Dogs and newborns

[Hannabee123]

Hi

My partner has a border collie and has had him for years. I am used to living with a dog but I was wondering if I should take any precautions when the child comes along.
Our dog is pretty funny, friendly, laid back but full of energy. He is not likely to harm the baby at all but obviously I would never allow the two of them to be alone together without watching the dog.
The dog can be very loud and yappy when there is someone at the door (which will be common with the amount of family that want to visit) it can take a while to settle him and I am worried about this waking the baby.
The second thing is dog hair. He seems to shed so much dog hair I could cry some days. I try and keep him off the furniture but my partner doesn't!! Can pet hair be risky to the baby?

My mother in law lives nearby so she often has the dog when we are at work. I can have a place to send him if some days I feel as though I can't cope with both. He can be quite a demanding dog and always seeks my attention especially. Has anyone had any problems with jealousy as I am worried he will be a pain once my attention is diverted to looking after baby

Any advice?

I have looked into what to do to get our cats used to a baby so I imagine the advice will be similar. They suggest playing baby sounds on a low volume and gradually getting louder so the animal gets used to the new noises. They also recommend getting all paraphernalia in the house before the baby comes. I.e. Pram, cot, toy etc. Also before you and baby leave hospital, get your partner to bring something home that baby has worn and let the dog get used to the smell. Obviously this is more in the run up to rather than after as I have no experience yet! Hopefully someone else will come along who has done it

Also re per hair, as long as the dog isn't allowed on baby specific furniture like the cot, I doubt it would do any harm

We've been walking around with a toy doll with an iPhone shoved down its clothes making crying noises. No idea if it's helping but it's not doing any harm.

You might want to work on a strong Leave It command and also Go To Bed and Settle Down

Also, we've started limiting the rooms the dog can go in. He's not allowed in the nursery and I'm making the spare bedroom into a second living room/baby play room and he's not allowed in there. Partly so I have some hair free space, partly so I can let baby have space without worrying about supervising the dog

Personally I would ditch the dog - send it to MIL's. Believe me you will have quite enough to do with a new baby without adding this worry to your list.

And - in addition - the safety of your baby rates way way above anything else - definitely above a dog.

I'm in a similar situation, having my first in November and I have a dog. I actually worry more about when the baby starts moving around and gets interested in the dog. Babies drop a lot of food, so the dog can learn that baby= food which could lead to a nip if the dog is taking food off the baby. Also, toddlers are grabby and can be rough with dogs, and lots of dogs need more polite and gentle interaction. It is really important that the dog doesn't become afraid of the child, because that can lead to trouble.

I think the biggest thing that's on my mind is how loud and yappy he can be, the hair and also the possibility of him pinching the baby toys. Might invest in a pet gate so I can control what rooms he's in

I have a large dog and she was never that interested in our baby. Babies are boring. Baby became a bit more interesting at weaning, dog now lays diligently at the bottom of the high chair at mealtimes waiting for flying food. Baby is now a toddler and things are finally getting a bit tricky, as toddler is too rough with the dog.

I can't help on the jealousy front (maybe make sure you have kongs and chews aplenty?) but can say my baby somehow manages to sleep through my dog barking at the postman, but not me creeping up the stairs...go figure.

I've never thought to worry about dog hair, it's never been a problem for the baby.

It's great that you have Mil for dog respite, will probably be good on days where you are particularly tired.

Our family dog is a crazy border collie. She sounds very similar to yours. She can be a bit jealous and dominating over other dogs (even though she's usually smaller). However she always seemed to understand with my nieces that she had to be gentle. She tends to jump up at people but never did with them when they were toddlers, we didn't even have to train her. She just seemed naturally more gentle instinctively. Hopefully your dog will pleasantly surprise you with this sort of understanding too.

Regarding dog hair, I recommend regularly taking her to a groomer. They can get all of the dead hair out for you and if you can take her regularly to keep on top of it, it should help.

Unfortunately our dog did tend to pinch the odd toy (especially if ball shaped). But it wasn't too much of a problem.

We have a small Lhasa Apso who goes nuts when visitors come to the door. Thankfully very few visitors just pop in, it's usually pre planned so we can take him into the kitchen so his barking didn't wake the baby. We put a stair gate on the kitchen door and basically kept him in there whilst we had visitors in. Let him in for a quick hello and sniff about so he wouldn't be going too mad with curiosity but then shipped him out.

The one good thing is that the baby rarely woke when he did bark and even now 2.5 years later he sleeps through most noises, so think it's actually been a good thing!

