Dogs and babies...

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

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Those who have small babies and toddlers along with medium or large dogs, how do you manage them safely? Jumping well ahead here but big dog is a lovely saluki bitch who is very gentle and affectionate BUT I need to make sure a baby would be safe. We would never rehome her, of course baby gates, etc, are a help but she's so athletic. I'd be interested hearing how others juggle them.
 
I can't offer any advice but I have to say that I would never have a dog anywhere near a baby or small child, however affectionate and gentle they may seem. All it takes is one split second. I don't mean this to sound horrible to you - that's just my thoughts on things.
 
I agree with you in that I'd never leave a baby alone with a dog for even a split second..just googled the subject and the number of photos of babies cosying up to great big dogs is frightening. However there must be a lot of people on here who have had both at the same time, so I wondered how they manage it all safely.
 
Our female lab was re homed from a home with a baby. They couldn't manage walking her and didn't have a garden. She is an enormous dog who has no idea she is enormous, and she kept accidentally knocking over the baby once he could walk.

She adores babies though. A friend came with her six month old baby a few weeks ago, and the dog went straight over and sat by the baby gazing at him, with her head on his knee (baby was on his dad's knee). A week later we went to the pubs always through a walk and someone had a five month old baby in there, Honey dragged me over again, and sat staring a baby wagging her tail. She is like Nana from Peter Pan. I wondered if it was because she's a true lab and babies drop food, but she was totally smitten! My husband says when he and his ex wife brought my stepson home their female dog also went very maternal with him and would sit by his crib or pushchair constantly too.

I would never, however, leave a dog unattended with a baby. When baby comes home you need to let the dog have a look and understand that it's a new addition to the family. I would think keeping the dog totally away from the baby would cause jealousy and more issues. I think you need to find somewhere that the dog can run and wear itself out so it is relaxed in the house. As I mentioned before, most of the problems with our dog in her previous home were down to the fact that they barely exercised her.
 
I'm probably going to get shot down here but hey ho.

We rehomed a 1 year old, large lurcher bitch in December last year and a few months later I fell pregnant. I was worried about managing the baby and the dog - she can be quite bounce as she's still young and I was planning on all manner or dog gates etc.

I didn't have to worry - she loves our baby - I mean adores her. We are pretty relaxed about her around the baby and she is regularly found licking the baby - including her face! She is fully wormed etc and baby loves her and giggles away.

I'll admit that I do leave them alone together - dog will be sleeping on the sofa and the baby, who's 9 weeks old now will be lying on her activity mat sleeping or playing. I have them both in bed with me in the morning for cuddles.

I know people will be critical of this but I'm comfortable doing this. The dog is very protective of the baby - when we are out walking she won't allow any other dog's near the pram - she actually started this when I was pregnant and wouldn't let any dogs near me.

I think they'll be best buds growing up and look forward to them being able to play together.

If you are worried, set boundaries with the dog now rather than changing things when the baby arrives. If you are going to use gates etc then put them up sooner rather than later to let the dog adjust.
 
And some photographic evidence....


Rowanbaby3_zpsbda009b8.jpg


Rowanbaby2_zps4c63dc39.jpg


Rowanbaby1_zps6581ecac.jpg


Once the baby is mobile I'll have to do more to keep an eye on things as I don't want the dog knocking her over or baby hassling the dog - she actually loves to sit and just stroke the dog's fur - I think she must like the texture/feel.
 
Jingleballs said:
And some photographic evidence....


Rowanbaby3_zpsbda009b8.jpg


Rowanbaby2_zps4c63dc39.jpg


Rowanbaby1_zps6581ecac.jpg


Once the baby is mobile I'll have to do more to keep an eye on things as I don't want the dog knocking her over or baby hassling the dog - she actually loves to sit and just stroke the dog's fur - I think she must like the texture/feel.
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Yes, you are right. You are going to get shot down. By me at the very least, if nobody else. Dog 'protective' of baby already...

I cannot even think about it. Please, please, please be careful.
 
