seems to think that its only going to cause problems and that we should get rid of her...but i cant!

Jenelle101 · August 2012

Don't get rid of her!! I must admit that my "baby" (australian cattle dog) was no longer my baby once DD was born. She definitely came second. But she has become DD's best friend. It's so sweet.

Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure it will work out!

Tiffany0416 · August 2012

We have two furbabies and I was very worried but after seeing them around my niece I am no longer worried. It may take some time for your yorkie poo to get used to your LO but it should be fine. Just be consistant with displine and boundries. There is no reason to get rid of the furbaby.

ssmb_clarinet · August 2012

I would seriously side eye someone who got rid of a dog just because she was going to have a baby before seeing how the dog reacts to the baby. Most dogs do just fine with a new addition to the family, especially if they have not shown any aggression or territorial behaviors in the past. Dogs are pretty good at sensing human feelings and I am sure she will be able to tell that your baby is part of the family and not a threat. If she does react negatively, she may need some training to adjust properly. IMO all dogs should have some basic training anyway and should be treated as dogs, not kids. They need to be taught boundaries and just like with a toddler, the word "no" needs to be heard. If there is something she does now that you know will interfere when baby comes, start to change the behavior now before baby gets here because training a dog while taking care of a newborn sounds like a recipe for disaster! Good luck!

jenaliat · August 2012

We have been trying to think of ways to help our yorkie adjust to having a baby in the house soon. One thing I have been doing is asking her "Where is Emily?" and taking her into the nursery. (When we ask her where mommy or daddy is she goes to find us.) I have a life like doll from when I was a little girl that I have been taking out of the crib and sitting with, letting my pup sniff and check it all out. She has done well with other babies/kids at our house and she doesn't do anything but lick.

Good luck!

mben1119 · August 2012

Even contemplating getting rid of an animal just because you are having a baby is irresponsible as a pet owner. You have to give your dog a chance to succeed, like most dogs around children do.

baseballcr8zd · August 2012

Don't get rid of her!!!! What we did was H brought home one of the hospital blankets that DS had been swaddled in. He hung the blanket over the railing of the crib and let the dogs sniff it. We actually have cute pics of them sniffing the blanket. The day I got home we brought the dogs into the nursery seperately and introduced them to the baby. They both tried to lick him but other than that there were no problems.

Our dogs are fairly large, 40 and 84 lbs...and they are now my son's BFFs. Our big guy is super protective of him and our smaller one lays in his room next to his crib at night. Now that DS is walking he chases them around and throws a tennis ball to them, it's really cute.

fennyann · August 2012

mabenner1:
Even contemplating getting rid of an animal just because you are having a baby is irresponsible as a pet owner. You have to give your dog a chance to succeed, like most dogs around children do.

i never said that i was giving up the dog. i never wanted to give up the dog. this was just my mothers wonderful idea. guess it could have been phrased better.

phq2011 · August 2012

Our vet recommended spending a little less time with our furbaby. She is a bit jealous but getting used to it. We got her a new bed and a toy that she loves. I think she will adjust well. Talk to your vet, they usually have good advice.

526SadieSadie · August 2012

My dog absolutely adores the baby. She has her needy moments and there was a period of her being a little naughty when I wasn't giving her the attention she was used to but I never considered giving her up for a second. She's a part of the family and always will be.

Have patience, be consistant. Don't forbid your dog from being near the baby or she will resent the baby and get super jealous.

Olivia slept in her crib from the beginning so Baylie never lost her spot on the bed between DH and me.

People raise children and dogs together all the time, you'll figure it out!

akrajny · August 2012

We are actually getting rid of one of our doggies this weekend We have 2 dogs, one was DH's and one was mine before we met, but of course they are now both our babies!

"His" dog is getting old and has started this nipping/biting and it made me nervous with a baby on the way. But there was no way I could tell him to get rid of him and not the other dog. We tried lots of stuff - training, changing his food, walking him more, but he still continued to nip at people. Don't get me wrong, he's a very lovable dog but he's stubborn and my husband never really had to discipline him or tell him what to do so he's used to having things his way. A lot of times his biting came when people accidently stepped on him, which is fine, but not for when theres about to be a child in the house that could fall right on top of him or pull his ears! And then he started nipping when we tried discipling him because wouldn't listen, or just nipping for no apparent reason!

The final straw came when our friends brought their 1 y/o twins over and he nipped at both of them. That's when my husband realized it would not be a good fit for a home with a baby and made his first decision as a father to get rid of him. We found him a wonderful home with a cancer survivor so we know its going to be a great fit for him where he can get 1-on-1 attention he needs and this lady can have the companion she was looking for.

(Of course my MIL has never seen this side of the dog and thinks my DH is making a huge mistake, and basically is blaming me for it..thats another story though..you would think she would be telling us to get rid of him and be worried about her future grandson, but instead shes very unsupportive to him...grrr!)

Our other dog needs attention all the time and I'm worried about her adjusting to the baby due to the lack of attention she will get but the vet says all dogs get used to it, its an adjustment they make.

So as long as your dog doesn't have aggression issues and you're not worried about her harming your child, don't get rid of her! I'm sure it will take some adjusting and she may act out for attention, but she will eventually adjust. Another suggestion is if you have friends with kids, have them over just to see how your dog reacts.

