Fur babies and human babies

mermaidbina · July 2016

I'd love some tips for introducing baby to my dogs. I have 2 Siberian Huskies that love my DS and DD, but I am nervous how they will react to a baby. They are very sweet, but I want to make the transition as smooth as possible. Thanks!!

Jaspertheyoungturnip · July 2016

Commenting because I would also like some tips for this... I have two German Shepards that are a year and a half old, and still pretty much in their puppy phase, as well as a six year old Boxer mix. Tyra (boxer) was my only baby for about a year before we got the boys as 5 week old puppies. She wasn't pleased about getting siblings, because she's very clingy. I worry she'll feel neglected once baby gets here and be jealous, although DH and I want to try to continue to spend as much time with them as before. They're all mostly snugglers instead of players, luckily.

ginger819 · July 2016

I don't have a lot to contribute as our dogs were 6 and 7 when we brought DD home and they were well out of puppy stage and are really laid back. When we brought her home my mom and MIL came with, so I think they honestly thought she just belonged to one of them and she would be leaving with them. They were more interested in the moms being there than the new baby. They sniffed her and that was pretty much it. They pretty much ignored her until she started crawling when they started avoiding her because she had a tendency to pull their hair. Now, at 14 months DD and the dogs are best buds, especially at lunch time, and DD loves petting them and trying to play with them (she brings them their toys).

Ive heard setting everything up and running anything that makes noise before baby gets here to get them used to it helps. Also, sending a blanket or hat with baby's scent home before you bring them home helps too. We weren't too concerned about it though so we didn't try either of those.

ketomommy · July 2016

*lurker from Sept 2016* We spoke to our vet. She said to bring the baby in and act as normal as possible. Basically, as if you were bringing in groceries. Let the dogs sniff, etc. She said to not leave them unattended, but if you act as if nothing has changed the dogs won't become jealous.

Ceventa · July 2016

When I was in the hospital with DS, we sent home a blanket that he had been wrapped in so that our golden retriever could smell him before he got home. My mother-in-law said that he slept with it every night. When we got home I sat down and let him sniff DS, he ran off and came back with the blanket all excited. It was great :-) I highly recommend sending something home for your dogs to smell before baby gets there. Our doc explained that babies don't smell like kids and adults, so it's good for the dog to get that scent right away. We always made it a point to never yell at our dog or be scolding with him if he was simply trying to smell him or be near him, we wanted to create a positive experience around the baby. Now they are inseparable and always together!

gadzooks_3 · July 2016

The Babies R Us by us has a class on introducing dogs, maybe your does too. Sadly, they don't have one about cats.

MamaKSquared · July 2016

We plan on doing what @Ceventa did and send a blanket home to our fur baby. She's been our only baby for over 5 years now, so it will be an adjustment for her for sure. We make sure we let her sniff anything we bring home for baby so she's at least familiar with all these new things we're bringing into the house.

What I'm not sure about is the introduction. Our best friends live in our neighborhood (and our dogs love each other!), so they will be keeping our pup while we're away. If all goes well, we'll be delivering at a birthing center and will come home the same day (or early the next morning depending on when we deliver). We're undecided on if we should let pup be home when we come home with baby, or have her stay and play with her friend for a bit while we get in the house and settle in a little bit, then have her come over. I can see pros and cons to each scenario. I would also greatly appreciate any feedback!

DressageDarling · July 2016

As PP have said, we'll be sending home an item that smells like the baby with my parents (who will be dog sitting at our home). My DH's dad class suggested that mom go in first and greet the dog alone then have dad and baby come in. So that's what our plan is. My parents will be gone by the time we get home so there aren't a bunch of people there when we introduce the dog and baby.

We've been trying to prepare our dog as much as possible since we found out. He's only a little over a year so he can get pretty hyper. We set up the baby stuff that will be out in the living room and working on a "leave it" command.

karlimonster · July 2016

liljabee said:

The Babies R Us by us has a class on introducing dogs, maybe your does too. Sadly, they don't have one about cats.

Just want to say our cats did not care one bit about our son when we brought him home. One gave him a passing sniff and that was it. He is 16 months and even now they don't show real interest, which kind of suits their personalities. The one I would consider the least social is however the only one who will lean in to be pet. Now that he's a little older he "helps" feed the cats so I think the 1 loves him for that and the other 2 not so much.

