BTDT moms with dogs....

especially those with dogs that got ALL The attention before baby...

was there a negative reaction or a "warm up" period where the dogs were jealous and acted out?

My dogs sleep in the bed with us, get all the attention, and I am SO worried that they might act out when the baby comes. They are wonderful with my nephews and Bailey-the older-was great in NY with my other nephew who was just 1 yr old (aside from being spastic). He even stuck his finger up her butt and she did nothing!

I'm just so scared that they might snap at her or destroy all her things.....

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

I am currently going through a hard time with my two shih-tzus who were so spoiled by the both us prior to the baby's arrival. My male dog, Marshall, is is 7 has completely withdrawn from us. He will not stay in the same room with us if we have the baby most of the time. He'll go to the kitchen and just lay there for hours on end--which is so unlike him. It hurts me SO MUCH to see him go through this, but I don't know how to make it better. I can't abandon my son when he needs me, and when I have free time the dog still would really interact with me. As for my othr dog, Mandy, she is curious and sniffs the baby all the time, but then leaves him alone.

My dogs still sleep with me--that's something that I won't take away from them--it wouldn't be fair; so the baby sleeps in his crib all the time--no exception.

So this is my situation almost a month after the baby's arrival. I hope it gets better. Does anyone have any suggestions??

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

Byron is awesome. All we did was Dh brought home Jack's hospital blanket and we left it in his crate and then when I came home for the hospital Dh waited outside with Jack and I came in and loved' up Byron and took him for a walk then Dh walk in with the baby and when I returned we took byron up to the carseat on his leash

Since then things have been great! Byron likes to lay on the floor close to Jack or sleep outside of his room. We had to lift the bumper on the crib because is Jack cries Byron runs in their and checks on him (it's so cute) when Jack is on his activity mat Byron lays right next to him and hangs out.

They are definetly buddies.

also byron sleeps on our bed sometimes so our rule was packand play or crib for Jack. He is never on the couch so we hav't had a problem and we taught him not to lay on jack's blankets and also trained our friends to make byron sit before they pet him rather then him jump up in case later on some one was holding jack. I also think any friends or family members that came to help or visit always welcomed byron first. It may sound wierd but we tried to treat byron like a big brother more then a pet... hoping he would learn to love him! Also byron gets fed first at 6am so never never really waits on the baby I think that helps as well.

Last week my mom's dogs were introduced to Jack and her Female Shitzo was somewhat afraid of him but one time while I was sleeping my Dad watched Jack in his swing and the baby started to cry. Their shitzo ran off the bed and sat down next to the swing and just started wimpering at the baby like as if she wanted to help like a good mommy..

So all in all we have been lucky. But I have many friends who had to give up their pets.

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Message edited 9/8/2005 10:21:42 AM.

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

OMG how cute are those pictures. I hope we have as much luck as you with introducing our dog.

Since I found out I was pregnant, we have been trying to make the dog understand. He is very attached to my DH, so I wash DH's clothes in Dreft so the scent is on his clothes, we have a doll that we walk around with and show to him. He has been pretty good so far, so hopefully it will work.

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

We have a lab that was spolied rotten and did fine when Jack came home from the hospital. It took a few months for him to warm up to him since he would get annoyed and leave the room when Jack cried. But now, they are buds. Ranger barks if Jack falls down while he is playing and during the day Ranger gets more hugs from Jack than I do.

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

Our Mini Daschund peed in the house twice the first day he was home with the baby. After that he is always near the baby watching him with guests, he was our first baby so we still try to spend alot of time with him. Its an adjustment but I think all dogs will be okay after a while.

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

We have 2 Siberian Huskies and 1 of them always slept in bed with us. They got all of the attention. They were beyond curious/excited when we first brought my son home. They couldn't stop sniffing him. I was worried too because they're big dogs. Well, I've never had any jealousy problems with them. I do think they miss all the attention, but nothing too bad. Now I'm dealing with teaching my son not to hit the dogs! We don't know why he does because we never do? He does it when he gets mad at them. They're REALLY good with him though. I think it really depends on the dog and breed.

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

What I did with zoe, our dog was that when I went in the hospital and Alia was born I told my husband to bring one of her blankets so that Zoe could get use to her scent.
this was two days before I came home.
When I came home, i said hi to Zoe and everytime We would hold Alia, one of us would play with Zoe.
It's important to show them almost an equal attention, they need to feel like they are still part of the family.
Alia and Zoe are truly best friends.
Zoe is amazing with her, so loving and protective.
They even play together and Alia sometimes will try to pull Zoe's ears but Zoe is so calm but we let Alia know not to do it anyways.

Re: BTDT moms with dogs....

We have a 6 year old black lab who was our "first" baby before Jenna-he was nothing but WONDERFUL when we brought Jenna home from the hospital-he was a little scared of her at first (the crying) but he warmed up, would follow us around with her, sleep under her crib and now is like her best friend.