Your Experience Preparing Dogs for Baby

[sparrowgreen]

We are in the midst of TTC, and I want to start getting our two dogs ready sooner rather than later.  I know this is a popular subject here and on the old Pets board, and I am definitely checking out the resources in the FAQ.  I was just wondering if anyone would care to share their experience - what you did, how it worked, how are things going, what suggestions you have, etc... 

I'm particularly interested in those who have fearful dogs.  Our 40-pound boxer mix, Bella, is very skittish around children and has snapped at our friend's daughter a couple of times, so of course that makes me nervous.  We are fully committed to doing whatever we have to do to make it work, even if it means separating the child and the dog a large percentage of the time, but we're hoping for a happier solution.  I'll admit I already feel a little guilty and I'm not even pregnant yet, because I know a baby is going to rock their world no matter how much we prepare! 

TIA for any advice :-). 

[sparrowgreen]

fivedogs, I understand your point, but to me it would be unhappy if my dog and my child had to be separated 24/7. . I'm hoping that it doesn't go that way, but will take every precaution regardless. We work with our vet to manage Bella's anxiety also. Thanks for sharing what worked for you!

[dearprudence]

I think we "dogproofed" my kid more than "childproofed" my dog. Which means my dog always has a "safe spot" to go to (gosh a lot of quotes in here!) I trust my dog implicitly, but I still rarely leave the two of them unsupervised together. (At almost 3, my son usually comes to get me if our dog is in another room and he wants to go pet him)

From the beginning we've taught my son that if the dog is on his bed, or under the table, that means he doesn't want to play, and we don't touch him. We have a no chase rule, meaning if the dog walks away from you, you let him go. We allow growling, as his way of saying he doesn't like something, or wants to be left alone.

Personally I felt like it was easier, and more important, to teach my son how to behave around animals since he can bring that with him in other situations.

[sparrowgreen]

Thanks dearprudence, I really like your approach and totally agree with the importance of working with your child as much if not more than the dogs :-)! 

[Deleted]

Somewhat of an aside, but it had been mentioned while I was pregnant to train my dog to stay while I went up and down the stairs - and then they could follow. In those early days of carrying a newborn down the stairs I truly wished I had listened to this.

We had the swing set up in advance so our dog could get used to the movement. When DS was newborn, I would try to encourage my dog to come sit with me on the couch while I held him - but in general he didn't want to be too close, LOL. So he really separated himself. When I would put the baby down on his play mat, I'd give the dog some extra belly rubs. My dog is pretty velcro-y, so when I needed to leave the room, I knew he would follow me.

Another tricky thing is the visitors who came to the house non stop for the first couple of weeks. I had lots of super treats on hand. Thankfully he's always been pretty comfortable in his crate.

Now with my son being 18 months, we're more into managing him because throwing balls at the dog seems like fun. We're definitely at a stage now where I won't leave the alone in a room together. But whenever we're present, we try to encourage positive interaction for both of them. Just recently they've been playing ball together in the yard (though my son can't give the dog treats because he's tried eating the dog biscuits :-)