Preparing Dog for Baby - personal experiences

[mrsjrd23]

P is a little nervous dog with some anxiety issues but also very loving and sweet. I'm worried about how he'll do when the baby arrives. I have pittieboo's blog bookmarked and plan to check out the books she recommends but I am interested in what you pestie moms actually did in preparing for baby and in bringing LO home.

What worked well? what didn't? I'm open to any and all suggestions.

[DorkFish]

We let them investigate everything that came into the house. I also played the baby sounds CD but that didn't bother them. Darla is my anxious-to-sounds dog and she wasn't bothered by him at all. She actually loves him and gives him kisses regularly. Boots, was drugged up on anti-anxiety meds, so I don't know if his non-reaction was because of the meds.

[gbck]

Like Dorkfish, we tried CDs...my pets were indifferent to them.
And I did some reading. And I've always 'manhandled' my dog (my dog thinks ear-pulls are a sign of affection and she waits for treats after tail tugs , so she associated being mauled by her hmans w/ good things.
And...she was in love from day 1.
Really, I have pictures

[DorkFish]

GBCK reminded me of something As L has gotten more mobile, all of the animals have learned to move if he's coming near them. While we work with him on gentle, but I have no pity if a cat gets hugged because it was too lazy to move Darla has learned if he grabs onto her that she can kiss him and he'll let go. Boots is goofy and doesn't care if he gets mauled by Liam. Miles and Frankie are learning to move when the wee-one comes after them. Though, I'm starting to think Frankie teases him purposefully so Liam will crawl after him. When it comes to our foster cats, I think they're just dumb. Liam will lay on them and then we'll make him let go and they won't move. I think the biggest thing is monitoring interactions. The only room Liam is in without supervision is his room because the dogs are baby-gated out.

[gbck]

yeah, I will admit that I prepared for 'baby' and had to go "OH NO" and re-prepare when baby became toddler!


Our only issues have been around food--Dawg has always been somewhat food possessive--we worked w/ her extensively on that. What we have learned is taht she's food possessive with cats and 'small people', but not big people--and as far as Dawg is concerned, Buffy is closer to puppy/kitten than she is to 'human'.

So, yes, I can let Buffy feed Dawg--but I can't let Buffy feed Dawg unless I am *right there* and supervising. (It never turned bad, but it had definite potential to--Dawg got growly/air-snappy and we've been very careful about that since)

[dearprudence]

We did pretty much the same - but our dog was fairly blase about the whole thing. Not too interested in the sights and sounds.

He's remained much the same since we've brought the baby home, with the exception that he's the first to alert us when the little guy wakes up, and he likes to crash in the nursery when I'm feeding the baby.

We haven't hit the "Oh shit" mobility state yet. Right now the little guy isn't crawling, just scooching along and therefore Ringo can (and does) easily avoid him. But we're pretty good about giving him his space. If I bring the baby over to him, he'll usually leave and we don't follow.

I thought he'd be more interested in the little guy once we started solids, but he's far more attached to the highchair than the food dropper that sits in it.

[redheadbaker]

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I enrolled Carl in a Canine Good Citizen class. It didn't really help

I had a lot of plans for how I was going to prepare them for the baby. Set up all the gear and turn it on, wear the baby lotion on myself so they could get used to the smell, play the baby CD so they'd get used to the sounds, practice walking the dogs with the stroller, etc.

In the end, we didn't most of the gear until about two weeks before the baby was born and had to set up a piece a day because Reese would start shaking and hide in the closet.

We played the baby CD the day I ended up going into labor. Whoops.

I pretty much predicted their reaction anyway. Carl ran and hid from the baby; and Reese tried to guard him from pretty much everybody, including Carl. It took several days for them to come around, and Reese still guards the baby sometimes (she growled at my mom on Mother's Day).

Sometimes they come and lie down next to the baby on the blanket during floor time, and he'll roll over and grab them (usually Carl's foot or tail, but he can grab handfuls of Reese's fur). We'll immediately intervene, but the dogs are taking it better than I thought they would (not that I'm going to push it).

[stephiehun]

We had everything set up for a few weeks before DD was born, and Molly was allowed to explore and sniff all she wanted. We've always played with her paws and ears, so that wasn't really a concern. DH brought home a shirt that DD wore in the hospital the day before we came home.

When we got home, Molly sniffed the baby in the carseat and walked away. She's had an attitude of mostly polite indifference, but I think she does actually like her. DD absolutely lights up when she's around.

[fragile1000]

I understand your concern. When Terry was on his way I used a book called Tell Your Dog You're Pregnant: An essential guide for dog owners who are expecting a baby. It was really helpful and came with a CD of sounds. Tiger took some time to get used to the sounds but the book helped on how to do it. Maybe that will help!

[nital]

What made life with a baby and dogs so much easier for me was having a solid leave-it, stay, and go command. When Abigail was tiny, all interactions were super short and sweet. They actually ignored each other most of the time. Otherwise, they were separate. As she got older, we would guide her hands so she could pet them nicely. Lots of praise and love for the dogs for putting up with the little one. Aside from that, dog and baby are supervised when they're together, and baby isn't allowed to maul the dogs. I can read my dogs, and if there's even a tiny hint of annoyance, it's time to separate them.