Dogs

taaaaayyy19 · May 2015

We have two dogs, one is 3 and the other is about 6 months. Neither of them have really been exposed to babies, so I was wondering what the best way to introduce them to the baby would be when she gets here.

PixelPosy · May 2015

We sent a cap and blanket the baby used right after being born with my mom to give to the dogs about a day before we returned home. She made sure they sniffed it and put it near their dog beds so they could get use to the baby's scent. I don't remember where we got that tip and not sure if it helped or not. They still wanted to sniff all over the baby when we brought her into the house.

We made sure to give the dogs attention right away while she was still safely secured in her carseat. The littlest dog is my shadow and I had been gone for 5 days at that point so he was glued to me for days afterwards. There was no hope in keeping him away. I don't recall us having any issues. Though our dogs are small and fairly mellow.

HeatherLeane · May 2015

I haven't personally done this but I read that in addition to bringing something of babies home for the dogs to sniff you should also enter the house first alone while your partner waits outside with the baby. The dogs will be excited to see you since you probably haven't been home in a few days, it allows them a chance to calm down before bringing in the baby.

LDC27 · May 2015

We have three dogs who also don't have much experience around kids. My vet recommended for my husband or mom to bring a blanket that smells like the baby back home before we get home from hospital for dogs to sniff. And to also be really positive about it and pay attention to them right when you come home to show them this is a good thing. He also suggested getting a baby doll that cries beforehand and hold it and talk to the dogs positively so they get used to you holding something else.

MissusTexas · May 2015

They need to meet on neutral ground, not in the house. Bring the dog outside the house and let them meet out front while the baby is still in the car seat. Let them sniff and once they lose interest you can all go inside.

taaaaayyy19 · May 2015

Okay thank y'all all so much! We've tried to let the dogs smell almost all her stuff when we bring it home that way they are kind of familiar with some sort of scent that will be associated with her. I just really hope they can adapt well to her because they are such a big part of our family and it would be absolutely devastating if we had to get rid of them.

lvrunningirlie · May 2015

The biggest thing for us was to remind the dogs that the baby was part of the "human" group and not another puppy. Our dogs are dogs that need strong pack leaders, so we always made sure that they understood the baby was someone they had to follow and not someone they could play with like another dog. We kept him up higher, wouldn't let the dogs jump (which the don't do anyways), and we would allow them to sniff baby but he stayed up higher than them and with us until they were used to him. By the time he was crawling around they pretty much let him do his thing.

JNOVA2015 · May 2015

You could google this - there are thousands of articles and entire books dedicate to this topic. Our hospital even offers a class on it.

tarheelgirl8 · May 2015

@taaaaayyy19, your post made me think of something that I'm going to try....using the baby wipes on my hands every once and a whole before I pet him. Maybe that will help with a positive association. Also we're making sure to make any changes that are going to be necessary now. For example, are you going to need to adjust their feeding/walking schedule? If so, change it now so they don't associate it with the baby. We have a cat and will be installing a cat door on the room where his litter box is so we can keep the door closed. We plan to do that in the next week, so he can fully adjust before the baby comes.

stow2009 · May 2015

That's such a good idea with the baby wipes, especially since smell is such a strong association with dogs. We will do this with our pit, for sure.

kjandericka · May 2015

We are so excited for our fur babies to meet our new addition! I really think it's great for kids to grow up with pets.

To prepare our dogs, we have a trainer that comes once a week and we have been working on a lot of different things. We have to relative large pits (80 lbs each) so teaching them to not be rowdy while in the house has been really important. They were already good dogs but, with an infant in the house, I felt like they needed to be perfect. They each now have their own spots in the living room and when I say "bed," they immediately go to their individual beds. We have been practicing walking with the stroller as well as basic commands like "leave it" and "drop it." The trainer also encouraged us to start carrying around a doll periodically, turning on our Mamaroo to get the dogs used to it and pulling out rattles/other baby toys. We will also do the whole "bring a baby blanket home from the hospital" thing.

gomezy · May 2015

I agree with all of the other comments! I just wanted to add be sure not to forget about your furbabies!!! Give them as much attention as you can! I am going to stock up on his favorite treats & yummy food before baby comes, so he still feels special & that he is important.

ElleMF728 · May 2015

I really recommend training and teaching some basic commands for anyone hoping to introduce dogs to a life with children. It can make like so much easier if they are target training more than anything.

I have a Jack Russell Terrier who is pretty high energy but DH and I taught him "Go lay down" before we had DS and it was the best thing we have ever done for him. Giving your dog a target and a command will help you remove them quickly and easily from any situation that you feel may escalate to a point that is difficult to handle. I have never worried that Smeagol (dog) would be aggressive with DS but occasionally he will get excited and stop paying attention and may knock into the baby, by telling him to go lay down I can prevent this from happening.

I can also help remove him now that DS is nearing 2 and can tend to get in the dog's face a bit too much. I definitely recommend target training as it has been invaluable to us.

tarheelgirl8 · May 2015

gomezy said:

I agree with all of the other comments! I just wanted to add be sure not to forget about your furbabies!!! Give them as much attention as you can! I am going to stock up on his favorite treats & yummy food before baby comes, so he still feels special & that he is important.

Actually I've read that it's better to slowly start giving them slightly less attention before the baby comes. That way, when you are distracted, exhausted and don't have quite as much time to play and love on them, they don't associate it with the baby. The article I read said specifically that a lot of people try to give more attention right before having the baby and they end up spoiling them or raising their expectations. But I definitely agree that you need to make time for them after the baby comes!

kedbach · May 2015

I don't know if you have a babys'r'us near you, but they have a free class held by a dog trainer, vet, and pediatrician together about how to introduce your animals to babies!

blovemama · May 2015

Among some of the things listed here, we are going to put a recording of a crying baby in the crib to teach the dog to ignore it. I think my husband and I will pretend to make a big deal over the recording so she gets used to us jumping up for it without thinking she needs to investigate. Our dog is pretty trainable, so we've taught her not to enter the nursery even when the door is open. I posted something about this a few months ago and got a lot of great tips.

jilladelario · May 2015

I have a really high strung shepherd/husky mix and a really annoying boxer who is very in your face. Not to mention a loud grumpy cat. To be honest - worrying about dogs was the last thing on my mind. We let them sniff at the car seat when we got home but they were more interested in us than baby. Over the next few days the obviously got more opportunities to see/smell her but they didn't really have much to do with her until she got older.

Our dogs are not allowed upstairs and we have a large fenced yard and they have kennels in the office away from the main living areas. They had plenty of space to go to if they felt uncomfortable. I think they were about 4 when my daughter was born.

Now my daughter is a 19 months and the boxer loves her and is one of her favorite toys. The Shepherd tolerates her and growls at her often but usually decides that she's to lazy to move.

Jenni329 · May 2015

I'm not overly concerned about our two. They love family babies, maybe a little too much as figured out pretty quickly that baby equals food. Everything we've bought is stored in the livingroom where the dogs play and sit with us and they've sniffed everything. Not bothered about hairs as everything will be washed before baby arrives and stored in her room. I think it will take them a little while to get used to the new noises and activity pattern but they'll be fine.

MissusTexas · May 2015

I agree that you need to start slowly giving the pups less attention so they don't associate the loss with the arrival of baby... Because it will happen to some extent!

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