Puppy and newborn - is this crazy?

[HannahBee92]

Morning all :)

I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, and to cut a long story short my partner and I have relocated across the country and moved in to my parents house after taking voluntarily redundancy (great leaving package) to keep costs down whilst my partner looks for new work and to have support with the new baba.

The problem is my parents have a 6 month old Cockerpoo who is a normal, bonkers, high energy pup, and my parents are very inexperienced with dogs, so training hasn't been particularly great so far.

They are currently on holiday so we are responsible for the pup, and its been challenging to say the least. Don't think there's been a day gone by where I haven't gotten upset! We've been working on training as much as possible, but as you can imagine I'm getting pretty exhausted in my current state and my partner has never had a dog before so isn't great at taking a lead with the training.

I'm now panicking that this was a terrible idea, and feeling so stressed that my baby could be here in 6-9 weeks and we are just not baby ready. When my parents return from holiday it should get a little easier as I won't be solely responsible for the dog during the days, but I just don't know how I can have a newborn around this pup. She still jumps up, nips hard and barks for attention. My parents do still work, so some days it could potentially just be me, the baby and the dog.

In your opinion, could this work, or do we need to try and move out asap? As neither of us currently work due to the redundancy (partner is applying to stuff almost daily) would we even get accepted for a rented place? Feel like I'm in such a mess!

Has anyone got any experience with puppies and newborns together?

TIA x

Can you find a puppy training class through your local vet?

Yes my parents did take her to an early puppy socialisation/basic training class when she was younger, and we could definitely look at going to another one.

I'm more concerned about in the house training such as manners, personal space, staying calm, biting etc. She's pretty good at basic obedience/command training when I've got the clicker and treats, but I'm struggling to translate it to when shes just in the house. She has no off button and doesn't want to settle.

Im afraid thats the joy of a cockerpoo. Cockers are very high energy dogs and poodles are exceptionally smart, so you have a smart dog, thats wants to be doing something 100% of the time, with a crappy attention span. With nipping try shouting out high pitched like youve been hurt and any jumping up when you come in, just ignore the dog until its stopped and your ready to say hello. Also could be bored, are you exercising it enough? Crate training isnt a terrible thing either x

You might have tried this already, but have you tried teaching her to settle by rewarding her for being calm in her bed? I taught mine 'settle' as a command this way , and it really helps with a pup as they do need rest

Just keep the puppy and the newborn apart using baby gates. Don’t be tempted to try to introduce them or have them interact in any way. There’s no need. Just keep them apart.