Dogs and Newborn

I have two dogs, both mutts. One is going to be 3 in june and one is 1 1/2. My younger one is super possessive of me. My husband comes anywhere near me and she will sit on me, squeeze between us etc.

I'm a little nervous how she is going to relax to a newborn. Does anyone have experience with this?

I have no worries about my older dog. She is calm and laid back. I know in the beginning it will be a transition, but I'm not overly concerned.

My dogs are my babies! I really don't want to have a problem with them

Dogs and Newborn

I don't have a dog but I have a cat that thinks she's a dog. She is always talking to us and wanting to play catch (no seriously we throw the toy and she brings it back over and over and over again). She runs around the apartment and barely takes naps. She ALWAYS wants to play...she's like the puppy we're not allowed to have. HAHA!

I've been worried about the same thing with her and our newborn coming in June/July. She's going to be 4 in November and just won't break this "kitten/puppy" stage. Apparently when my niece is at my inlaws she is amazing with her. She goes into her things (swing, pack n play, etc) when the baby isn't in them. But my in-laws say our cat is amazing with the baby. Calmed my nerves a little bit.

Sorry I can't fully help but hope this eases your worries a little bit.

Re: Dogs and Newborn

Her sitting on you is a form of dominance. I'd kick it in the butt now before the baby comes. The dog thinks she owns you and that's why she does that. I'd start training her now to not sit on you or even on the couch quite honestly, she should only be allowed on your lap if you invite her. I just got a Great Dane puppy and we were letting her on the couch at first, but we stopped it as soon as one time we went to grab her off and she barked at me. That is unacceptable, she hasn't been on the couch since. It's hard because she will sneak on it, but its definitely a dominance thing.

Re: Dogs and Newborn

With our DD, prior to I would walk around with a toy baby. While I was in the hospital, DH brought home the blanket with the baby smell. It is important to introduce the baby to the dogs immediately so that they won't feel left out. We always had a tight hold on the leash. Also, we tried to stick the same schedule with the dog prior to daughter being born . Eg. long walks, playtime

It worked for us! I'll admit..I was a nervous nelly!

Message edited 5/5/2013 7:18:04 PM.

Re: Dogs and Newborn

I have a mid-sized dog who thinks he is my personal bodyguard. He's also a total sweetheart and very gentle so I actually think his protectiveness will extend to the baby but we do plan on practicing with baby sounds, bringing home smells, walking with the stroller etc. to acclimatize him. Good luck! It may take work but hopefully it will work out in a positive way.

Re: Dogs and Newborn

Thanks ladies! I'll work on getting her to stop going on my lap when DH is around. We were planning on having DH bring home a baby blanket or something with the babies smell.

I did use a doll and I talked to it to see how she would react. She was curious, but she didnt try to do anything to it, so hopefully that is a good sign?

Re: Dogs and Newborn

I have a hunting dog mix as well. I was worried when I first brought my son home but he was great with him and if anything became very protective over my son. Now that my son is 2 - the dog hides from him half the time lol.

I agree with some of the above advice, my dog even used to sleep in bed with us and we cut all of the bad habits before the baby came along so that he didn't associate the baby with not sleeping in our bed anymore.

Dogs and Newborn

You'd be surprised how dogs (or animals in general) respond to babies. They are very protective over them and seem to have a gut instinct that the baby doesn't know what they're doing and doesn't mean to hurt the dog even if they did. My in laws have a retriever mix and a boxer/pitbull mix. If anything they bark but don't do anything close to trying to hurt DS ...and that's only if he like falls on them or something.

Of course it also depends on how they are trained in general.