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April 2017 Moms
cafedisco
member
Preparing Fido for Baby
cafedisco
member
Here are all my personal tips and those I've learned about prepping dogs for a baby. I don't know much about cats or other pets, but maybe other people could jump in with their ideas too 
The Basics:
1. If you don't already do any training, start with some basics. Sit, wait, stay, etc. I use "clicker" training but my voice (a high pitched YES!) is the "clicker". Get a high-quality special treat. There are lots of youtubes, but basically, you say the command (Sit), give a motion with treat in hand and then YES! and treat when they do it. Lots of repetition until you can wean the hand motion, then wean the treat and you can tell pup to sit anywhere in the house and she does, even if treats aren't involved. It does take a while to get there, but SO worth it!
2. Walk your dog, every day if possible. Even if they get "exercise" somewhere else, walking sets up a great dog-human relationship and will help with all behaviors. They do need to walk nicely on leash, but that's a LOT of work and a whole post on its own! Even 10-15 minutes is better than nothing.
3. Dogs can learn or re-learn by positive association. In other words, yummy food! So if a friend brings over a baby, you treat and treat and treat so pup thinks "wow, babies are amazing, I get so much food!" Dog doesn't like when you snuggle DH, treat and treat and treat while you snuggle so dog thinks it's the best! I love having a treat belt (it's like a fanny pack and costs about $10 at pet stores) to put on if there's anything new I want Torii to feel comfortable with.
Specific commands for baby-prep:
4. "Settle". Point to pup's bed and say "settle". That means she is to go there and lay down. My dog has now a good stay (45 minutes at least), so then I put her in a stay if I need to. This gives her a place to be and a job. We have a dog bed in all the important rooms, although you could even use a folded blanket. When DD was little, that included the nursery. So you can imagine, I'm trying to change the runny diaper of a screaming newborn, pup gets nervous, gets underfoot, everyone is stressed, I yell at dog, dog has bad association with screaming baby. So instead, we tell pup "settle" before we start and then she gets praise and treats during what could be a stressful situation, giving her a positive association. Also very helpful if you will have more visitors over to meet baby.
5. "Leave it". To teach this, put leash on, toss a treat on the ground far enough that it can't be reached and give a strong, deep "leave it". The second pup looks at you, YES! and treat. Repeat over and over, eventually getting rid of leash. We taught leave it with every. single. baby toy that came into the house while pregnant. 3 years later and Torii still knows not to go near the kiddo's stuff. This is especially important if pup is used to having stuffed toys to play with. They won't know the difference between their's and baby toys.
Other ways to prep/considerations:
6. Stop "free-feeding". Feed pup on a schedule. Pick the bowl up after a certain amount of time (5 minutes). This is to avoid any issues with dog becoming upset and even just anxious when your crawling baby discovers the food bowl. We learned that we didn't need to pick up with empty bowl, because our dog has shown zero concern or notice if DD touches it, but we waited a long time to make sure. Set your dog up for success and don't give her a reason to get jealous or nervous. Plus, feeding time become a great time to make pup show off all their tricks before they eat!
7. Try to help pup get used to all the noises and gear they may hear with baby and give positive associations (remember, yummy, special food) with those! Play babies crying on youtube. If you have a noise machine, a swing that moves, etc. Again, another great training opportunity ("puppy sit! YES!" Then play a noise for a while, as puppy stays calm, YES! and treat).
8. Don't leave your pup alone with baby. Ever. We do now, but again, DD is 3. We've had a lot of time to observe them together and for them to develop a great relationship. I would just hate to put my pup in a situation where they aren't successful and it's not really their fault.
9. Have guests all give pup a treat when they enter (once barking is stopped, if you have a talker). If they aren't dog people, they can even just toss it on the bed for pup to find.
10. If you have a jealous pup, practice putting pup in his "settle" spot and then rock and sing to a "baby" of blankets or a stuffed animal. Don't look at the pup at ALL but toss treats to him the whole time. With a newborn, you'll spend a lot of time either nursing or bottle feeding. You don't want pup to be jealous, you want them to think "yes, mom's doing that thing with the baby again, I get a snack!!!" Work up to pup "settling" and being chill for 30 minutes (start small).