We had a Chocolate Lab who was crazy!
He s 5 now..My LB is 16 months old and they are the best of friends.
Eric (Dog) has chilled out so much since Elliot has come along.
In regards to the dog hair I second a previous poster about getting the dog groomed regularly and limiting the rooms the dog can go in..
Eric is now just a downstairs dog when previously he would come up to bed with us..But I didn't want him waking Elliot up in the night as he's quite a fidgety dog.

Figure out what you want your dog to do when you are seeing to the baby (in basket, on mat, next to you.. etc?) and then train the dog now with treats to do that while you hold a doll and pretend to feed (or whatever).

Set a timer on your phone to remind you to spend some quality time with your dog every day.

If people offer help, ask them to play with your dog or take it for walks.
Make sure the walks your dog gets are adequate every day. Everyone has less spare time when a baby comes, except the poor dog.

Any baby soft toys or clothes: you can put orange oil on them which dogs think smells disgusting and keeps them away. Similarly, make sure the baby can't get to the dog's toys once crawling starts, so you don't get a resource guarding situation.

Dogs don't have the mental equipment to feel jealousy BUT they do see you snuggling with your new baby and think "well, if it's snuggling time, I'd like to be a part of it, thanks very much" which is interpreted as jealousy.

Also we often use baby-voice to talk to dogs so when you are talking to your baby, the dog might get confused and come over. It's still not jealousy! Have bowls of treats all around the house so you can "catch" your dog doing the right thing and reward on the spot.

Dog hair is a PITA and my crawling baby constantly has hair on her hands but I think it strengthens the immune system so maybe it's a win!

We have a bichon frise. We were worried as he was spoilt, he was our baby before our daughter arrived. For the first couple of days the crying stressed him out, he'd pace back and forth and try to look into the Moses basket to see why she was so upset. The fascination wore off after a couple of days and he's not bothered about her at all. He might come for the odd look occasionally but other than that he's not bothered.
We don't have the molting issue though ss bichons don't molt so can't offer advice on that.
Ignore the comment about sending the dog straight to your MIL's, the odds are you'll be fine. It's nice you have your MIL for a break if you need it. Get a sling though for walks, it's so difficult pushing a pram and holding a dog on a lead!

Can't add any advice but can empathise with you OP- I'm expecting our first child in 5 weeks, we have a rescue greyhound. Like your collie he is very friendly with children and I have no worries about him with baby but similarly would never leave them alone together. However our furry son's one major pitfall is he is terrified of fireworks, and if he hears one within a 4 mile radius he will growl ferociously and bark non-stop. Round where we live fireworks tend to start around Halloween and then are non-stop until after New Year. It's a nightmare for us normally but I'm absolutely dreading it with a newborn child as I'm very sure he will wake them up but also don't want our baby to become afraid of him if he growls

My OH is a builder and a farmer. I have horses and two dogs. I am not worried about pet hair at all. This baby will have a healthy dirty outdoor life.

However one thing I think dogs need is a safe place. My dogs have a whole bed under the stairs that is baby gated off, I will make it a rule as baby gets older that he/ she will NOT go in there. It is a safe place for the dogs.

Obviously depends on the dog I am lucky mine have had a lot of exposure to young children and babies. My most worrying time will be once baby is mobile as one of my dogs is almost definately likely to knock baby over. A newborn does not worry me at all.

Baby crying sounds on YouTube worked well for us!

Hi OP,

Brilliant that you are taking advise on integrating dog and baby.

Personally, my dog was always very interested in my bump when I was pregnant and would often lie on it when on the sofa (he's very small). This did reassure me about his behaviour when DD arrived.

For me, it was important to spend ten minutes alone with the dog when DD arrived home from the hospital. DH took DD into kitchen and dog and I had a cuddle in the office to let him smell the hospital etc. This worked well for us.

Although it's difficult, for me it was important to try to act relaxed around the baby. So if I start to feel uncomfortable about how close to her he was, I wouldn't jump forward and panic him, just gently call him away, and praise him when he had a sniff of her but does not touch!

He is now rather protective of DD though, which is also something to consider. He's not keen on strangers approaching her (he puts himself between the 'stranger' and the baby and growls), and this is something we're working on.

Best of luck!

You might want to start limiting where the dog can go (e.g. Putting a gate across the stairs or sinething).

dogs think of you as there pack and know you are higher in the pack than them and I remember reading/watching something about bringing a baby into the pack you have to show the dog the baby is higher in the pack than them leading to them being protective of the baby and accepting. Not sure how you do this maybe try a google search on this. X

We have two spaniels, one who barks a lot when anyone comes to the door but baby will be used to the sounds they hear in the womb. So won't be too shocked by the noise