Help with new baby and dogs.

[itsazoohere]

I am due to give birth any minute, and have one 3 yr old springer spaniel boy/jack russell and a 7 month old yorkie/norfolk terrier boy. Also a dd,11 and dd2,6 and 3 cats. Does any one have any help with integrating new baby and dogs? They have experienced babies but only for short periods of time. I must be honest, and say that they do frequently sleep on beds and curl up with/on us on sofa (think this elevates their pack status) but they are told to get off regularly and made to sleep in their bed or the floor so that we can fit on there. They are used to being shut out of the sitting room with a puppy gate, so will have that added safety to help in not leaving dogs/baby alone. My dd6 is left alone with them, but she is more in tune with animals than most adults and is normally the first to spot when they are in pain/scared etc, so knows how to read any warning signals from them. I would like to know any tips on how to avoid jealousy and let the dogs know that this a permanent addition to the family.

Some advice here

I have two adult dogs and my first baby arrived 5 months ago. Obviously much depends on how easy-going your dogs are as to how stressed they will be.

When we first brought ds home we made sure that being around him was a positive experience for the dogs - ie lots of praise for sitting quietly next to whoever was holding ds, praising them for not freaking out when he was having a big scream... that kind of thing. My dogs aren't allowed on furniture but that is personal preference and tbh for me it's mostly just to cut down on the dog hair everywhere. IMHO the whole "allowing dogs on sofas/beds = dominant in pack" thing is vastly overdone and your dog's view of you and your family is determined by far more than that. A friend of mine's dogs who regularly compete in obedience trials are usually to be found in my friend's bed under the duvet .

Other suggestions: make sure your dogs have their regular exercise as much as possible, whether it's with you or other people. If you haven't already, clicker-train some commands like 'go to bed', 'back off' etc that will come in handy.

There are loads of things you can do but this post is long enough and I'm sure others will have plenty more ideas.

Thanks, 2labs. Did the giving treats and praise to older dog when we got the puppy-will do same this time. Site was useful too-just am worried am running out of time!

We have an Otterhound and a 3.5 dd. Following advice from MW and dog trainer, when we brought dd into the house we gave lots of attention to the dog and not the baby. We were also told to let the dog sniff /lick the baby all over. Various other things too, but can't remember. BUT our dog has had no problems accepting our dd into his pack and is very long suffering and protective of her. If she cries, he comes running to see what is wrong. They are a team and love each other to bits. He has always been a very kind natured dog tho', so maybe we;'ve just been lucky? Good luck!

We were OK too. I had a 1yo Great Dane when DD1 was born. Our midwife also advised letting the dog sniff/have a good close look at the baby and on no account to try keep the baby away from the dog. (DD2 was born at home and the dog licked her full in the face within an hour of birth and then he slept next to our bed all night).

And he never missed a days exercise. From 4 days old I would put DD in sling and walk - within a couple of weeks we were having really longs walks and my DH's barbour zipped up over the sling so she was snug and dry. I would also play in the garden with him in the afternoon when she was asleep.

He was completely relaxed to babies 2 and 3 arriving. And all my DCs learnt to stand by holding onto his huge jowls and pulling themselves up! (sorry if I'm making non-doggy people vomit but they shouldn't have looked at this thread!!!)

When the baby gets moving just use your common sense. Our dog is always happy for DCs to climb on him or sit on his bed with him but you know what your dogs will tolerate. We also feed our dog at his head height so he's never been interfered with while eating.

I'm sure it'll all be fine - it's not like your dogs aren't used to having a house full of children. Blimey, that was a looooong post!

And don't forget to keep them regularly wormed!!!

(non-doggy people now spewing violently)