11. This was the absolute hardest for us. When baby is sleeping (FINALLY) - ignore your dog. Tough, right? So, this comes from positive associations again. Dog will think "finally, that baby disappeared, NOW I can finally get some attention around here." A negative association will start to form. You want pup to think this baby is the best thing that ever happened. So you can't put baby down and immediately turn to pup to love on her tons. It will backfire. Instead, baby wakes up crying (instant YES! and treat), invite pup with you to get the baby. Baby being awake is when treats and meals happen. If you can manage, put baby in a carrier to toss the ball or tug or whatever puppy loves at least now and then so they think "baby is around, I get to play!"
12. Pup is ALWAYS allowed to walk away from a situation. Never force your dog to be sat on, tugged on, in a loud room, in a photo, etc. They get to leave if they are nervous as being nervous AND trapped can lead to aggression (flight or fight). Watch for cues like ears back, licking lips, yawning. These all signal being afraid. Along these lines, once you have a crawler, dog's bed is 100% always off-limits to baby. Pup deserves a safe place where they won't be disturbed.
13. Finally, even if you don't plan on it, a LOT of people end up with baby in their bed at some point. I know we were in the "never-ever co-sleep" camp. Uhhhhh, yeah right. Anyway, just make sure you know, besides other safe co-sleeping practices, that animals are not safe in bed with you and baby. If you think this will be an issue, better to get them in their own bed (on the ground) now, rather than after baby is born.
Phew! So sorry for the novel, I guess I got a little jazzed! It makes me really sad when dogs get re-homed or worse when their people aren't responsible enough to prepare them for this major and confusing life change. I hope this isn't overwhelming. Just 10-15 minutes a day can really make a difference in the training department and it truly will strengthen your bond.
Anyone else? What am I missing? What's worked for you? What questions do you have?
The Basics:
1. If you don't already do any training, start with some basics. Sit, wait, stay, etc. I use "clicker" training but my voice (a high pitched YES!) is the "clicker". Get a high-quality special treat. There are lots of youtubes, but basically, you say the command (Sit), give a motion with treat in hand and then YES! and treat when they do it. Lots of repetition until you can wean the hand motion, then wean the treat and you can tell pup to sit anywhere in the house and she does, even if treats aren't involved. It does take a while to get there, but SO worth it!
2. Walk your dog, every day if possible. Even if they get "exercise" somewhere else, walking sets up a great dog-human relationship and will help with all behaviors. They do need to walk nicely on leash, but that's a LOT of work and a whole post on its own! Even 10-15 minutes is better than nothing.
3. Dogs can learn or re-learn by positive association. In other words, yummy food! So if a friend brings over a baby, you treat and treat and treat so pup thinks "wow, babies are amazing, I get so much food!" Dog doesn't like when you snuggle DH, treat and treat and treat while you snuggle so dog thinks it's the best! I love having a treat belt (it's like a fanny pack and costs about $10 at pet stores) to put on if there's anything new I want Torii to feel comfortable with.
Specific commands for baby-prep:
4. "Settle". Point to pup's bed and say "settle". That means she is to go there and lay down. My dog has now a good stay (45 minutes at least), so then I put her in a stay if I need to. This gives her a place to be and a job. We have a dog bed in all the important rooms, although you could even use a folded blanket. When DD was little, that included the nursery. So you can imagine, I'm trying to change the runny diaper of a screaming newborn, pup gets nervous, gets underfoot, everyone is stressed, I yell at dog, dog has bad association with screaming baby. So instead, we tell pup "settle" before we start and then she gets praise and treats during what could be a stressful situation, giving her a positive association. Also very helpful if you will have more visitors over to meet baby.
5. "Leave it". To teach this, put leash on, toss a treat on the ground far enough that it can't be reached and give a strong, deep "leave it". The second pup looks at you, YES! and treat. Repeat over and over, eventually getting rid of leash. We taught leave it with every. single. baby toy that came into the house while pregnant. 3 years later and Torii still knows not to go near the kiddo's stuff. This is especially important if pup is used to having stuffed toys to play with. They won't know the difference between their's and baby toys.
Other ways to prep/considerations:
6. Stop "free-feeding". Feed pup on a schedule. Pick the bowl up after a certain amount of time (5 minutes). This is to avoid any issues with dog becoming upset and even just anxious when your crawling baby discovers the food bowl. We learned that we didn't need to pick up with empty bowl, because our dog has shown zero concern or notice if DD touches it, but we waited a long time to make sure. Set your dog up for success and don't give her a reason to get jealous or nervous. Plus, feeding time become a great time to make pup show off all their tricks before they eat!
7. Try to help pup get used to all the noises and gear they may hear with baby and give positive associations (remember, yummy, special food) with those! Play babies crying on youtube. If you have a noise machine, a swing that moves, etc. Again, another great training opportunity ("puppy sit! YES!" Then play a noise for a while, as puppy stays calm, YES! and treat).
