Puppy Problems

jsainte17 · September 2015

Okay so I've had my black lab since she was 3 months old. She's now 4.5 years old. Since becoming pregnant she seems to be very strange around me... but only when I'm doing belly stuff. If dad is talking to the baby, if I take the Doppler out to hear him, whatever it is, she'll then start doing her "pay attention to me" growl or she will blatantly jump up next to me and push her head into my hand when I'm trying to touch my belly.

I know I read most dogs get overprotective, but she seems to be going the other way. Anyone else had this problem, and if so, what worked for you? I wanna shake this behavior as soon as possible before baby arrives.

PS She's a very nice, very calm black lab. Never ever violent or unpredictable.

oxsarah7ox · September 2015

When my sister in law was pregnant her dog, who is female, was aggressive toward specific things. She was never aggressive before, but at that point she would growl at other dogs, she would growl at random things. She just knew my sister in law was pregnant and was on edge. Once the baby was born she went back to her lovable, wonderful self.

blueberrymomma · September 2015

When my cousin had her first her lab would try to crawl into the lap of whoever was holding the baby. She was never aggressive just wanted some attention too. I think it's like having an older sibling; the dogs are jealous of the new baby for awhile but learn to adjust. My dog ran away for an entire night when DD was a month old. It was the worst night of my life but she was on the front porch in the morning

OctoberStars · September 2015

You say she growls for attention. Do you give her what she wants when she exhibits this behavior? Be careful not to positively reinforce any aggressive behavior. Make sure you are giving your dog plenty of undivided attention so she isn't feeling bored or lonely.

It's probably a good time to enroll in a training class since there's time before baby to strengthen your bond with your dog.

krissyandfrank · September 2015

My friend had a similar issue with her dog she got a baby doll that cried and stuff and treated it like a real baby so the dog could get used to it and used to the crying .

strlitemiss · September 2015

Our lab did something similar my last pregnancy and looking back I think he just didn't fully understand what was happening our vet assured us that this was just an adjustment thing and labs are like big toddlers and can get moody with changes. After baby came he definitely took on the nanny dog roll so there's some hope that this is just an adjustment thing.

ashesmart90 · September 2015

My dog was about the same age as yours is with my first and he wanted nothing to do with me. He actually seemed afraid of me especially when we got all of the baby stuff set up he wouldn't even walk in the room. He didn't get aggressive but definitely more needy. Just make sure you are introducing her to the new things you are bringing home for the baby. Then just make sure she gets her own attention time each day (especially after the baby is born) . My baby girl is one now and while he isn't aggressive he doesn't really want to be around her a lot but as she is getting older that is changing. Some dogs just aren't crazy about the babies. I did a lot of research online about it and what helped the most is just to put my mindset in dog lol. Dogs think of you as the leader of the pack but as for the baby they see the baby as being below them in dog ranking and that doesn't change until the child can learn to tell commands and ect. Anyhow just make sure you don't ignore her and introduce her to all of her new surroundings. Some of it doesn't change right away but they will adjust

CountryAir13 · September 2015

One of ours always gets weird when I'm pregnant. But he's "my dog" -the one that's always been attached to me the most. He gets super clingy and very protective. But he is the BEST one out of the 4 we have when it comes to DS. He would guard him when he was an infant, always keeping a watchful eye. Now he let's DS do anything to him without batting am eye. He's my pit/lab mix.

Disclaimer (before anyone gets their panties in a bunch): our dogs are always supervised with DS. We know each dogs personality very well. You should never allow your child(ren) to walk, climb, sit on your dogs

thisusername · September 2015

Dogs easily get jealous too. You've had her for a very long time and she may feel like you're forgetting her. When's the last time you bought her a new toy or took her on a long walk? My dog was acting up, more than her normal spoiled self, and I got her some new toys and treats and spent more time with her each day, as best my schedule allowed, and now she's calming down. She has delegation anxiety. I've had her since she was 6 weeks and she's now 11 years old. (Her birthday was the 9th.) my cat does it too, we got our kitten after I got pregnant so she's used to it. Just try reassuring your dog that you love her and she isn't forgotten. My bet is that she will mellow back out. With labs it's very rare for them to be aggressive against kids unprovoked. They're one of the best breeds for a family dog.

