Living with two dogs & a new baby

Re: Living with two dogs & a new baby

• oliarnmom1517 member

  July 2015 edited July 2015

  I own a chihuahua and I have been having this same fear that he will bark and wake the baby up.. I have been training him to not bark so much which means taking him away from everybody until he is done barking and when he starts to bark again just separating him again.. It's half way working.. And brushing everyday and lint rolling or getting furniture covers for almost everything..

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• CarrieOct15 member

  July 2015

  I don't own dogs, but my moms do & they have a nine month old. They are really loud, barking dogs, but since the baby heard the barking so much while in the womb, the barking didn't even phase him once he was out. He LOVES the dogs, and laughs when they bark/run around/etc. Hopefully you have the same luck with yours!

  
  

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• kmd91 member

  July 2015

  I don't have much personal experience yet since this will be my first, but it seems that babies that know nothing other than having fur siblings aren't too bothered by their antics. A close friend has two crazy dogs, and from the time their son was born they never had an issue with the dogs waking him, I guess because he was used to it, and now that he's up and walking they are his best friends.
  
  I watch a 1 1/2 year old in my home during the days, and I've been working with them on leaving him be while he naps in hopes that it will rub off on their behavior when we bring our new addition home. As far as shedding, I'll be honest, my kid will probably be covered in dog fur. My two don't shed a lot, but I doubt I will keep up with the fur cleanup as well as I would like while adjusting to the new baby.

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• SJFTCA member

  July 2015

  I have no firsthand experience yet, as I am a FTM, but I also have two (large) dogs in the house. They currently sleep in our bedroom, but we plan to have baby sleep in our room for a while, so we are currently coming up with ways to adjust that situation. Both of our dogs shed (a boxer and a Chesapeake Bay retriever), and we have a friend who suggested the Roomba, or some similar robot vacuum. We are thinking of giving that a try. Our dogs aren't big barkers, so that isn't too much of a concern for us, but I agree with some PPs that your baby will likely just get used to the noises around your home. MH and I currently sleep with the TV on all night, and I'm hoping baby will adjust to the light and sound and be able to sleep fine. We'll see!

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• katie10287 member

  July 2015 edited July 2015

  I'm a big fan of the roomba too! It's super convenient and requires basically no effort besides emptying it. You can even schedule it to run on its own everyday if you don't think you can remember to push the button. I have two large dogs and a cat and it does a great job cleaning up after them

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• VexedMommy member

  July 2015

  I had a dog before I had my first daughter.  She was never bothered by the dog barking.  The dog was awesome with her.  Her nanny and then her co-conspirator.  The dog slept under the crib and would come wake me up every time the baby started to fuss.  She was my daughter's favorite playmate and I credit the dog for helping my dd walk so early.  When she was first walking and still holding onto furniture she used the dog (a labradoodle) to help her walk into other areas she should not have been able to get into. 
  
  While the dog barking never woke her up, God Forbid you opened a can of soda anywhere near her while she was asleep.  It would instantly wake her up and she'd be in a terrible mood afterwards.
  

  If there's something strange underneath the hood.  Who you gonna call?  Your Doctor.  If there's something weird and it don't look good.  Who you gonna call?  Your Doctor.  Immediately.  If it's new, painful, and possibly pregnancy related get your ass off the internet and call your doctor.  It's for your health and your child's. 
  
  
  
  
  

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• Soyyoyary member

  July 2015

  When DD was born the dogs didn't bother her she since she was used to it from my womb. The shedding we sweep two times a day and vacuum the corners and have a robot sweeper. Its a lot of work but we take turns. The only thing we did do was the days wewe where at hospital DH would come home twice a day to take them out, walk and leave a baby garment in different places to leave the babys scent. So once she was home they didn't mine her.

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• vomitrosa member

  July 2015

  Never had an issue with dogs waking up a sleeping newborn, but a teething 8 month old is a whole different story. With shedding, we just kept them off the furniture.

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• apritch88 member

  July 2015

  Baby was never woken up by our two rowdy hounds. I think they hear it so much in the womb that it becomes normal. 

  The dogs were far more disturbed by her than she was by them. 

