OT: Advice for Preparing Dogs for a Baby
My wife and I are expecting our first child in early December. We have two dogs and a cat, and I'm a little concerned about how to prepare them, especially our younger dog (he'll be two and half when the baby is born).
I'm wondering if any MGoDads or MGoMoms have any advice on how you prepared your pets for the arrival of a baby. We recently had a family friend who had to give away their dog in a similar situation and are obviously looking to avoid something similar.
The dogs and the new baby will love playing together. They'll have all sorts of fun.
ouch that one in the middle took a heck of a shot
Definitely targeting.
I see a clip in the first video. I see a blatant target in the second video. That mutt has Sparty written all over him/her. The third video is a tough call. I suspect the "call on the field will stand". I see initial contact with the doggy-shoulder rather than the head/crown. Plus, it looks shoulder-to-chest contact. My vote -- clean hit.
Not if the dog was from Minnesota.
I like the first one because instead of just tackling the baby, he puts it on skates and breaks the baby's ankles like an Allen Iverson crossover.
Nice pad level
on the third one.
Do multple blankets, wrap the baby in them, then bring them home and let the dogs smell them and lay with them to get used to the scent. Then when you let them smell the baby, they'll be used to the new person in the home.
Just be damned careful when letting the dog smell baby. That dog can move a helluva lot faster than you can react! Know your dog, and how to read it's expression and mood, before letting it get close to anyone. And don't leave them alone for months, years even (especially depending on breed and temperment).
Some dogs love baby - kids can do anything with them! I've had a couple like that. I've also had a couple that I trust well enough now (6 years later), but didn't when the kid was new - to the point of keeping a gate and my hand seperating them at all times.
I'm sure everyone will be fine, you just have to be careful and pay attention to the dog.
We first had the dog (shepherd-chow mix) in place in our home, so that she was not shocked by coming home from boarding to a new arrival (or perceived intruder). Then we let her smell the baby hat they gave us at the hospital so she'd recognize the smell. Let the dog settle in on that for a bit.
Then, hours later, we all brought the baby to his new "sister", keeping them both easily separable just in case. Worked like a charm for us - no issues whatsoever.
We had two Siberian Husky’s – one male and one female. Our male didn’t mind when our young son climbed all over him, pulling on his ears and whiskers. When he had enough, he would lick the pre-toddler in the face.
The female would get up and walk into another room whenever our son entered. It got to the point where she started growling, so we gave her away to a friend.
I named the male Blue so when I called him I could say: “Let’s go, Blue”. That was many years ago, so I don’t have pictures, but he was beautiful and looked like this:
In my experience it's more of a parental concern than actual problem. It's amazing to me how quickly/easily dogs in particular can adapt to having a new human in the house that isn't like them at all. The most my dog tried to do to our baby was lick it's face. And she's a dog with a ton of energy.
Maybe it depends on the type of dog you have, but I wouldn't be too concerned about it at all. I don't think there's anything you can really do to "prepare" your dog outside of stealing a small child off the streets to test their reaction. Not that I'd support that or anything.
When kid #1 was coming close we talked to the vet, read some articles, gave let the dogs sniff a blanket from the hospital, blah blah blah blah. Never the slightest issue. They wanted to sniff the new baby, but immediately seemed to recognize that she was an new member of the crew to be watched over. Same thing when kid #2 arrived. Then again, that's why labradors are the best.
Don't let the doggos eat the baby.
Based on the title of the thread I thought it was going to be the opposite.
Give the dogs a treat and tell them it's from the baby
just make sure the baby you bring in fits the culture of your program. you don't want those dogs actively working to undermine his or her authority.
I've had a bunch of dogs and kids - certainly not an exhaustive list, but take it for what it's worth:
- your animals need to be very well socialized around people, particularly little kids
- if they ever show any aggression towards a child it needs to be addressed immediately - I had a dog growl at one of my kids one time, it never happened again, but had it, the dog would have to be gone which is something I would dread doing
- when the kid is born, bring home one of the hospital blankets for the dogs to scent - that way they will get accustom to the smell (we did this one time and the dogs tore the blanket to shreads in seconds - that was nothing more than dogs just playing, however)
- introduce the dogs (I cannot speak for cats at all) to your baby when he/she arrives home - smells are very important, and you need to praise and/or chastise your pets based on their responses to baby
Dogs are generally smart and will understand their place in the family heirarchy, as long as you reinforce it.
Good luck and have fun!
