Dogs and babies/toddlers

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horsemad32

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Just wondering. My mum had a Cocker when I was born (who had been known to bite strangers but never family), and she treated me like her own pup. Later, my babysitter had an old english sheepdog, who was amazingly tolerant and even let me hold onto her fur to keep my balance so I could walk round the room with her. She literally taught me to walk! My mum and dad were also both brought up from babies with dogs in the house, so it seemed so normal...

So now we have a sweet, docile dog of our own, and a baby on the way. My dog can be trusted with a loose hamster/gerbil in the room, and runs away from rats/barks at mice only with no pouncing at the yard. She's also got plenty of experience with close family kids (age 3 and up) and has never shown any aggression, just run off when she's had enough. From when she was little we've touched her as she slept, until she either didn't wake or didn't react. She doesn't sleep on the floor at all so no risk of tripping over her there. She is also very polite - moves out of your way instantly and never guards or is at all possessive even over her own toys. We know about making sure she still gets lots of attention when baby comes so there's no jealousy, and she's used to being completely ignored pretty much when I'm with the horses, so she's not expecting attention all the time.

I'd never leave her alone/not be actively watching her in a room with a baby/toddler, and she'll always have her own safe haven, but what else will we have to be careful of?
 
I'm in the same situation as you with baby on the way :)
I've been playing video clips of babies crying just to desensitize my pup with that noise. She's not been at all bothered.
Also been sitting with a pretend baby just to gauge her reaction to me holding it and she wasn't bothered by that either. she did sniff and then lick the toy which I'm not going to encourage but was quite sweet :p
To me sounds like you have a fab dog and shouldn't have any worries when the baby comes.
I have a few things still to get nipped in the bud before my baby arrives but I think I know exactly what might cause a prob and how to fix it but I'll be interested to see more replies on here to see if that is the case or not.
 
As long as you have the right dog, which it sounds like you do, babies should grow up with dogs! Makes for a much better adjusted child, confident and sensible around dogs, as well as great fun for the whole family.

I have a 9 month old baby and 4 dogs with no problems. I invested in a stair gate, room divider and pen so that the baby and dogs can be kept separate when unsupervised, but on the whole they are all together with no problems. The baby is beginning to learn how to stroke gently, but I will keep a close eye on her when she starts walking so that she doesn't corner the dogs (you never know!).

All the dogs accepted the baby as a new puppy. One of them cried for the first couple of weeks whenever the baby cried, but he got over it. The baby is very used to the dogs barking, doesn't bother her at all and she finds them hillarious when they do a recall, play with each other etc. She is not that keen on being licked in the face but the dogs read that and stop.
 
I think you have thought of just about everything. Puts me to shame, I never imagined that my dogs would be anything but accepting when we had children! When my daughters were born we had a Rottie and a Collie, but I certainly felt that both dogs saw my husband and myself as pack leaders.

As my daughters have got older we now have a Cane Corso and three spangles, I have always completely trusted my dogs with my children, even though I could not hand on heart trust the Cane Corso with my husband!

Accidents can always happen, but I think you should trust your gut feeling on whether you can trust your dog.
 
So booboos how is it with 4 dogs and a baby? We are on the process of thinking along baby lines and after having 2 eight month olds in my living room on fri I can't use the excuse that it wouldn't work and that Dylan would nibble on a child.
 
Pretty much the same as having a new puppy. The more dogs you have the easier it is to introduce a new one imo. The GSD who is a nanny just nannies the baby, the Spitz who is stuck onto me continues to be stuck onto me and the Spitz that does his own thing continues to do his own thing. The JRT, the youngest, had to be shown how to react to a 'puppy', i.e. once he gave a tiny little growl when she pulled his hair so he was placed in a room on his own for a few minutes - he now knows to leave if he doesn't like the baby.

All the dogs leave her toys alone which is a huge bonus as some of them squeek! And the two dogs that sleep on the bed with us now know that there is a special blanket at the bottom of the bed and they musn't get off it.

However it always depends on the dog and we never leave them alone unsupervised.
 