Moomin1 said:
Yes, you are right. You are going to get shot down. By me at the very least, if nobody else. Dog 'protective' of baby already...

I cannot even think about it. Please, please, please be careful.
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Protective around other dogs - not me, or people. Most of the time in the house she ignores the baby and sleeps - she gets plenty of exercise and attention to satisfy her.
 
Jingleballs said:
Protective around other dogs - not me, or people. Most of the time in the house she ignores the baby and sleeps - she gets plenty of exercise and attention to satisfy her.
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Your baby. Your choice.

I have no more to say on the matter other than what I already have, other than there is nothing cute about plonking a small baby on a dog and thinking it's nice. It's not.

Actually, I will say one more thing - do you realise that all it would take is ONE nip in a millisecond and your baby could die? You wouldn't have any time to stop it.
 
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My two boys always had two dogs growing up with them.They were small breeds but I never left the baby alone with either dog if I had to leave the room.In the case of the Saluki,you could take two safety gates and wire them on top of each other to make a tall gate she could not jump over.The kitchen is probably a convenient place to leave dog when you have to pop out of the room.
Dogs and kids are a great combination,but when the baby is as tiny as the second posters little one I would agree with moomin that you cannot ever fully trust any dog and even a nip could be very damaging to a baby as tiny as the one pictured.
 
There will always be those that say you shouldn't have a baby and a dog. When my daughter fell pregnant everyone assumed she would get rid of her young dog not because of its size but because of his breed. He's a staffie. My granddaughter is now 4 and he adores her and would do anything for her. When she was small if my daughter needed the toilet she would take the dog with her, even now he's not allowed in her bedroom. The issue that she thought she would have would be walking him as he used to pull on the lead but he never pulled when she had the pram. You just have to use your common sense, and don't get hung up on the negative comments from people, you know your dog best.
 
I got my dog as a pup when my daughter was 6 months old. The dog was taught her place from very early on, and the baby wasn't allowed in the dogs place - at all - ever. I did have a gate, but didn't need it for the dog! They grew up together, and I feel very comfortable to say that my dog, is indeed very good/quiet/knows her place around children. In fact, I use her as a dog that kids can stroke if indeed they are scared and want to over come their fear. I've had people knocking for 'Ebby pats'!
Duaghter is now 11, dog will be 11 in the summer. - She still knows her place, and the kids still know not to interfere with her if she is in her place. (bed under the office desk).

I would train my next dog to the best of my ability to recreate this experience. Therefore have no problems with dogs and babies/children living together.
 
Fools Motto said:
I got my dog as a pup when my daughter was 6 months old. The dog was taught her place from very early on, and the baby wasn't allowed in the dogs place - at all - ever. I did have a gate, but didn't need it for the dog! They grew up together, and I feel very comfortable to say that my dog, is indeed very good/quiet/knows her place around children. In fact, I use her as a dog that kids can stroke if indeed they are scared and want to over come their fear. I've had people knocking for 'Ebby pats'!
Duaghter is now 11, dog will be 11 in the summer. - She still knows her place, and the kids still know not to interfere with her if she is in her place. (bed under the office desk).

I would train my next dog to the best of my ability to recreate this experience. Therefore have no problems with dogs and babies/children living together.
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That's a different matter, and an entirely sensible and realistic approach to a baby/child-dog relationship and it's as I did and would do again.

Alec.
 
when my eldest daughter was born my first dog was already a household fixture of many years. the squeaks and cries of a newborn were of no interest to him but he had no experience of babies and young children, if he had ever been cornered by a mobile baby or young toddler then TBH I would not have been surprised if he had snapped, so a stair gate went up in the large kitchen doorway before baby arrived and as baby became mobile or was left on the floor rather than the pram the dog was left in the kitchen. out walking or in the garden this dog was never an issue with kids as all contact with kids was on his terms-he grew to choose to interact with my eldest daughter when outside of the house-he was never unsupervised with the children though.
I don't ever want to be a person that exposes a baby or young child to the risk of accidents and I also do not want to be the person who has to make the heart breaking decision to end my dogs life because I put it in the situation that caused it to bite.
OP stair gates (a friend has a wrought iron gate for her lurcher across her kitchen door) that contain your dog are to my mind a must, some dogs are very interested in the noises newborns make, for me lots and lots of excersize is a must for the dog too but walking mine for hours each day is what kept my sanity.I have beautiful photos of my first dog and my eldest daughter but it was very much on his terms as I trusted him to take avoidance actions when he felt they were needed and he was able and I made sure that he was always able.
 
