Needless to say my husband and I are “animal people”. With three dogs and a parrot I guess we couldn’t be considered anything else. We are very lucky that our dogs are all “people animals” as well. They love to be around people, especially kids. Since some of our friends had kids before we did, we got to witness our dogs first hand with those children. They were always well behaved and when they had had enough they just left for their crates. Still, of course one of our concerns was how the dogs would behave with our son when we brought him home. Experts say prepare your dogs for the shock since they are the “first babies” (although in reality your husband was the first “baby”) by bringing home blankets or clothes from the hospital that have been with the baby so they can get used to their smell. Do not allow the dogs into the baby’s room for the first however many months. Make them sit at the door while you go in so they get used to hearing the baby noises. All of which are great ideas and I do suggest trying them.
However, there is also another reality. The fact that when your husband goes home from the hospital, while you and baby are still there, it’s probably just to shower, get clean clothes and then hurry right back. I know in the flurry of everything going on, not once did we remember to send baby clothes/blankets home with him for the dogs. At that point they were the furthest thing from our mind. In an instant, they went from “babies” to “dogs”.
When we brought our son home we had all intentions of not allowing the dogs into his room. Now remember our dogs have been professionally trained and are very well behaved but they are still three high strung hunting dogs who want to be with us no matter where we are and that included the baby’s room. The first time in there we had them sit at the door. Within a few seconds they had snuck in to see what was going on. We took them back out and made them sit. What we noticed was that the more we made them sit outside the room the more nervous they got. Here was this new baby, with new smells, and made new noises they weren’t used to. You think three hunting dogs don’t want to check that out? Plus when you’re figuring out your new baby the last thing on your mind is dog obedience (I’m sure Brenda cringes as she reads this). So before long all three dogs were allowed in the room and able to poke their wet noses around our son. So much for no dogs in the baby room.
A rule we ALWAYS DO follow is watching our dogs when they are with our son. It takes only seconds for something bad to happen. Lucky for us our son can hang from their ears if he wants and they won’t so much as grunt but you never what an animal will do. So we have tried to teach him to pet nice, give hugs and respect the dogs from the beginning.
However, there is also another reality. The fact that when your husband goes home from the hospital, while you and baby are still there, it’s probably just to shower, get clean clothes and then hurry right back. I know in the flurry of everything going on, not once did we remember to send baby clothes/blankets home with him for the dogs. At that point they were the furthest thing from our mind. In an instant, they went from “babies” to “dogs”.
When we brought our son home we had all intentions of not allowing the dogs into his room. Now remember our dogs have been professionally trained and are very well behaved but they are still three high strung hunting dogs who want to be with us no matter where we are and that included the baby’s room. The first time in there we had them sit at the door. Within a few seconds they had snuck in to see what was going on. We took them back out and made them sit. What we noticed was that the more we made them sit outside the room the more nervous they got. Here was this new baby, with new smells, and made new noises they weren’t used to. You think three hunting dogs don’t want to check that out? Plus when you’re figuring out your new baby the last thing on your mind is dog obedience (I’m sure Brenda cringes as she reads this). So before long all three dogs were allowed in the room and able to poke their wet noses around our son. So much for no dogs in the baby room.
A rule we ALWAYS DO follow is watching our dogs when they are with our son. It takes only seconds for something bad to happen. Lucky for us our son can hang from their ears if he wants and they won’t so much as grunt but you never what an animal will do. So we have tried to teach him to pet nice, give hugs and respect the dogs from the beginning.
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