I have an 18m old doodle, a toddler and a 6 week old baby. Dog is high energy but very good with toddler. I spent my whole pregnancy worried about how the dog would be with the baby, jumping etc and he’s been wonderful. I can play with baby or change him on the floor, dog will sit next to me on the sofa rather than on the baby and I’m so happy about this.
However there are 2 new issues which are driving me nuts.
- Barking. He will bark excessively at every bloody thing. The door (fine), a garden wall (no idea), the wind, shadows, birds, aircraft (I know🤦♀️). It doesn’t bother the baby but I’m tired and it’s driving me mad. My guess is that it’s a mixture of attention seeking and perhaps he thinks he’s protecting the baby? If I knew what he was barking at I would try to manage with distraction/positive reenforcement techniques but I have no clue 90% of the time. He was not a barky dog particularly before.
- Stealing. This is quite specific-he waits until I’m feeding/hands tied up with baby and goes on a rampage stealing my older sons toys which he often chews. He doesn’t resource guard them, this is clearly sport for him and I realise attention seeking but have literally no idea how to train him not to while I’m holding a baby. He’s always been a bit of a thief, making off with washing etc, but he was growing out of it until baby came along.
This is not an exercise issue, we kept on dog walkers incase it was a struggle after baby was born, so he gets his usual walks, and then most days I walk him too.
I understand his behaviour (I think) and try to give him lots of love and attention when he behaves but my hands are often tied and he’s behaving less and less...
I plan to find a behaviouralist after lock down, but does anyone have any ideas in the mean time? Anyone else experienced this?
I’m so pleased that his jealousy hasn’t manifested in aggression, but I want my nice quietish dog back!
Thanks