I like the idea of two gates, that would contain the saluki. Or something like the Aussies use for hot weather. Exercise wise she gets as much as she wants here off lead, so dont envisage that being a problem. But I still wont be leaving her alone with baby, any dog could so easily hurt a little one without meaning to.
 
Just use your commonsnese and you will be fine. We used to leave babies and dogs in the same room for brief periods and were always pretty relaxed, baby knew from very young not to go and lie on dog (we told him, not the dog) or to torment it. We had two terriers and a kelpie. What I would say is just be careful that your bitch, being a hunting dog, doesn't get excited by squeaks or wails, although one of our terriers had been used on foxes they never worried about the baby at all.
My lurcher now hates children with a passion, she used to like them but being bony and fragile one squeezed her once and she now assumes all are like that. (Not one of mine)
 
I'm afraid I agree with Moomin1, that dog looks uncomfortable in those pictures. The only thing I would add Jinglebells, is when your gorgeous baby starts to crawl/walk, some dogs that were ok with the baby so far, can find that very stressful, the baby is now at eye level and moving around.

Personally, I would be restricting access to the baby ( baby gates etc), make sure the dog has a safe place where the dog will NEVER be disturbed by the baby/child. It can work if managed correctly and you have a dog with a sound temperament, but never ever leave the dog and child alone together.
 
I don't have kids but when walking my terriers if we pass a buggy and there is a baby crying they think its prey. The noise of a crying baby makes them react the same way as a rabbit in distress would. These are lovely friendly dogs who adore people. But not for one second would I trust them around a baby.
 
I dont have a problem with having a dog and a baby at the same time after all Im sure most of us had dogs in the home when we were born but common sense was more common back then.

Jinglebells your photos and story sent shivers down my spine, why put your baby potentially in harms way, your bitch maybe absolutely fine but its not worth the risk and allowing her to lick your babies face, your dog like ever other dog will be washing its bits on a regular basis and is now transferring that to your baby, gross.
 
I don't have children but my brother has lots so family gatherings over the years have always (it seems!) have everything from a new born to toddlers and beyond.

In my house, dogs were allowed interact with the kids but under close supervision. 1 terrier wasn't fond of toddlers as she was worried that they would pick her up and she tended to try and snatch food from them so she was kept away from them as much as possible. Another terrier loooooooved attention and was very gentle so she was dressed up :) a lot and shared picnics - one lick for the child, one lick for the dog! Gross but everybody had fun. Big dog, well he was never malicious but he was like a bull in a china shop at the best of times so him and small children would have been like skittles in an alley. His habit of sitting on knees didn't help when the victim weighed less than him...so he was kept away indoors too. Current terrier loves kids, is very gentle and plays nicely but is over protective of the very small ones so has to be watched carefully. At my dads house it's a free for all, kids and dogs hare around with frequent collisions, occasional tears and while it makes me cringe, nobody had ever been bitten...knocked over, sat on, licked and lost their food yes but never bitten. 6 of us grew up with lots of dogs and survived to adulthood like that. In fact, my mothers cat was the one that had us all at one point or another FWIW.

In saying that, if I had kids of my own all but the first dog would have easily trained ( and even she could have been managed as she just wanted to get away from under 5s) to live with babies. Yes, they would never have been left alone with a small child but with some planning and commonsense it would have been relatively easy, many people do it and many more kids benefit from having animals in their life than not. I think the first year while the baby is static is probably the easiest, toddlers do seem to make everything 10 times harder :)
 
Lots of good advice given above. What I would recommend is starting to make any changes you need to now, before baby is born. So if your dog currently has the run of the house, then start restricting her to certain areas and put the baby gates up in advance. Will her walking/exercising routine be changed? If so, start doing that now, so dog has adapted to the new routine before baby arrives. Will make things much easier for you and the dog to sort those thing now, rather than when the baby arrives when you may be tired and frazzled!
 