Good luck!

g8trkim · August 2012

Dogs adapt. Everything will likely be just fine. It's normal for her to act a little weird at first but in time she will get used to the baby. Our dogs were definitely like our babies but as soon as DS came home they realized he was a new member of the family and eventually grew to love him. In fact, they are very gentles and protective with him (and I have two large dogs). You may want to try to break her of the sleeping in bed with you thing just because if you have baby on the bed to changes clothes/diapers or nurse she may feel territorial. I don't see any reason to get rid of her unless she totally freaks out and tries to attack the baby.

corgilove22 · August 2012

akrajny:
We are actually getting rid of one of our doggies this weekend We have 2 dogs, one was DH's and one was mine before we met, but of course they are now both our babies!

"His" dog is getting old and has started this nipping/biting and it made me nervous with a baby on the way. But there was no way I could tell him to get rid of him and not the other dog. We tried lots of stuff - training, changing his food, walking him more, but he still continued to nip at people. Don't get me wrong, he's a very lovable dog but he's stubborn and my husband never really had to discipline him or tell him what to do so he's used to having things his way. A lot of times his biting came when people accidently stepped on him, which is fine, but not for when theres about to be a child in the house that could fall right on top of him or pull his ears! And then he started nipping when we tried discipling him because wouldn't listen, or just nipping for no apparent reason!

The final straw came when our friends brought their 1 y/o twins over and he nipped at both of them. That's when my husband realized it would not be a good fit for a home with a baby and made his first decision as a father to get rid of him. We found him a wonderful home with a cancer survivor so we know its going to be a great fit for him where he can get 1-on-1 attention he needs and this lady can have the companion she was looking for.
(Of course my MIL has never seen this side of the dog and thinks my DH is making a huge mistake, and basically is blaming me for it..thats another story though..you would think she would be telling us to get rid of him and be worried about her future grandson, but instead shes very unsupportive to him...grrr!)

Our other dog needs attention all the time and I'm worried about her adjusting to the baby due to the lack of attention she will get but the vet says all dogs get used to it, its an adjustment they make.

So as long as your dog doesn't have aggression issues and you're not worried about her harming your child, don't get rid of her! I'm sure it will take some adjusting and she may act out for attention, but she will eventually adjust. Another suggestion is if you have friends with kids, have them over just to see how your dog reacts.

Good luck!

In each of the situations you just described the dog was warning you that he was uncomfortable. As a parent you should watch to make sure your kid isn't climbing on, falling on, pulling on, the dog. What you just described was in no way aggression but instead it is the only way your dog can communicate with you If you can't supervise the animal put him in a different section of the house until the baby is sleeping. Even if it was an aggressive behavior, it is irresponsible to rehome An animal with a bite history. If that dog bites in it's new home you can still be legally responsible for medical expenses resulting from injury. How were you disciplining him? Did you get him checked by a vet? A change in behavior could be an underlying medical issue. It just breaks my heart because the dog is getting uprooted from his home and he hasn't even done anything.

OP your pup will be fine. They adjust and it takes work but they can be successful members of the family...just with a bigger pack.

nghithy · August 2012

I have a bichon that is my first born son as I called him. It is so hard when my daughter came because I can't walk him with a baby when its cold outside. My in laws took over and care for him. Now I'm on bed rest with my second/third and he pretty much stayed with them because I can't take care of him. I feel so guilty every time I look at him but i know its better for him since I can't take care of him right now. When I'm better I'll try to care for him more.

He does not like my daughter very much when we play with her. He will jump on us trying to get attention. Never hurt her though. He kiss her sometimes.

eshee8198 · August 2012

We took a "dogs and storks" class with our trainer, and bought a few books on the subject to make sure we were preparing our two dogs for a baby in the house. Our trainer recommended:

* putting dog beds in the baby's room, if we were comfortable with that, so that they'd have their own space in her room
* starting to carry around a doll now to let them adjust to my change in posture and body language
* using gates to restrict their movements and help us keep 100% supervision
* getting them used to baby smells and objects - she suggested we might even use a particular scent on baby items to help our dogs (who are stuffed animal lovers) understand the difference between baby toys and their toys
* working on retraining behaviours now that we don't want to continue when the baby is here (like jumping on me in the morning).

She also warned us that most people think about rehoming their dogs after the baby's arrival, and as long as we were aware of that we could make the committment to wait it out and not make an emotional, reactive decision. Honestly, I can't see us EVER even considering rehoming our dogs, but hey. I think the biggest challenge for us is that our female has a big sense of "responsibility" - she thinks it's up to her to take care of every baby and kid she meets - we have a lot of friends with babies, and she follows them around "to supervise" and tries to lick any baby that starts crying. We're working on letting her know now that mom is in charge and has a handle on things, without her help.

KorieAngela · August 2012

DO NOT GET RID OF HER! She is a member of your family just like this baby will be. You can't just get rid of pets like that...

I have 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 snakes, and 2 fish...and I won't be getting rid of any of them!

One of the dogs in particular is pretty much our first born son lol. People keep saying "What if he doesn't like the baby and you have to get rid of him??" I just laugh...He's my child just like this baby will be...I wouldn't give up the baby because my dog didn't like him!!! They are both my babies I will do whatever I have to, to get them to like each other.

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