Dogs and babies

Fides said:
I always teach my dogs that in order for me to throw the ball they have to drop it at my feet. That way there is no confusion. All my friends' kids know that if the dogs want to play they will give them the ball :)
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I used to play fetch in the park by having two balls, when he dropped the one in his mouth, I'd place a foot on it and throw another one. You can do this half a dozen times before he gets bored of fetch and stops giving it back.

I like the idea of no dog toys in the house but he's a very 'chewy' dog, I might look at keeping balls etc outside and just having his bull horn indoors to chew with. We don't currently have an easily accessible garden so it wouldn't be fair but when we move it might be easy to implement and I wouldn't feel I was taking the opportunity to play away from him.
 
i haven't got kids yet- but my GSDx rescue (who is 3- have had for nearly a year)- often is with my friends 2 yo and 4yo daughters and the home he came from (they did not have time for him) had 3 kids under 8. sounds silly- but it is useful as hopefully within his lifetime i will have children of my own- and I think dogs that are bad with children is normally just because they are not used to them....

my 2 tips/ideas:
1. Toys- my boy likes toys- i can take them off him, he will never growl at me, but once he had one and my friends 2yo went over to him- she did not grab it but he growled to protect it from her. so we now never have toys around when he is with my friends little girls. except playing fetch- as then he knows he has to give them the toy for the game to work! but i supervise- handing toy to the girls, so they do not risk him grabbing it when they are picking it up (he sits and waits- but you just never know). I can imagine he would want to steal babies toys, so need to be careful that he has his completely separately.

2. crying: i have noticed my boy can look a bit concerned when children cry or scream. perhaps you might want to desensitize your dog to baby crying- as silly as it sounds!
 
What I've found since moving next door to a family with a young child is that Spud definitely reacts to the baby crying - so I'll be making sure he's used to the noise before we produce any of our own. I would also suggest getting them used to some of the smells - like baby powder and things - by just getting some in and having it around the place, letting the dog smell them set - so that's not too unfamiliar. I think basically the more you can introduce in advance, the less stressful it will be. So if you're going to be using baby gates and the dog normally roams the whole house, get them up now so the dog becomes used to not having free range around the house - if you haven't used a crate before and you want to, get it in now so the dog gets used to being shut away from you at times and doesn't see it as a punishment. That kind of thing.
 
Spudlet, we're moving house before the baby arrives so it will be new house, new regime. He's got a couple of months to settle into that :D

He won't be allowed upstairs at all but the compromise is that he will have a garden. We also have two reception rooms so the dining room and kitchen are 'dog' areas but the sitting room will be invitation only.

Good idea on the crying noise, where on earth can I find some without a real baby? I don't know anyone else that has one!
 
Google will be your friend, someone is bound to have put the sound on YouTube!

Congratulations (should have said that before!) and good luck, I'm sure all will be fine with all the thought that you're obviously putting in :)
 
Our Black Lab was 10 when our little girl came along. He lived with my Mum but was very much a family dog and spent a lot of time at our house when Mum came over. We just set clear boundaries from the word go. We never left him alone with her, he wasn't allowed to put his nose in her carry cot/car seat, and when she got old enough to be mobile she wasn't allowed to disturb him in his bed. We made sure his toys were in the kitchen or garden and her toys were in the lounge or upstairs.

They actually adored each other. He was very tolerant and loved attention from her, and she loved to snuggle up to him, and we made sure he had his bed to escape to if he got fed up. He seemed to know she was delicate and was very careful around her. He was a very excitable dog and quite jumpy, but he never jumped at her and would never push past her if she was in his way, he'd just wait until she moved or someone moved her. Even when I was pregnant, he was very gentle with me and didn't jump up or try to play rough, which he always would've done before.

We very sadly lost him last December when my daughter was just 2. He was pts at Mum's house and my husband brought her to see him before the vet arrived. She seemed to understand he wasn't well and it was so touching to see her gently stroke his head and give him a kiss. She put her favourite toy in his basket with him before my husband took her home. It breaks my heart that she probably won't remember him when she's older, although she does still talk about him now. I hope she will have some small memory of our boy.
 
There's one thing which is quite certain, as is evident from the stories on this thread and from experience too; Dogs either accept and embrace the arrival of a child in to their pack, or they don't. Whether this is because of the dog's upbringing and it's perceived place in the hierarchy, or the animals general temperament, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's a combination of both.

Alec.
 
The thought that my dog might not be in my kids memories makes me well up on a regular basis. He is our first dog and I don't think we will ever be able to top him.

My dog doesn't drop balls that well, he's having so much fun chewing them dontcha know, but when he's had enough he stops coming back to you to throw it. He's not possessive at all over them, certainly has never growled and has been fine with mini sf and friends kids taking balls off him, although its not something I want them to do alot. Our dog doesn't seem to like his bed really, and retreats to the sofa when she's pestering him. Mini seems to be learning the word no, so hopefully that will help in the coming weeks, and let the poor dog get some peace.
 
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