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Advice on new baby and clingy 15month dog

1 reply

PiggyMad · 10/03/2012 22:39

Bit of a jumbled post with a few issues, but I'm wondering if people have any suggestions about how to prepare my dog for the arrival of a baby in the household.

I'm 36 weeks pregnant and have a young shih tzu who gets very excited around visitors and jumps up, occasionally nipping at sleeves, trouser legs etc. We always tell him no, turn away and ignore until he has calmed down and then he licks us, but this still hasn't stopped the initial frenzy and I'm worried he might do this with me when I'm holding the baby.

My friend visited with her new baby this week and he was hyper, trying to jump and play, so I put him behind the stairgate in another room and he cried and whined the whole 2 hours she was here as he just wanted to be in with us and say hello, but he just was not calm enough and he hasn't really been around babies or children before so I didn't want to let him in and struggle to control his behaviour. I was so embarrassed and my friend also made a few comments about how I would cope with him and a newborn and him being jealous of the baby, which have really made me feel judged and anxious. I think he is quite a well-behaved dog in general - very friendly, listens to commands and his recall is improving, it is just this jumping and hyperness I'm struggling with Sad

He has definitely been more unsettled during my pregnancy and also we moved house a week ago and there has been a lot of work and decoration going on, so I know him being a bit needy and clingy is probably due to this and him feeling unsettled, but I think I need reassurance that he will calm down and will be trainable with a baby. Do you think some of it is down to teenagerdom too?

So I suppose I'm asking how to calm him when we have guests and stop him jumping up and also how to introduce him to a newborn and teach him to be calm and gentle.

OP posts:
RedwingWinter · 13/03/2012 23:49

Just giving this a bump for you. I don't have any experience with dogs and babies combined, but plenty of other people will. It sounds like you are doing the right thing with the stairgate, and I am sure having just moved house and having work going on will have unsettled your dog. Don't let your friend's comments worry you; I'm sure you can sort it out.

I think sometimes you have to persist with the turn-away-and-ignore thing.

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