Dog and new born baby?worried first time mom

[signorinakaren]

HI, I just bought the current issue of Parents magazine (from U.S.) and it has an article about having dogs and newborn together. If you don't want to get the magazine I can scan the article and email it to you. Just let me know your email address. I have a dog before I had my daughter. I bought a big doll home and kept telling my dog to leave the doll alone as if it was the baby. He stopped hassling the doll after a few days. Is your dog obedient? My dog is quite good that way. Lately he did make some grumpy sound in front of my daughter since she's getting more mobile nowadays. So I scold him and tell him not to do that anymore. He has never done it ever since.
Good luck and hope this helps.

Dear Meimei, thanks for your advise. i will try to get the magazine as i don't mind getting a copy to read up. Alot of people has given me advise about getting a doll to play pretend with the dog. Shall try to find one this weekend.
I've also started to play baby crying sound in the house since yesterday. Our dog doesn't seem to react much to it....wandering why is that??? perhaps she knows it's an audio? As she normally don't react to television noise as well.

 

[signorinakaren]

Hi,

We have two dogs and a ten month old and so far have encountered no problems! We had no intention of finding new homes for our dogs when our baby was born as we saw no reason why we couldn't all live together. Of course baby is our number one priority but we didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

For the first 6 months of our baby's life our dogs ignored him....and even now that he's mobile they still pretty much ignore him.

He however loves them- when they come near him, when he gets a chance to stroke their fur he breaks into a huge smile and starts laughing!

The only time the dogs feel threatened is when he tries to take their biscuits and chews, so am teaching him not too and keeping him away when they have a snack.

It's very important for us that our son and any future children grow up with pets.

There are things you can do to prepare your dogs for your new baby....I know it's quite common in HK for people to rehouse their dogs/pets when a baby is due....but it's not something that is common where I'm from and also where my husband is from....

Hi bekyboo44, do you mind if i ask what breed are your dogs? I've heard from the trainer that often the breed of dog has a distinctive personality traits, eg. labrador are great with kids and can tolerate kid's handling.

 

[signorinakaren]

Thanks a bunch Wasabibunny! i've googled and found a lot of websites regarding this topic.

FROM http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ccp51/cc/dog-training/dogs-and-babies.shtml
(just google "dog" and "new baby" and you will get lots of info!

The arrival home of a new baby should be as pleasurable experience for your dog as it is for the rest of the family. For this reason it is important that your dog is accustomed to as many of the likely changes before the actual arrival. Adapting to these changes and new routine can take sometime, so don't leave it to the last few weeks before starting.

First and foremost you must ensure you tackle any behaviour problems that may have a bearing on the health and safety of your new baby. Take a closer look at our behaviour web pages for guidance and where to find a good local animal behaviourist.
The attention focused on new babies can cause jealousy within your dog. Although you may find this difficult, start to reduce the amount of attention you give your dog so that they get used to this before the baby arrives. Get your dog used to being left alone for short periods.
Brush up on basic training and obedience. Your dog must be able to sit and lie down on command. Your dog must also understand good social etiquette and be able to settle when requested. This is particularly important for larger dogs where boisterous behaviour may be a danger to some babies.
With a new baby comes a raft of new items, smells and sounds, many of which your dog will not be familiar with. Introduce items such as prams, playpens and highchairs into the household well before the baby arrives and place them in the expected locations. Start to train your dog to walk to heel alongside the pram. Try to teach your dog the difference between baby toys and his toys.
If you have a good friend with a baby, ask if you and your dog can spend a little time with them. Keep your dog under strict control and keep the sessions brief. If possible, get a tape recording of baby noises and play it in the areas the baby is likely to be.
It is likely that you will need to start to restrict your dog from certain areas and rooms. Your dog should certainly not be allowed in the baby's bedroom at anytime. Start this discipline as soon as possible so that it is engrained well before the baby arrives and does not associate the exclusion with the baby. Consider crate training if you have not already done so

What should I do when the baby arrives at home?
Try and minimise the amount of fuss and excitement when your new baby arrives home. Allow your dog to investigate and have a brief sniff.
Ensure there are lots of treats around to reward your dog for behaving correctly around the baby. They will soon come to realise that nice things happen when the baby is around.
Always employ positive training techniques and never reprimand you dog around the baby or for approaching it in the wrong way. Always reward when they are doing it right.
Avoid placing your baby on the floor with your dog and certainly NEVER leave your baby alone with your dog in a room.

 

[signorinakaren]

Does anyone has contact for a good dog trainer especially with agressive dogs? Would like to have some contacts as back up plan in case the current trainer don't work out well.
A trainer that's particularly well experience training a "mongrel" dog.
Please advise....