Some very good advice above re separation. No dog can be trusted around a baby unsupervised, ever. And if you lay down the boundaries now, it will be a lot less stressful for the dog when the baby does come.
 
Jingleballs, please don't leave your child unattended with the dog. You may be very fortunate and nothing may ever happen, but are you really prepared to take the risk? Also, I must say, after seeing what my dogs eat and put their noses into, I cannot comprehend why you would let your dog lick your baby's face.
 
Each to their own but most accidents occur when the child has "pulled dog's tail/accidentally slapped dog etc" so the dog retaliates which as Moomin has said can happen in a nano second! In cases like this it's not really the dog's fault they are just acting on instinct.

We always had dogs growing up there is nothing nicer than the bond between child and dog IMO. Just be cautious and I'm sure all will be fine .
 
I got a Baby Dan pen for the baby. I would put her in there if I needed to leave the room and didn't want to take her, or usher the dogs out. She used to have her naps in there too.
The dogs, German Pointers weren't overly interested in the baby but they were never left to have close contact, ever.

I cringe when I see pictures of babies/children leaning/lying/sitting on dogs. The mood can change in a split second and I defy anybody to move faster than a dog who is about to bite!
 
Jingleballs said:
I'm probably going to get shot down here but hey ho.

We are pretty relaxed about her around the baby and she is regularly found licking the baby - including her face! She is fully wormed etc and baby loves her and giggles away.

I'll admit that I do leave them alone together - dog will be sleeping on the sofa and the baby, who's 9 weeks old now will be lying on her activity mat sleeping or playing. I have them both in bed with me in the morning for cuddles.
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Too right you will get shot down. What you are doing is madness.

OP, it does just depend on the dog. Some welcome the new arrival, others are unhappy. We kept our then JRT, who adored the babies from the off, but never, ever left him with them unattended. Play pens and dog gates are your friend.

Our lovely, sensitive collie/whippet cross was panicked and terrified by the sounds of crying. We rehomed him (very successfully) as it was never going to work.

Once the babies started crawling and walking, they were told very firmly to stay away from the dog's bed. That way, if the dog wanted 'time out', he knew he could always find sanctuary :).
 
I think it's difficult to tell a dog's complete behaviour from just a few photos, like it's hard to tell a rider's ability from one picture.

You can easily tell from the photos that you have a possessive dog, especially going on that first pic. That's not to say she will inevitably snap one day; maybe she will and maybe she won't - only you can judge her from the behaviour you've seen.

Personally, I wouldn't ever leave a dog I had rescued around a child. You don't know them in and out and you don't know their history.

I grew up around dogs (Bully breeds at that) and I have lots of old pics of them licking my feet, or of me sitting with them in the garden etc.

We had all these dogs from puppies and they grew up with us - my parents knew them from day one and knew they never displayed any odd, quirky habits or showed dangerous behaviour.

Saying that, I wouldn't trust our current dog with a small baby on her own. Not because she's aggressive, but she's very, very 'licky' and quite a worrier.
 
Good, old fashioned common sense is your friend. I grew up with a dog in the family, as did my son. We both survived and neither I nor he were ever bitten. The dog must know its place in the family and the child must be taught to respect the dog. Im sorry but I find those pictures earlier in this post scarily scary. It only takes a millisecond and that baby would be a gonna. Absolutely wouldnt be the dogs fault, could you live with yourself? The dog must never be treated as a plaything or a toy. OP, it is all down to you, to manage the situation and teach both dog and child respect for each other and right from wrong. If you are up to the task then you will have years of enjoyment ahead, if not, dont even consider it. Edited to add, having looked at the pictures again the 3rd one down especially worries me :(
 
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