introducing a new baby to a pet

[Pebs]

My beloved Yorkie has been in a large part of my heart for 13 years and she will soon have to share it with our firstborn son. I am trying to plan as much as I can to make the transition as smooth as possible for all of us. Ideas so far: dh bringing home some of the bedding/clothes from hospital to bring his scent into the house, their first meeting not being on home territory, inviting friends with babies to visit for short periods, and actively not overprotecting either son or dog to encourage belonging for all. I am desperate for any other tips or advice. Help!

My friend had this problem, and what she did was letting the dog get to know her dd (so was only just starting to learn how to crawl) and if the dog got too close, she would just say firmly no to the dog, and pick him up and move him away from her dd. Don't think that is very useful, but thought I'd just say

Hi Pebs,
The only tip (you might think it tough - sorry) I would give is to never forget - and never let your dog forget - that it's place is at the bottom of the family pack. In everything you do the dog must know that it's place is lower than ALL the humans in the house.
Give the dog, if you can, no more or less attention than it is used to, and be firm and decisive at any signs of jumping up or growling at the baby. She is an old dog so will probably be fine, just curious. The dog must fit in to your new human family life, not any hint of the baby fitting in to yours and the dog's life.

When I came home from the hospital with DS, I went into the house, made a fuss over pooch and talk her for a nice walk and gave her a treat. While I was out, DH came into the house with DS. When pooch and I got back, she had a sniff at the baby and after that, it was fine. We did lose a couple of pairs of scratch mitts and a dummy but no problems except those.

don't worry about your lovely dog Pebs. Being a girls as well she'll be absolutely fine with your baby. Our dog was the centre of my universe before dd and he jsu adjuted himself to being the last one in the hausehold. Dogs just know instinctively to be nice around babies and you don't need any special preparations. The only things you need to remember: make sure the dog is wormed very often and never leave the dog alone with the baby in case the dog gets scared by something and jumps up and frightens the baby this sort of thing. our dog is big and very naughty, but when around dd he's as gratious as a fairy. it's quite amazing what different attitude he has when she's near him. So don't need to do anyhing special, your dog will learn by herself. I remember our dog was always spending a lot of time near where dd was (when she was a newborn) and got very agitated every time she cried as if trying to tell me to have a look at dd because there's something happening. he was relly sweet. Good luck!