FTM with 3 or more dogs??

bstephens1515 · July 2015

My husband and I have 3 dogs that all have different personalities of course and are some times hard to take care of just by ourselves. Does anyone out there have a similar situation or a plan for how to handle this with a new baby coming into their life? My Mother in law brought it up mostly to my husband that he should have some plan in mind but we haven't come up with any other ideas for how to juggle everything? help?!

katy0990 · July 2015

We have 2 and are definitely going to have to work harder on teaching them not to jump. Other than that, we don't have a plan yet.

Starbuck77 · July 2015

My H and I have 3 dogs and to be honest, we haven't started to game plan yet. The biggest thing you can do, I think, is make sure they're well trained and keep a close eye out for any issues once the baby comes, since that'll shift the dynamic for everyone.

It also wouldn't hurt to have baby gates or something similar so you can keep the dogs away from the baby when you need to or want to.

blueeyedrose86 · July 2015

I'd make sure the dogs have a safety zone they can go to in order to escape mobile babies. They can get stressed out easily by the unwanted, rough attention.

HollyGirl1212 · July 2015

I have a dog and a cat and my sil (who will be moving in with us) is bringing her large breed puppy into the home. Her dog will be attending obedience school as soon as we can get him in and I will help her work with him more specifically after we tell her that we are expecting.

As for my two, I want to work with them both on getting use to the idea of a baby being here. So lots of audio sounds of screaming babies, items with some of the baby type smells (detergent and shampoo for example). I really want things to go well between our fur babies and our skin one

Stormiewinter · July 2015

This was a concern for us too especially because we were in an apartment with a dog and a cat when ds was born. Walking the dog three times a day with a newborn in 0 degrees is not easy but we made it work. (So happy this time around we have a fenced in backyard). Some things we did were: bought a gentle lead collar so I could walk the dog and he couldn't jump, pull, or lunge, brought him around other kids whenever I could, Dh brought home a blanket that smelled like ds from the hospital, and we treated both pets to canned food (they usually eat dry) for a few days when ds came home. Otherwise, we had gates for when ds was crawling or on the floor and the dog needed time away and we made sure they were always closely supervised together.

bstephens1515 · July 2015

Everyone thank you so much! This was great and nice to know that other people are going through this and have been in a similar situation. We were thinking about getting a small baby that cries and makes noises and see how the dogs do with it. When we walk them around the neighborhood they are good with the kids who just run up to pet them. We do have one big dog though a mix who was really abused when he was little and so with fast movements, loud noises, or just general noises outside he gets very anxious and skitsy so that worries me a little bit. We are hoping it gets better but only time will tell I guess.

SparkE82 · July 2015

I have three dogs as well. We are already safely having them interact with small children and plan on hiring an APDT certified dog trainor to work on other issues that may arise (my dogs are already well trained dogs that we compete with in agility and nosework).

flowerpower5838 · July 2015

I have 3 dogs. One lab, one german shepard mutt and one Pomeranian. We have tons of nieces and nephews so we already have a general idea of how they will act with a little one.

The Pom loves babies - like literally loves. When they cry, he stands up near them like a little praire dog looking from person to person like "WTF aren't you gonna help it??"

The mutt is a little more standoff-ish of kids, but more generally older ones that can mess with him. He really just keeps to himself, but I may worry about him in the future because he is so skiddish.

Now the lab. Ughhh. My baby lol (until the little one comes of course and even still...). He is huge. 113 pounds. And he is not fat - just HUGE. Dude can knock me down sometimes and I am not petit. He usually behaves okkk, no great, but I guess I am worried about him jumping on me or running into me, etc. when I am holding the baby. He is 6 and has recently mellowed out a little, but still acts like a puppy sometimes.

No plans for any professional training or anything, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to start being a little more strict while there is plenty of time before my EDD.

westcoastfoodie · July 2015

We're in the same boat...We have two dogs. One is little and I'm not so worried because he's well behaved, but the other is a little on the bigger side and is pretty needy. We're going to end up working with a trainer. I've also heard that getting a doll and pretending that it's a real baby can help train them to share their mom so we may try that... I suppose anything helps!

bstephens1515 · July 2015

Yah I think my husband and I are on the same page with getting a small baby doll to practice, just to see how it works out. I am very nervous for the dogs knocking me over as well because they go a little nuts when we walk in the door, especially if I am carrying bags. Im also worried for there barking because when they hear a little noise outside or a car or when someone comes in they bark and bark and it is sometimes difficult to chase 3 dogs around the house shhhhing them (I swear sometimes they do it to get a rise out of me hahah). My husband was saying well if the baby is down for a nap when I would normally come home from work for a lunch break then I just wont come home so the dongs don't bark and wake him/her, and that did not sit well with me AT ALL. So we are still trying to toss ideas around. Training treats are definitely on our list so far.

CassidyACD · July 2015

bstephens1515 said:

Yah I think my husband and I are on the same page with getting a small baby doll to practice, just to see how it works out. I am very nervous for the dogs knocking me over as well because they go a little nuts when we walk in the door, especially if I am carrying bags. Im also worried for there barking because when they hear a little noise outside or a car or when someone comes in they bark and bark and it is sometimes difficult to chase 3 dogs around the house shhhhing them (I swear sometimes they do it to get a rise out of me hahah). My husband was saying well if the baby is down for a nap when I would normally come home from work for a lunch break then I just wont come home so the dongs don't bark and wake him/her, and that did not sit well with me AT ALL. So we are still trying to toss ideas around. Training treats are definitely on our list so far.

We have a maniac of a dog (cattle dog) who used to bark at everything. DS actually slept through it, but we never tip-toed when he was sleeping.

TheNewestMrsSmith55 · July 2015

I have two pit bull mixes and they are crazy rambunctious jumpers when they greet us after being gone all day. I have no concerns about them purposefully hurting the baby, but I do know they'll knock the kid over or smack it in the face more then a few times with their tails if not controlled by the time it comes. I guess I was kinda hoping that when the baby was born they'd instinctively know to be more gentle with it....it can happen right???

fwtx5815 · July 2015

We have two small dogs that are mostly well behaved and a very needy, AW rescue cat. I'm mostly worried about making sure they get the attention they're used to more so than their behavior. We'll be in a house shortly which they'll love though.

mommytobe2122 · July 2015

We have a dog he is with us for 7 years and he is more than smart

we also have lots of friends who have babies around so he is get used to babies and children, he sniffs them licks them and plays with them but the fact is he is aware of non of those children is ours:) so I don't know how he will react or feel, we love him so much the best thing to do is continue to care about him and don't make him feel like he is not a member of the family now. Our families are getting bigger and bigger

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