Advice about dogs & new babys

[Jane1972]

Hello Everyone

Sorry if this sounds silly to some of you but I was just wondering those of you that are dog owners how you introduced your dog to the new member of the family. My husband & I were discussing this last night & dont know the best way to go around it.

Our dog is great with children my nephew is 4 & he is great with him.(although If I am visiting my Dad when my nephew arrives he will quickly jump on my dad's lap, my dad gets him to get down & nephew gets up no problem)
We trust him completely but would never leave him alone with a child of any age because (& I'm sorry if this upsets anyone) he is a dog.

I guess I just dont want him to feel left out, He has been amazing & helped me through 4 of my 5 m/c (cuddles & exercise + he just knew?) any advise please?

Thanks Jane

 

[lesleyann]

we got our dog after our baby but i would say while your in the hosp the night get your oh to take some that smells of the baby for the dog to sniff and before the babys comes id sort out some type of way of getting the dog used to being out of the room.

e.g if he roams the kitchen and living room put a stair gate up so he knows he is not allowed at certain times before baby is here so doggy does not feel like the baby is making him be pushed out..since you will have to use a stair gate once Lo is bigger anyway.


Get a playpen? that ay baby can be in its moses basket safely but teh dog can sniff around without getting to close? and so also when Lo is a bit bigger just keeps him/her safe anyway



Hope i helped if not tell me to shut up

 

[HannahGraceee]

Hiya - i live with my parents and have 2 dogs - when shefirsted came home, i showed the dogs ava - they sniffed her and walked away and there so good around her

but like you i would never leave her alone with the dogs - even the goodest dogs can turn so quicky so its better to be safe then sorry x

 

[Chick21]

I have a dog and we just let him smell Effy when we brought her home and still take him on lots of walks, show him the same amount of attention...but one thing that helps is he goes to work with my OH, so by the time he gets home he is tired and happy to be here.
He also gets lots of attention there but i understand not everyone can do that. Just try not to change your routine and attention im sure he wil be fine. i completly agree never leave a child with a dog because its in there instinct, they nip the puppies and pick them up with the mouths so the dog may not even bein nasty.

 

[PeanutBean]

We didn't do anything special. WEe had two dogs when Byron was born. One has been a bit naughty ever since because of the reduced attention no matter what we do with her. She's been totally fine with Byron always though. The other was old and afraid on sudden noises so we kept him away a bit for his own sake. He died in September though so we no longer have to worry.

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

We got a stair gate and put in on the door that seperates the lounge and kitchen, just so if needed we could leave baby in the lounge while we nipped up stairs and shut dog in kitchen. Also if he needed to be put out when visitors were around (he gets excited) SO he learnted to go in there ebfore baby came so didn't associate it with LO.

When we came home we let our doggie sniff joshua and he just wandered off. he stayed away from him when he was tiny and when he cried he used to sulk into the garden! Now he's a bit bigger he lies on the floor next to Joshua's play mat, he's brilliant with him

Also we never leave them alone together

 

[MrsBop]

We didn't really do anything different, I'd had a section so obviously could hardly walk (I begged to come home the next day too! ) so my husband took baby in to see Jess (she has her bed in dining room next to radiator, the dining room and living room is seperated by an arch so she can see all the time if the babygate is shut) all she did was lick her, she wasn't bothered at all, she's obsessed with my sister so she didn't care until she'd gone home and then she moped around for a bit but I soon got back to taking her for a walk and shes fine now. The baby is obsessed with her and Jess loves the baby (only because of the leftover food ) I think if your relaxed about it, your dog will be too.

 

[PeanutBean]

Yeah my dog (also a Jess) is much more interested in Byron since he was weaned. Byron totally loves her. He gives her gorgeous cuddles and is really very gentle with her patting her properly and stroking her. It's awfully sweet.

 

[special_kala]

My DH brought home a blanket river had been in before we came home and let him have a sniff and put it in her moses basket. When we got home he was really scared of me and her and wouldnt come near us lol

We tried not to push him away to much and let him have a sniff (he did get a occasional lick in to lol). I didnt want him to resent the baby so tried to involve him. We dont leave him alone in the room with her and whenever we need to pop upstairs we call him up with us.

I think most dogs are good with babies as their pretty inteligent and see that were being gentle so they follow

we have River laying on the floor alot and he has never ever trod on her or bumped into her and hes a pretty big clumsy labrador

 

[Laura80]

Thanks for making this post Jane. I'm worried about this too, my dog has never seen a baby before. She is just a puppy so I'm worried she'll be hyper.

 

[NuKe]

my parents have 4 dogs, and every single one of them are SO well trained (all are active within the dog agility community and would pretty much sit down and write you an opera if you told them to!) and wouldn't touch you at all! but like you say, they are dogs and not one of them will ever will be left alone with a child of any age. for the first year they wont even be in the same room as the baby if one of us isnt holding her!