I do dog walking/sitting full time as one of my jobs and the labs I work with are by far the best with kids. Just make sure you work with her, if you give her up because of jealousy it'll scar her for life and make it harder on other families. (I know you didn't even suggest that as an option but I've seen it happen to many dogs! Their behavior is easily changed, some people are just unwilling or too afraid to try) anyways, I hope you find a solution soon so you don't have to worry! That's just my advice on it, extra attention and positive rewards when someone else is Paying attention to baby and not her

thisusername · September 2015

CountryAir13 said:
One of ours always gets weird when I'm pregnant. But he's "my dog" -the one that's always been attached to me the most. He gets super clingy and very protective. But he is the BEST one out of the 4 we have when it comes to DS. He would guard him when he was an infant, always keeping a watchful eye. Now he let's DS do anything to him without batting am eye. He's my pit/lab mix.

Disclaimer (before anyone gets their panties in a bunch): our dogs are always supervised with DS. We know each dogs personality very well. You should never allow your child(ren) to walk, climb, sit on your dogs

Firstly, I hope no one would even try to bunch their panties about your dogs and your kids! An owner knows best!! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for pointing out that certain behaviors from your child should be stopped. My biggest pet peeve is people who let their kids torture their pets and then wonder why their dog or cat is hiding or growling. 210% their fault in those cases.

Lovely story though! My first dog ever was a pitbull. He had actually been rescued from someone who was trying to train him to kill people, obviously it didn't take because I'm still here.. He showed me nothing but love and was the apple of my eye for 9 years, (my dad got him when I was born) we still talk about him every night and I have his pictures framed, dogs are seriously the most amazing creatures. I love hearing stories of pits or mixes having a happy and friendly life!

For fun, this is one of the dogs I work with, her name is Daisy, and this is Sarah, a girl who WAS afraid of pitbull a (because her mother is one of THOSE people *insert eye roll*) Sarah asks about her every day and she nearly cried when I told her Daisy belongs to her owner and Sarah can't keep her. Lol

CountryAir13 · September 2015

thisusername said:

CountryAir13 said:
One of ours always gets weird when I'm pregnant. But he's "my dog" -the one that's always been attached to me the most. He gets super clingy and very protective. But he is the BEST one out of the 4 we have when it comes to DS. He would guard him when he was an infant, always keeping a watchful eye. Now he let's DS do anything to him without batting am eye. He's my pit/lab mix.

Disclaimer (before anyone gets their panties in a bunch): our dogs are always supervised with DS. We know each dogs personality very well. You should never allow your child(ren) to walk, climb, sit on your dogs
Firstly, I hope no one would even try to bunch their panties about your dogs and your kids! An owner knows best!! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for pointing out that certain behaviors from your child should be stopped. My biggest pet peeve is people who let their kids torture their pets and then wonder why their dog or cat is hiding or growling. 210% their fault in those cases.

Lovely story though! My first dog ever was a pitbull. He had actually been rescued from someone who was trying to train him to kill people, obviously it didn't take because I'm still here.. He showed me nothing but love and was the apple of my eye for 9 years, (my dad got him when I was born) we still talk about him every night and I have his pictures framed, dogs are seriously the most amazing creatures. I love hearing stories of pits or mixes having a happy and friendly life!

For fun, this is one of the dogs I work with, her name is Daisy, and this is Sarah, a girl who WAS afraid of pitbull a (because her mother is one of THOSE people *insert eye roll*) Sarah asks about her every day and she nearly cried when I told her Daisy belongs to her owner and Sarah can't keep her. Lol

All 4 of our dogs are rescues. One of which is a full pit. What's funny is that "my dog", the pit mix is the youngest. He came to us right before I got pregnant.

I love the looks I get when I tell people I have pits around kids. It's funny. Some people are ridiculous. I'll always have a pittie in my house

thisusername · October 2015

CountryAir13 said:

thisusername said:

CountryAir13 said:
One of ours always gets weird when I'm pregnant. But he's "my dog" -the one that's always been attached to me the most. He gets super clingy and very protective. But he is the BEST one out of the 4 we have when it comes to DS. He would guard him when he was an infant, always keeping a watchful eye. Now he let's DS do anything to him without batting am eye. He's my pit/lab mix.

Disclaimer (before anyone gets their panties in a bunch): our dogs are always supervised with DS. We know each dogs personality very well. You should never allow your child(ren) to walk, climb, sit on your dogs
Firstly, I hope no one would even try to bunch their panties about your dogs and your kids! An owner knows best!! I just wanted to say THANK YOU for pointing out that certain behaviors from your child should be stopped. My biggest pet peeve is people who let their kids torture their pets and then wonder why their dog or cat is hiding or growling. 210% their fault in those cases.

Lovely story though! My first dog ever was a pitbull. He had actually been rescued from someone who was trying to train him to kill people, obviously it didn't take because I'm still here.. He showed me nothing but love and was the apple of my eye for 9 years, (my dad got him when I was born) we still talk about him every night and I have his pictures framed, dogs are seriously the most amazing creatures. I love hearing stories of pits or mixes having a happy and friendly life!