  
  

  For shedding we had mostly hardwoods and swiffer-vacuumed every night. Our dogs are not allowed on our furniture unless they are on a blanket, so simply teaching them that the baby blankets didn't qualify as an invitation to come up on the couch worked perfectly. 

  
  

  I had an outdoor type blanket that I would lay on the floor (the hair didn't stick to it so much) and then I would lay the baby blanket or toy gym or whatever on top of that to keep baby away from the hair while minimizing laundry and that seemed to work pretty well until she got mobile

  
  

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• RNmommy13 member

  July 2015

  They say if you had the dogs while pregnant, the baby gets use to barking. DS never cared and I made an effort to vaccum also are DS (the dog hair) to get him use to noise while he was sleeping and just over all loud noises

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• mmk29 member

  July 2015

  I never had an issue with my son sleeping when the dogs were barking. The only time it mattered was when he was waking up anyway. We also try to vacuum every other day and swifter every day to manage fur.

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• ElleMF728 member

  July 2015

  We only have one but he sheds a lot.  I just vacuum every day to keep up with it, not the entire house just the high traffic areas or I'll alternate upstairs one day and downstairs the next etc.  

  
  

  As far as the barking, he usually won't wake DS at this point.  I suggest a white noise machine which will drown out a lot of sounds during naps and bedtime.  

  

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• dramaphile member

  July 2015

  I'm so glad to hear that babies get used to barking in the womb! Let's hope that's true, as my beagle is an unrepentant barker.

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• Gapeach83 member

  July 2015

  They say they get used to it. Very rarely have my dogs woken up either DD. This one should really be used to the sound as my Great Dane is really loud when he barks. Luckily he prefers to bark at other dogs outside and doesn't bark much inside. He definitely sheds less and he is shirt hair so very manageable. He also been around a baby since he was a baby. DD is only 3 weeks older than him and they are best buds.

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• kbonel member

  July 2015

  I was thinking about making my dog bark while I breast feed every once in a while in the first few weeks to get the baby used to it while super comfortable. My dog has kind of a mean bark so I don't want our kiddo to be scared of her. Also the door bell makes the dog crazy... Should be interesting.

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• oliarnmom1517 member

  July 2015

  kbonel said:

  I was thinking about making my dog bark while I breast feed every once in a while in the first few weeks to get the baby used to it while super comfortable. My dog has kind of a mean bark so I don't want our kiddo to be scared of her. Also the door bell makes the dog crazy... Should be interesting.

  All you have to do is open the screen door at my moms house and my chihuahua go nuts.. At our apartment all you have to do is put the key in the door.. He usually knows who it is by the time of the day.. I usually am feeding him when my husband comes home so he won't bark when he knows it my DH walking in the door.

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• lyankowi member

  July 2015

  My only suggestion with hair is to train dogs to stay out of the baby's room. I had two dogs when DD was born like others said barking didn't other her and dog hair wasnt too bad. One dog also loved her and the other tolerated her and would move away when she got near. I trained the dogs to stay off her blankets, play mat, and bedroom.

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• mmocca085 member

  July 2015

  We have two labs and a cat all inside and they are our babies. I just recently bought a shedding brush from Walmart called the FurGo and it has worked wonders. I brush them about every 3 days and since we have hardwood floors I still vacuum about every other day.
  As far as the sleeping arrangements go...our pups used to sleep in our bedroom but recently we have changed that. We live in the country and frequently see deer and wildlife in our yard so barking at night was common. We now put their crates in our basement in their own room and layer them with blankets and this is where they sleep now. They don't seem to mind the change at all and figured out the nighttime routine very quickly. I'm actually sleeping better now that they have their own space and I think it will help a ton when our son arrives. Hope this helps you some! My biggest advice is just to implement the plan now to make it easier on your pups once your little one arrives.

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• brbeck7 member

  July 2015

  Rumbas can be amazing just be careful. If your dog ever has an accident the rumba makes it worse! I had a friend who loved her Rumba until she came home from work one day to find her entire house COVERED in doggy doo doo. Her large Chesapeake Bay retriever had gotten sick while she was away and the Rumba spread it all over her kitchen, dining room, living room and entry way! It was a disaster and took her hours to clean up. I recommend only using Rumba when you can be home. 

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