Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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Bringing Home Baby to Meet Our Dog, Advice?
Our first baby is due at the end of May. It's a little boy and my husband and I are thrilled. We are a little bit concerned, however, about our dog, Bella.
Bella was a rescue dog, she is a black lab and a little over a year old. We got her when she was seven months old (last August) and she had been abandoned and ended up on our doorstep. We did everything to find her a home or her owners, but we could find no one. My husband was going to deploy within the next few months so I had been begging for a dog to keep me company.
Bella is just sweet, playful, and very affectionate. I've never seen her show any signs of aggression towards any person or any animal. She loves children (I work as a nanny and she goes with me to work) and is very people oriented. My parents have a dog and two cats and Bella just plays with them all the time when we come to visit them.
Our concern would be that she can be a little bit jealous when she doesn't get attention.
For example, one night my husband and I were watching a movie and we were cuddling together and started kissing. She came over to the couch and got right in between us and started whining and licking and trying to get us to pay attention to her. She was very adamant about us giving her attention. She is that way when I play with the kids I work with or play with my parent's dog. She just butts right in the middle of it all, licking and wanting to play.
I want to make the transition to having a baby in the house smooth for us and him as well as for her.
Any advice on bringing home the baby and introducing him to our dog? Any particular things we could do to help Bella get used to the idea?
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- From: XxFireXboltxX@xanga
- About Me: I just happen to be the luckiest girl in the world, married to the most amazing man and *crunchy* momma to the cutest little boy ever! God has blessed me with so much, all the glory goes to Him!
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Comments (13)
My dog was my baby before I had my baby. lol. He was used to getting all of the attention, and he'd find his way of getting it. If was on the computer, he'd come sit on the keyboard. If I was reading a book, he'd come sit on it. (He was a small dog, I'm sure you've guessed that by now) But when I had my daughter, he didn't have a problem with it. He never tried to sit on her when I was holding her, he didn't care she was getting the attention. The only thing he'd do is whine at me when he was hungry or if he needed more water. It's almost like he understood, in a way.
I bet you won't have any problems. =)
Honestly, it will probably go smoother than you're expecting. We had a big dog (still a puppy) also when we brought our daughter home and she did wonderfully. Some of the tips we followed were to talk sweetly to the dog and pet him/her while holding the baby so the dog comes to associate the baby with good things. If you have a loud baby, pet and reassure the dog also when the baby starts screaming. Basically show the dog everything is still normal. The only special concerns we took were to not leave the dog and baby alone in the same room, but that's common sense. Honestly, the dog wasn't too interested in our daughter until she started crawling and then she would lick her feet and bring her the ball like she wanted to play.
Not being a dog owner, I don't have any experience. But I have heard many a dog owner say that before they brought baby home, they would take a blanket or something that the baby had been wrapped in for the first day in the hospital, and bring that home and let the dog sniff that and become familiar with the smell before bringing baby home.
We didn't have any problems with our dog, and I was worried about it too. I'm sure it'll be fine. Good luck!
My brother and his wife were concerned about our Fox Terrier being jealous of their first baby. We were just very careful when they brought her home, and our dog really surprised us. Our dog's 10 years old now, and they have 4 kids under the age of 6, and he's very protective and loving towards all the kids.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful, but you should also give your pets more credit. Sometimes animals can act better than humans.
We asked our vet when we were pregnant with our first how to make this easier on our 1 yo beagle. He suggested, since she was such an enthusiastic 'greeter' (she met you at the door and tried to smell you, weave between your legs, and jump up on you) to practice with a baby doll. We rubbed the dolly with baby lotion and powder to familiarize her with the smell, and then taught her that if someone was holding the little bundle that she couldn't jump up on them, that she had to sit until she was summoned.
The first day we brought our daughter home, it was a priority to unbundle her and let Katy inspect her stem to stern. Katy was much more interested in licking and loving than inspecting.
We ended up being more worried about our two aging cats. They absolutely loved the baby, and having two cats weighing in at over 20 lbs each trying to snuggle with a 7 lb baby was scary. They were always careful, but it's still a scary sight to see two giant cats dwarfing the tiny baby!
Haha I remember there's a case like this on Dog Whisperer (Yes I watch Ceaser Millan talking dog language, haha.) I forgot what he did though. Probably just telling the dog where it belongs and such.
My dog actually does the same thing, whenever I take him for a walk with my SO, he would just walk right in between us, no matter what. It's cute, 'cause he's just acting like a child, "Pay attention to me mommy and daddy!!!! HERE! MEEEE!! HERE!!!"