8. Don't leave your pup alone with baby. Ever. We do now, but again, DD is 3. We've had a lot of time to observe them together and for them to develop a great relationship. I would just hate to put my pup in a situation where they aren't successful and it's not really their fault.
9. Have guests all give pup a treat when they enter (once barking is stopped, if you have a talker). If they aren't dog people, they can even just toss it on the bed for pup to find.
10. If you have a jealous pup, practice putting pup in his "settle" spot and then rock and sing to a "baby" of blankets or a stuffed animal. Don't look at the pup at ALL but toss treats to him the whole time. With a newborn, you'll spend a lot of time either nursing or bottle feeding. You don't want pup to be jealous, you want them to think "yes, mom's doing that thing with the baby again, I get a snack!!!" Work up to pup "settling" and being chill for 30 minutes (start small).
11. This was the absolute hardest for us. When baby is sleeping (FINALLY) - ignore your dog. Tough, right? So, this comes from positive associations again. Dog will think "finally, that baby disappeared, NOW I can finally get some attention around here." A negative association will start to form. You want pup to think this baby is the best thing that ever happened. So you can't put baby down and immediately turn to pup to love on her tons. It will backfire. Instead, baby wakes up crying (instant YES! and treat), invite pup with you to get the baby. Baby being awake is when treats and meals happen. If you can manage, put baby in a carrier to toss the ball or tug or whatever puppy loves at least now and then so they think "baby is around, I get to play!"
12. Pup is ALWAYS allowed to walk away from a situation. Never force your dog to be sat on, tugged on, in a loud room, in a photo, etc. They get to leave if they are nervous as being nervous AND trapped can lead to aggression (flight or fight). Watch for cues like ears back, licking lips, yawning. These all signal being afraid. Along these lines, once you have a crawler, dog's bed is 100% always off-limits to baby. Pup deserves a safe place where they won't be disturbed.
13. Finally, even if you don't plan on it, a LOT of people end up with baby in their bed at some point. I know we were in the "never-ever co-sleep" camp. Uhhhhh, yeah right. Anyway, just make sure you know, besides other safe co-sleeping practices, that animals are not safe in bed with you and baby. If you think this will be an issue, better to get them in their own bed (on the ground) now, rather than after baby is born.
Phew! So sorry for the novel, I guess I got a little jazzed! It makes me really sad when dogs get re-homed or worse when their people aren't responsible enough to prepare them for this major and confusing life change. I hope this isn't overwhelming. Just 10-15 minutes a day can really make a difference in the training department and it truly will strengthen your bond.
Anyone else? What am I missing? What's worked for you? What questions do you have?
Me: 31
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17
Re: Preparing Fido for Baby
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17
Married: 5/30/2013
DSS #1: 5/25/2007
DSS #2: 1/22/2011
DS #3: 7/8/2012
BFP: 3/14/2016 ~ MC: 3/19/2016
DS #4: 4/21/17
I also didn't even think about how much it would backfire to play with her when baby is asleep. I'm glad you brought that up.
@allybadry I started doing that with my dog too, from the time she was a puppy because I knew we'd be starting a family soon. She's really great about being poked and her tail held and such. Even guests can accidentally step on her and she barely reacts. I'm glad we did that much at least.
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17
Yeah, I think we err on the side of over-doing it with our pup. Especially since she's a pittie, if anything happened, she wouldn't get any forgiveness, even if it wasn't her fault. Hopefully everyone knows their own dog well enough to know what they need, but sprinkles in a healthy dose of remembering they are an animal and can be unpredictable!
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17
DD #2: May 2020
Baby #3: EDD May 2023; MC October 2022
Both of our pets were SO GOOD with DS. Our cat recently passed away, but she was so sweet on him all the time. Our dog is really tolerant of him, but she will get annoyed sometimes (but she is good about walking away), especially now that he is walking and climbing on everything. She LOVES to play with him and is usually pretty mindful of their size difference, but she does occasionally knock him over. They're best buds though, and it's pretty cute.
Also kind of a novel, but I hope someone finds it helpful!
@pammasu0909 Amen! I hope my OP didn't sound judgey...it's only gets me when people don't train their pup and then the dog gets blamed for being jealous or nervous and it's not really their fault. We had to rehome a dog before - it was a tough decision but the best for everyone involved.
DH: 36
Married 5 years
DD born 8/30/13
#2 expected 4/25/17