Pet Issues

marieva · October 2015

Hey everyone! Just wanted to see everyone's experience on how their pet is dealing with their LO. I have a small dog and she was THE BABY before my son came along. Well needless to say focus has shifted to my son as he requires much more attention. I believe she is getting jealous. She is VERY hyper so I don't like her to be on the sofa when my son is laying on the sofa as she just doesn't know how to calm down (have tried to teach her but she has the attention span of a bottle of ketchup...>_>). Anyways, when my baby starts to cry, we go over to him to try to figure out what's wrong. She will start barking loudly and growl slightly. I'm starting to come to my wits end with her because she has now regressed to pooping and peeing all over the floors in the house, being destructive, getting ahold of the baby's blanket and shredding that to bits and pieces, getting my breast shield and she completely destroyed that, etc, etc. She used to be a really good dog

. We are still loving to her, still give her treats, still cuddle with her, still let her have full reign of the house almost. Sometimes it becomes overwhelming when we both get home from work and we see our dog has taken to destroying the house and leaving her mark. And i'm all about cleanliness and THAT is eating away at my core. A family member of mine expressed interest in keeping her permanently as she is aware of the issues we are having. But I'm not sure if I want to give her up but I honestly don't know what else to do to try to get things to improve $:\$ . This family member has no small children but she does have one other dog and it would be the ideal environment for my dog because she will ALWAYS have someone with her (my family member is retired). She takes her dog everywhere with her so I'm sure my dog will be loved. But I feel guilty even thinking about it. $:\$ . Just looking for anyone with similar experiences....

jlm684 · October 2015

I've got 4 cats and 2 dogs. The dogs are big, a lab and hound mix. The cats could care less there is a baby in the house and the dogs are attentive to the baby. Sometimes just clumsy around the baby so we are careful but it is one big happy family zoo. We do make sure to play with our dogs separate from baby and with baby and we go on family walks. You might talk to a trainer? I hope it gets better.

ElleMF728 · October 2015

I don't have any advice for the chewing but our little dog did start having accidents after I had my first baby. He still does but we just deal with it by crating him when we aren't home and keeping him near us when we are (we have a baby gate at the top of the stairs that we keep closed so he needs to stay on the ground level). He wasn't doing it because he needed to go he was doing it for attention but he won't do it when we are around so that solves the issue.

I second talking to a trainer, but some of his behavior sounds like it might be due to boredom as well. Do you take him on walks everyday? Going for a walk provides way more stimulation than just being out in the backyard and can work wonders with destructive behavior. I used to love taking LO and Smeagol for long walks in the mornings and afternoons though I haven't gotten bold enough to take all three now that we have a baby as well.

princesslockness · October 2015

Sounds like your dog is bored and resenting the loss of attention. One thing we did with our two puppies is that we go an automatic fetch/thrower. The dogs put the tennis ball in it, and it throws it for them. It took a couple days to train them, but now they play all day with that. We have to move it from sight in order to get them to play with us.

Also another thing is how you handle baby and dog at the same time. Try putting baby on one side, and dog on the other. That way the dog see that you are playing with both of them.

marieva · October 2015

Hi everyone! Hubby and I are researching trainers in the area. Hopefully it helps. Tomorrow she is scheduled to go to a doggy day care for a few hours. She will get a chance to interact with other dogs. I'm excited for her because she honestly is bored and jealous. Hoping she feels better after day care tomorrow and we can work on incorporating her in a more efficient way into my baby's life.

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ElleMF728 · October 2015

marieva said:

Hi everyone! Hubby and I are researching trainers in the area. Hopefully it helps. Tomorrow she is scheduled to go to a doggy day care for a few hours. She will get a chance to interact with other dogs. I'm excited for her because she honestly is bored and jealous. Hoping she feels better after day care tomorrow and we can work on incorporating her in a more efficient way into my baby's life. .

My parents send their dog to doggie daycare at least once a week just for the interaction. She loves it and it works wonders for her!

Justone13 · October 2015

I second the trainer. I used bark busters last year for my pitbull. It's a great company that subcontracts out trainers in your area. My trainer was amazing. My pitbull was a rescue and extremely destructive. Now he's an angel and LOVES his baby sister. Hope that can help! Good luck!

raelynch87 · October 2015

When I first got my dog from a rescue he was really destructive when left alone- he destroyed the inside of my car, chewed through a door and ripped a hole in the drywall. We hired an animal behaviorist which was extremely expensive but so worth it. My dog is amazing now and when he does have a slight regression I have the tools to help.

marieva · October 2015

UPDATE: Doggy Day care was a huge success! I dropped by unexpectedly in the middle of the day and she was happily running around with other dogs. I think we will TRY to do this once a week...unfortunately it will have to be on the weekend since hubby and I both leave earlier than most doggy day cares in the area tend to open. We are trying to walk her more as well. I have a friend visiting right now and she is taking her out on walks daily which is great right now. We are still researching trainers and hope to give someone a call in the next few days. Thank you for all of your suggestions so far! I love my fur baby and I don't want to give up on her because she really is part of our little family

BabyBean815 · October 2015

No advice but just want to say good luck! We have two Boston terriers whose worlds definitely got shaken up with the arrival of our LO. Neither of them has been aggressive or destructive but I think their feelings are hurt that they have to share my attention. Here's hoping they will be fast friends in the future!

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