Car0liiine · July 2016

We have a kitty cat who we think is around 2 yrs old (She was a stray.) The vet suggested several months ago that we go ahead and put into practice any new rules for her, like which rooms she's allowed in, before baby so she won't relate the two. She's a pretty needy/spoiled kitty so my only worry is her not liking that she can't just jump up in my lap for cuddles whenever she wants anymore. I've been trying to ignore her a little more and push her down when she does this sometimes so that, again, she won't blame it on baby and get jealous.
We also bought a neato thing to keep her from scratching at closed doors. It's called a Ssscat and basically it's a can of pressurized air with a motion detector that hisses out a puff of air if she crosses the threshold. Has worked really well to train her to leave closed doors alone.
I also plan to go get those little caps put on her claws a couple weeks before due date. She never scratches on purpose but even if she scratches the baby on accident it would make me really upset.

mermaidbina · July 2016

Thanks for the tips ladies! I will def be sending home a blanket from the hospital (if I can remember to lol).

TCUFrog08 · July 2016

I had to share this. We moved our dogs bed to another corner in our master bed room a few weeks ago to prepare for a swing or pack in play to go in the corner by me. We figured we would do it early so it wasn't a drastic change.
Well she keeps trying to sleep in the original corner. I've put bags, pillows, blankets, boxes all sorts of things in that corner and she still managers to find a small spot to sleep.
Today, I moved a laundry basket over there full of clean clothes. I thought "yes! This will work for a little bit". Nope. I heard her snoring earlier and found her like this......

I think she is trying to prove a point to me. That is HER corner. Hahaha

KMeredith82 · July 2016

We have two goldens and two cats. We were a little worried about how they'd all do when we brought our son home 3 years ago. Both cats and one dog were 9 at the time, the other dog was only 2. We kept the plastic cover on the crib mattress to discourage the cats from sleeping in the crib, but let all of the animals become familiar with the baby's room for the months before baby. I think that they all sensed something was happening anyway, 2 of the 4 became very clingy to me.

My parents were staying at our house with our pets when we were in the hospital, so I think that helped, they didn't have to leave our house. We didn't end up sending anything home for the dogs to smell (we just forgot). I think that when we got home my husband and I went in first to greet them, and then one of us brought the baby in. We had him in his carrier and left him in there for a few mins while the dogs kind of checked him out, and the cats came to see him too. They did great and after that it was no big deal. We let them go in his room during the day but shut the door at night when he's in there sleeping. One of the cats didn't like it when I was nursing cause he's always been my lap cat and didn't want to share my lap, but he figured out a way to just sit next to the baby. Was a little awkward sometimes to balance both, but I tried to be accomdating when I could. As soon as I was up for it, we resumed our evening walks with the dogs. Our one golden loves to give kisses and I never really discouraged it, so our son is just used to random face licks from the dog.

He now runs around the house with the younger dog and plays outside with him. He goes to the older dog for comfort. He carries one of the cats around the house, and the other cat (more shy typically) will go to him to be petted. So they all get along great!

Good luck, most of our friends have pets and I can't think of any of them that have had any lasting issues when bringing a new baby home.

Stephanie7693 · July 2016

I'm a little worried about bringing home baby with my dog. He's 2.5, and we got him as a puppy. In the last year or so he's goten a little agressive around younger kids that aren't ours. He's great with my 6 and 10 year old. But he will bark and kinda nip at other kids if they scare him. But I'm hoping with a baby that won't be an issue. We've had the nursery put together for months now, and I've left the door open so the dog and cat can go in there when they want and check everything out. I put the carseat on the floor last week too so they get used to seeing that. I plan on sending home a blanket from the hospital to put on my bed so my dog can learn the baby's scent and know he will be in our bed as well. My dog isn't one to cuddle, so I don't see him being too jealous of baby. He likes to be near me, which will still be fine with the new baby. But all of that said I do plan on hiring a trainer to help with his agression with strangers. He's improved recently with all the company we've had this summer, and no longer seems to be scared of men, but he's still not quite ready to be around a bunch of kids that don't belong to him. I also wonder how much my pregnancy has effected his agression as well.

riveridgional · July 2016

Here are some other tips:

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12667509/stms-with-dogs-how-did-you-introduce-dog-to-baby

Jaspertheyoungturnip · July 2016

Any tips for moms having a home birth?? I try to let them get as familiar as possible with each new baby thing we bring in, but I'm afraid of jealousy with our older dog, who is very clingy with me and always has been, and to a lesser degree with DH. I'm hoping them being in the house during the birth will allow some sense for them of knowing what's going on with baby.

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