Big dog, tiny baby

[Sophia1984]

My first baby is due at the start of August, and I expect we will be spending at a lot of time at my parents' house. They have a very large and enthusiastic Labradoodle. My friend recently came to stay with her 5 month old and dog did not behave himself at all! He got very overexcited and kept jumping up (with me frantically guarding both baby and my belly!). He is also allowed on the sofa at home (I know!) so sees a baby on the sofa as being his territory. It's not that he is aggressive, just very enthusiastic and completely unaware of how large he is! This has made me and my mum freak out a little bit. Is there anything we can do to prepare dog for arrival of baby or will I have to keep them in separate rooms whenever we visit?

Not that I've ever heard of. I'd keep them apart. Some people are happy to have animals around their newborns but I wouldn't be, not even my parents ancient and very timid whippet.

We have a Labrador. He is very boisterous, but never aggressive. We only let him in the room if someone is holding the baby as he has a tendency to jump on sofas and get over excited. We didn't do anything per se to prepare him for Munchkin's arrival, we just fussed him lots when we picked him up after we got back and kept Munchkin out of the way at first. Then we started letting him see her, sniff her, but being very sure that he stay sat down and didn't jump up.

Munchkin, at almost 5 months, thinks he is hilarious. He will sniff her and lick her now but knows to stay out of the living room (we have a gate separating the living room and dining room/kitchen so not much of a worry) if she isn't in one of our arms, although I never leave the gate open.

Sorry, not sure I've been a lot of help. There was talk of us bringing blankets or clothes back from the hospital for him to sniff before meeting her, but we were in hospital for 3 days so doggy went to in laws for that time and no one bothered to do it so we winged it!

Stairgates!

They've been essential for keeping baby (now toddler) and a tiny dog apart enough to give them both some space!

Stairgate as room divider is a good plan. If we shut him in the kitchen he will bark and bark and bark, but could have me and baby in living room and him in hall (Yes he is a bit spoilt-rotten baby..I possibly made my parents wait for a grandchild too long!)

The main thing is to keep him off the sofa, teach him to stop jumping up and never leave them unattended. It sounds like it is all very fixable, you just need to train him to not do these things, if stuck get help from an expert, it's amazing what difference a couple of months can make if you focus on it. I think it will make life a lot easier\safer if the dog gets so he listens to you and does what you say. We had to do a lot of work with our dog whilst I was pregnant and then continuously as my baby became a toddler and it has been great for everyone, I'm convinced my son has learnt how to empathise mostly through having a dog, his first word was her name, and it makes mealtimes so much easier as I have a dog to clean up the kitchen floor :)