 

[carang]

i have a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old. we take care of dogs for a living (when their owners go on holidays etc). we have NEVER had a problem and we have more dogs than most people can imagine living with. they live in our home with us as part of the family.

we have taught our son from the time he could crawl that there are certain ways you treat dogs. and precautions you take. when we go out, we always ask the owner if the dog is ok with kids before we approach the dog.

our son now tries to walk the dogs with daddy every morning.

we have NEVER left our son alone with the dogs, however as that just seems irresponsible.

another thing you could do is buy a "fence" to cordon off part of the house for the dog. then when the baby arrives you can introduce a towel or something the baby has slept on to the dog. (you can actually do this when you are still in the hospital, take a towel and put it under the baby when it sleeps. then have hubby take the towel home and give it to the dog to smell etc. but make sure that the dog does not play with it aggressively.)

the fence will give you that little bit of peace of mind. we have one that we use still, even though my sone has been able to open the gate on it since he was 18 months old!

 

[carang]

also, keep in mind that YOU need as much training as the dog does. a lot of dogs' behaviour can be traced to the handling the dog receives. many times, the owner, unwittingly aids the dog in it's misbehaviour.


check out CESAR MILAN. there is a dvd that you can order from amazon all about aggressive dogs and their handling.

good luck!

 

[carang]

thanks for the link, rani!

 

[bekyboo44]

Hi- we have a cocker spaniel and a pekingnese.

Was reading an article not long after our son was born about what dog breeds were best with children- and a pekignese was on the list of dogs not to have!
However I do think it depends on the dogs temperament, our pekignese and my Mum's pekignese have never shown any hostility to our baby- they just run away from him if they think he's too close, or being too friendly.
The only time our pekingnese has shown her unhappiness with our son is when he tried to take her biscuit, so now he is kept well away from their food and snacks.

I got a doll before our son was born and our dogs ignored it....not sure if that was because they knew it wasn't real, but then they ignored our son when he was born too.
Before we brought him home from the hospital my husband brought home a piece of his clothing for the dogs to smell, but they ignored that and him when he came home!

I will admit when my son was first born our dogs were a little neglected....we didn't have a helper and our son was a very bad sleeper and the first weeks/months are a tad overwhelming with a new baby and so they missed a few walks and a few cuddles, but now my son is older and we are all settled into a family routine they have their proper walks, and cuddles back! They have three walks a day, sometimes my helper takes them, sometimes my husband and I it all depends on what we are doing at walk time.

To us we can only see benefits to having dogs in our home as our son is growing up- he will learn first hand how to care and look after another living thing, and learn from that responsibility; not only that but he has two companions at home to play with all the time.

Good Luck with everything, really hope you manage to keep your dog as part of your family, and good luck with your new baby.

 

[Chy]

Hi, I want to share my own experience. We have two pomeranians, one is 6 years and the other 10, both are very well behaved and sweet people loving pooches. My son is now 15 months old and I guess with my dogs being small, it's easier to keep them separated with gates and stuff. They posed no threat from day one and we all get along fine, though we still use a gate to section off the dogs area, just so my son doesn't go in to pick up a few dry kibble as an occasional snack...which he did try once! Both my dogs were very close to me and my husband, they slept with us and get jealous at each other whenever we're carrying or cuddling the other. Even with this attachment, we stopped letting them onto our bed when I was pregnant and though it took some time for them to get use to, they somehow got the message.

Since bringing baby home, they were curious at first but were never aggressive or showed any threatening behaviour. I must admit that with baby's arrival it's hard to give them as much attention as we use to and would like to, it's just not possible and we did notice them showing some signs of depression - you really have to be prepared to make time for them, at least show them that they're still very much part of your family. We love and care for them just the same, but there are some new rules around the house now that we all must adhere to. I guess you'll never know how your dog will react until the time comes.

The suggestion of bringing a lifesize baby doll home and for you to play pretend nursing and caring or just fussing about over it will get them use to you being occupied with another. If you decide to keep your dog no matter what (as we did), perhaps getting some professional advice will help you and doggy adjust. SPCA runs some behaviour training classes for owner and dog together, if it's inconvenient for you perhaps your husband can attend. Goodluck!

 

[mushi]

hey everyone,
i went thru all your views and i feel that the best time to have a dog is when when u plan to have a baby......though i already had 3 lovely dogs prior to having the baby and the only one who suffered after the baby is born is the poor dog....my dogs were the center of my world till my baby arrived And all of a sudden they were ignored....but they have unconditional love for us unlike us human beings....my son not only benefited from having a dog to play with, he also learned a things or two from them --- like how to play whole heartedly, how to love, how to be funny, etc. My advise to everyone out there who has a dog is to invove your pet in your pregnancy just as u would for an older sibling, keep loving the animal even after the baby arrives and give it lots of love and attention like u would to the little one...of course u need to be a little careful when the baby is in the crawling stage to avoid accidents...like the baby tagging the sleeping dog's tail....rest assured it is wonderful process to watch them grow together.