Dog finding it hard to adjust since having DS - long post sorry

[BlueJellie]

We had a black labrador pup in Feb, and a couple of weeks later found out I was pregnant! My dog is now 10 months old and I had DS 5 weeks ago. At first the dog wasn't bothered and didn't notice too much as DS slept most of the time. Past two weeks though he has been acting really strange. If I am holding DS, or DS makes any noise - he will leave the room and go sit on his own. A couple of days ago when DS was crying the dog peed all over the kitchen floor and then on his dog bed - all the time looking really depressed and stressed. He also will throw up sometimes if we don't stop the baby crying straight away. We're walking him twice a day with the pram and giving him lots of fuss when DS cries so he doesn't see it as such a negative sound - and he hasn't been doing the weeing thing since, and not been sick for a few days now. He is still being very peculiar with the baby though and is reluctant to be in the same room as him should he make any noise - even a gurgle. Its breaking my heart seeing him so mopey, and I was considering getting DP to take him to the vets to get one of those pheremone plug-ins? It was suggested to us when we last took him and the vet noticed I was pregnanat - but to ne honest I just didn't expect him to have such a problem with a new addition to the family - he was previously such a happy bouncy dog . Any advice? Anyone had a similar experience?

We have got 3 dogs and only one seemed particularly upset by the arrival of dd - she used to physically shake when she made any noise. We had really good results with using the pheremone plug in and now she is ok - she will come up and have a sniff off dd but is still a bit wary.

I think the weeing can also be a sign of submission so maybe something to do with that? I know in wild dog and wolf packs that only the dominant male and female breed so maybe with the arrival of your ds he is also trying to figure out his place in the 'pack'. Maybe you could try re inforcing his position by doing things like - not letting him up on the sofa, or upstairs, always eating before he does, hand feeding him (don't know if you do any of this already) that way he will really get the message that he is at the bottom of the pecking order. I know it sounds a bit mean but a dog that knows its position is a much happier one.

Hope this helps.

I think you should see the vet first to rule out anything physical (esp with regard to the vomiting) but otherwise I can only suggest trying to create positive associations for the pup with the baby - maybe feeding the pup treats while you are holding ds - that sort of thing.

There is also a CD of baby noises you can buy to desensitise the dog to crying etc., but that won't be an instant fix.

HTH & good luck.

Oh, and the Dogs Trust website - they have a factsheet that may help.

Here's the factsheet

here

Firstly, I would get him checked over at the vets, just to be on the safe side.

It could be a number of things:

1. Dogs can be funny and make weird associations eg something hurt or frightened him at the same time the baby started to cry and now he has made an strong association between the two, so is stressed and worried every time baby cries.

1. He is naturally a sensitive dog and is taking a long time to adjust to his new family member.

1. He could have an ear infection so the crying actually physically hurts him. One of our three dogs has a recurrent ear problem and sometimes howls if one of my 2 boys (aged 6 and 4) cries, its always a sure sign her ears are bad and she needs treatment.

One thing to remember is not to fuss him if he is looking or behaving at all stressed or fearful as this will just reward the wrong behaviour. Lots of praise and attention when he is relaxed and settled in the presence of the baby is exactly what you need though.

Maybe try sitting quietly with him in the same room as the baby, with baby asleep at first if he won't come in with the baby awake.

As long as he is sitting/lying quietly try intermittently dropping small (thumnail sized) treats on the floor. This will hopefully make him reframe being in the vicinity of the baby as a positive thing and will move his focus away from the baby and on to you.

You will need to work up to having him in there when the baby is awake/making noise. Don't force this though, wait until you can get him to stay calm, focus on you and respond to simple commands with baby asleep, then move onto happy awake baby, then again, when he is used to that and responding to commands in that situation you can up the ante to while baby is in noisy mode.

I would definitely recommend the DAP diffusers, but probably a collar rather than a plug in, as this will help calm him wherever he is rather than in just one zone. I have just bought one for my collie cross (firework phobia) along with some valerian compound drops from Vet UK. They were the cheapest I found online. I have used this combination a few times now and it definitely helps our dog.

If you really feel it is stress/fear related, a combination of the DAP collar and valerian might be just what you need to calm him down and reframe his association through praise and reward.

Vet UK

By the way, forgot to mention that 10 months is a often difficult age for dogs, particularly males:

quote: 6 to 14 Months
Second Fear Imprint Period or Fear of New Situations Period. Dog again shows fear of new situations and even familiar situations. Dog may be reluctant to approach someone or something new. It is important that you are patient and act very matter of fact in these situations. Never force the dog to face the situation. DO NOT pet the frightened puppy or talk in soothing tones. The puppy will interpret such responses as praise for being frightened. Training will help improve the dog's confidence. This fear period is normally more marked in male dogs. (www.doglistener.co.uk)

My old boxer cross developed a whole raft of bizarre fears during this period, the strangest being a street litter bin which we had walked past every day since he was tiny. I once spent nearly an hour sat on top of said bin tossing treats to him while he and DH stood several feet away, he gradually moved closer over the hour, but it still took several more similarly embarassing training sessions to get him completely over it. (It worked though!)

So glad you didn't get arrested over the litter bin incident, moosemama! Lots of good advice though.

I once knew a dog who got trodden on by a horse which was startled by a cow mooing and - you guessed it- was terrified of cows

Ah yes, the superior intellect of the domestic dog! Fascinating isn't it!