Regarding chastising your dog based on its response to a baby: be very very careful here. You DO NOT want to discourage growling. Growling is your warning; your dog is telling you it is uncomfortable. If you lose the growl, you lose your warning and go straight to aggression and biting.
Roast for nine hours over medium heat, let sit for 45 minutes to an hour, then puree.
The key is to get a good quality saddle, so that the baby can ride the dogs without falling off.
#monkeyrodeo
My brother had an Akita that would only sleep at the foot of the crib when he brought his baby home. They finally just moved its' bed to into the crib room because the dog would only sleep there. It immediately viewed the baby as a part of the family and guarded the crib without being told to.
Not all dogs will do that, but most dogs are smart enough to recognize a new baby as a part of the family and will adjust.
Puree them if your baby doesn't have teeth.
you have a really aggressive breed of dog I would think hard about whether it is worth it. Raising a toddler/infant comes with a great many challenges and worrying about whether he or she is going to get bitten in the face should not be one of them.
Other than that you should be fine. Your dogs will be puzzled for a day or two but then it is business as usual for them aside from having their ears pulled on every once in a while.
having the dog smell baby things is a great idea, the earlier the better to give the dog time to get used to it.
Hopefully the dog has been well socialized since thats what responsible dog owners are supposed to do anyway. Also, if you're not obviously the Alpha in the relationship it's tool ate to change it now and the dog must go.
Giving away a dog because it just growls once at a kid is nuts! New parents overreact a lot, teach the dog that it's unacceptable behavior but don't expect instant miracles.
Best advice I can give particularly once the kid is mobile and or the dog gets older, is to absolutely make sure that the dog has a safe space to get away.
Either outside, in a room/closet, in a crate, in the garage through a doggie door, etc.
What breed of dogs do you have? This should at least weigh in to your decision. Here is a chart regarding breeds:
What do the X and Y axis even signify in this chart?
are in the Top 71% on the chart, you are a real man, if you fall anywhere else you are not.
I believe it is the percentage of total dog bites/attacks by breed (aka 71% of dog bites are by pitbulls). I've seen different statistics (attacks on humans, attack on other animals, etc.) and all had pitbulls with the vast majority of incidents. Not all pitbulls are bad, some are perfectly gentle, but it just depends how much you like those odds.
Based on the counts that might actually be total deaths over a 1 year period or something.
The dog breeds with which Jim McElwain has been photographed in the nude.
This chart weighed 100% on my decision to call you a dumbass. Dumbass.
It's the cat that you need to worry about. They can get territorial and piss on things to show their jealousy, especially if you give the cat a lot of physical love that will now be directed towards your spawn... er... child
for under the crate. It's always important to have the right tool for the job.
There is some good advice above (esp. the bit about putting the baby blanket in the dog's crate), but every dog is going to be different. What works with one dog may not work for others.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend having a dog trainer do a consultation. We did this the last time we adopted a dog, and it was SO helpful. (It's not quite the same as your situation, since we were introducing a new dog into our existing household of two kids and one dog.) She came over before we brought the new dog home, met our kids and our current dog, suggested some exercises we could do with the current dog to make sure the introduction would go well, and gameplanned how to actually introduce them. She also came over again shortly after we brought the second dog home to work with the two dogs together. With her help, everything went smooth as butter.
If you're in the Ann Arbor area, Hannah Ashmore (http://www.longsnouts.com/) is fantastic and reasonably priced. If not, perhaps other folks in your area can make recommendations.
the epidural
/ s
We have a Corgi/Chow mix who's about 35 pounds and a Lhasa/Terrier/God Only Knows mix that's around 18 pounds. Neither are particularly aggressive, though the older dog was abused before my wife adopted him (more than a decade ago) and can be defensive when he's bothered or backed into a corner. The younger one, if anything, backed away from my brother's eight-month old when they visited at Christmas.
now I have a two year old son with a Lab mix (essentially a god only know mix) around 25 pounds. She didn't eat for a couple of days when we brought our son home and was generally nervous and "figity." She ran away for about an hour or two around a week after we brought him home and then came back apologetically. After that initial stage, she is really interactive with him, play ball, frisby, etc. And she is very protective of him. That is the thing that may surprise you the most. If we are walking her and any stranger comes up and is like "awe cute baby look at those little cheeky weekies," she kind of freaks out and I have to calm her down.
I'm telling you though, by the time you have that baby home the dogs are simply not going to be an "issue" that takes up any mental space. It is kind of a theoretical worry that expentant parents have but unless your dog could at all be dangerous to your baby (and it doesn't sound like that is the case) it won't be an issue.