For fun, this is one of the dogs I work with, her name is Daisy, and this is Sarah, a girl who WAS afraid of pitbull a (because her mother is one of THOSE people *insert eye roll*) Sarah asks about her every day and she nearly cried when I told her Daisy belongs to her owner and Sarah can't keep her. Lol
All 4 of our dogs are rescues. One of which is a full pit. What's funny is that "my dog", the pit mix is the youngest. He came to us right before I got pregnant.

I love the looks I get when I tell people I have pits around kids. It's funny. Some people are ridiculous. I'll always have a pittie in my house

Rescue pets are my whole life! Most of the dogs I work with are rescues, one was the only survivor of their owners' former dogs litter. Her mom passed but she's still around!

love it!! My first dog Maxx is still my baby, he's in doggy heaven of course but I pray to him to talk to him all the time. He trained our next dog before passing and it's been a chain reaction since! Pitbulls are talented, smart, and loving. Every time I hear someone say how deadly they are I about die of laughter, so I guess they are deadly in that sense

kitkatbird · October 2015

Best thing to do is set some boundaries for the dog. Even mild jealousy from a big lab can cause physical accidents. Basic commands are the best. Give tons of attention and praise and treats when she waits for her turn. WAIT is a great command. She sounds like she just wants to be involved in the excitement but teaching her to wait for it will go a long way. I train dogs full time. I LOVE the idea of using a pretend baby and fussing over it to get her used to what she is supposed to do when she sees this behavior from humans. Just a basic sit-stay while holding it and then praise would
Be perfect.
I just rescued a dog 3 months ago that I know is already good with kids. She is so amazing, people keep giving me the credit but it's honestly mostly just her temperament. Give me rescues over teenage puppies any day!

summererdvig · October 2015

I should probably make my own post for this but I too am having some puppy issues! My boys (a pomeranian/Finnish spitz mix and a dauchsund/greyhound mix) are roughly 2-3 years old (I rescued them both so we don't know for sure) they're sweet as can be and wouldn't hurt a fly but when I walk them they turn into vicious attack dogs!! Nobody (human or canine) can walk on either side of the sidewalk anywhere near us. The Pom never really used to do this, and we got the newer one while pregnant right before we found it so he's never known me not pregnant. Does any body else's dogs act like this? Did it stop when baby got here? Sometimes they do it to my husband now when he walks them too

g8trkim · October 2015

My dogs got much more protective when I was pregnant. It continued with our first baby (our female more than our male) but it got much better. They passed away recently and up until the end were protective of the kids, but not in an aggressive way, they would just guard them and place themselves between the kids and new people. Our new dog does the exact same thing. We have big dogs so I think it's a bit different. Small dogs tend to be a little more defensive of these things due to their size. Our friends have two small dogs, one is a Pom, and they have a 6 month old. Things have been good for them. I think your pups will be fine. It's an adjustment for everyone.

thisusername · October 2015

summererdvig said:
I should probably make my own post for this but I too am having some puppy issues! My boys (a pomeranian/Finnish spitz mix and a dauchsund/greyhound mix) are roughly 2-3 years old (I rescued them both so we don't know for sure) they're sweet as can be and wouldn't hurt a fly but when I walk them they turn into vicious attack dogs!! Nobody (human or canine) can walk on either side of the sidewalk anywhere near us. The Pom never really used to do this, and we got the newer one while pregnant right before we found it so he's never known me not pregnant. Does any body else's dogs act like this? Did it stop when baby got here? Sometimes they do it to my husband now when he walks them too

This is very common. In the wild when an alpha dog was pregnant the male would always be protecting her, and usually a few others would tag along when they went out as well, so it's very normal. You could try some corrective behaviors, such as putting them in a sit, stay until the people or other dogs have passed, and while they're doing that distract them and then give them treats once they've succeeded. My dog has always been aggressive towards other dogs because of her past, but ironically it's getting better now that I'm pregnant. I think she's trying to start an army to revolt against me for bringing yet another baby (we have two cats as well so those are the other babies) into the house to steal her attention.

If their aggression gets too bad you will need to stop walking them later in your pregnancy. You don't want to risk them pulling too hard and have to face either falling and getting hurt or letting someone or some dog get attacked. We have a few dogs on my route who get a little fiesty and I've already been told that before my third trimester they will be taken over by a sub . It's much safer for all involved. I don't know how aggressive they get exactly, but I'd hate to hear about any of you getting hurt.

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