I had 5 GSDs and a JRT when I had my daughter! Despite my MIL being horrified that I was planning to keep the dogs :p I really had no concerns. The dogs were all home bred and I was confident I knew them well enough to know there wouldn't be a problem. Maybe with hindsight I should have done more to prepare them but in fact the only concession I made was when baby and I came home from hospital (I had to stay in for a week as she was early and jaundiced) I left her in the car with OH and went and said hello to the dogs and got the excited reunion out of the way. Other than that they accepted her without turning a hair, although I did have to keep an eye on the one bitch I had a special bond with as she really wasn't keen on anyone other than us touching "her" baby.
Obviously I never left the dogs and baby together unsupervised, in fact not until daughter was about 4. The only thing I was careful about was when she was older and had friends round to play, if they were playing running about, squealing games as little ones do, the dogs were kept away as again I didn't want them feeling my daughter needed protecting.
It sounds like you have a lovely dog OP and have thought of everything, I would imagine your dog and baby will be best friends.:)
 
Do a Google scholar search and you will find numerous studies showing that one of the best protections against asthma is having 2 to or more dogs in the house during the baby's first years. Apparently they stimulate the immune system to work and this avoids later allergies and sensitivities.

You should though worm your dogs regularly and try to keep the baby away from dog faeces.
 
I am also preggers with a dog! horsemad32 and The Original Kao - congrats to you both, when are you due? I am due 14th June so getting enormous now...

I'm pretty sure my little dog, Stan, knows I am pregnant - he looks after me and is very careful of my ever expanding belly. He spent the afternoon with a 2 yr old the other day and was fab - he adores kids and we've just had to teach him some boundaries, no jumping up etc (water spray helped with this!!). His breeder has advised us to just bring baby in, let them meet, and get on with it - basically be careful obviously, but not too precious.
 
Bex, it sounds a bit like you are expecting a litter :D :D Congratulations, all joking aside!

After having observed Hen with the bloke's little nephew, I have few worries should we ever breed. The sight of the two of them in the crate convinced me of Henry's super-canine tolerance levels! :D
 
Booboos said:
Do a Google scholar search and you will find numerous studies showing that one of the best protections against asthma is having 2 to or more dogs in the house during the baby's first years. Apparently they stimulate the immune system to work and this avoids later allergies and sensitivities.

You should though worm your dogs regularly and try to keep the baby away from dog faeces.
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When my children were at primary school the school was involved in a nationwide study re the effect of growing up amongst animals on asthma and allergies. Being a rural school nearly all the kids had pets and many lived on farms, there were none with serious asthma/allergy problems, I expect it was one of the studies you mention booboos.
So yes toffee, you just accept the dog hairs, particularly when they start crawling.:p Congratulations bex.:)
 
Thanks and congrats to you too Bex :D
I'm due august 2nd with my 2nd. I had a dog with my 1st and she was fab with my daughter but I didn't do a thing to prepare her TBH as she was my parents dog and I wasn't expecting to be staying there...long story. It worked out fine tho.
I'm also the same with my dog and the jumping up and been using water spray as a deterrent. She rarely tries to jump up on me anyway as I didn't allow it when she was younger it's just with everyone else she does it :o
 
I had 2 dogs when mine was a toddler, a very maternal terrier & an exuberant doby x, both very well trained & great with kids. Although I never left her alone with them as a toddler, I also never separated them. I found what worked for me was having a child free area both in & out. ( dog beds & a corner of the garden). That way if dogs wanted a bit of peace they had somewhere to go & know they'd be left alone & daughter learnt they had a right to be undisturbed if they wanted.
 
OP and other pregnant ladies congratualtions- a handy thing to do is teach your dog to walk along side a pram :) my lurcher did this beautifully from day one of bringing him home from rescue centre- his playmate(who i got when baby number 2 was 3 weeks old) was a 5 month old lurcher bitch, a pain in the ass on the best days but i wouldnt swap her now! Also teach your dogs to leave (especially handy for when baba is eating you dont want them taking advantage and stealing food)
 
Other very handy command is 'hoover up' meaning right dogs, go eat the trail of food small child child has left on the floor.
 
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