My mom told me that when I was born, her cat actually pee on my bed because she hates me. My mom said the cat was really jealous of my existence she even chews on every shoes and toys I have. Talk about jealousy.
I guess the only thing you can do is wait till your baby is home, then see what happens, if your dog misbehave really bad, you probably have to be "mean" and "harsh" to tell it off.
from my experience bringing in our foster son when he was six months old.. I think that you have three big things going for you.. She is still very young so she is more likely to learn to be gentle really quickly. The other thing is her being a lab.. From the research and having a lab/mix ourselves, we have found them to be one of the most gentle dogs when it comes to babies. And the fact that she is a girl is great as well because (hopefully) she will kick in those maternal instincts that happen about this time and she will be fine.
We had a rottie/shepherd cross when our foster son came, and even at 2 months she was incredible with him. She also did the jumping between my husband and I, but we figured out that was because she had bonded with me more then my hubby and thought I was more "her's".. We corrected it by moving her and after a few times she figured it out.
We had to get rid of our pets because of children. It didn't work.
There are 3 recommendations that I would make. All things that I have found in looking into this issue myself.
1) As somebody else mentioned, if possible, bring home something that has the scent of the baby before you actually bring the baby home. A blanket that the baby was wrapped in for a couple hours is good enough to get the scent for the dog. This helps them get familiar with the new scent.
2) When you do bring home the baby, have the mother go into the home first without the baby ... if you have dad or somebody to wait outside/in the car with the baby for a few minutes. Greet the dog and give her all the love and attention she wants, as she probably hasn't seen you in couple days. Let her know that you still love her.
3) Give the dog opportunities to 'inspect' the new addition under supervision. It is something new to them and all they generally want is to figure it out. Make sure to give the dog positive reinforcement as she behaves wells during these 'inspection times'.
Of course, there is the commen sense of not leaving the baby unsupervised where the dog could get at it. Also, as sad as it may be, you need to be prepared to remove the dog from the situation if it should not work out. We had to do this with one of our dogs once when our oldest started running. The dog would race up behind him, knock him over and growl at him. While we were pretty sure he was just playing, after many attempts at getting the behavior to stop, we ulitmately had to hand the dog off to somebody else (and recommend a home without children) because we could not take the chance with our chlid's safetly. Dogs can do some pretty severe damage very quickly, and it only takes once.
But try not to worry about it too much. Dogs can also sense your emotions and may become more on edge if you are. Hope all goes well for you.
When my baby brother was born (I was 15 at the time, and more like a second mom than a sister), we had a dog that was half-wild and pretty spooky. We knew she couldn't go to live with anyone else, so if we couldn't make her ok with the baby, we would have to have her put down
. But, fortunately my mom is a real "animal whisperer" and knew just what to do. Every time we entered or left the house with Devin (my bro) we would let Violet (the wolf-dog) see him and sniff him. She very quickly became attached to him, and when he got big enough to be toddling around the yard she was never more than 5 feet from him. She watched over him like he was her own pup! Basically, from a dog's point of view, if you are the alpha female, then it is only natural for her to help you raise and protect your offspring. Labs are notorious for their easy disposition and compatibility with children. I'd say with just a little care and attention you should be able to not only make all the members of your household comfortable together, you may even wind up with a first-rate babysitter, too!
While you are in the hospital, have your husband go home each day with a hat or blanket that the baby has been wearing and let the dog sniff it. Good luck!
My husband and I have a Labrador too. You are in good company - this breed is known for being family oriented, excellent with children, playful and loving towards its "pack" (in this case, you and your husband).
And I agree, when you deliver, your husband should take back to the house, a hat or blanket with the baby's smell. Let Bella sniff it all over (Labs are all nose, anyway!) while he talks to her in a calm, reassuring voice. T
Talk now, between the two of you, how you will both to pay attention to Bella after the baby comes. A specific walk - maybe 3 times a week (every day would be ideal but I know that is not going to happen with a new baby), play time in the yard throwing and retrieving....Labs need a job - if she goes from your whole world to no attention once the baby gets there - she will be hurt, confused and probably act up.
At Three Dog Bakery, I saw a CD of sounds a baby can make (cooing to full on crying meltdown) that can be played for a dog to acquaint them with baby noises. I don't know if it would work. But I thought it was a good idea.
Another idea that someone else mentioned...Cesar Millan. He has great wisdom with dogs. I have found his stuff to be helpful, in relating to our Lab. You can find his books at most libraries.