dog & baby

We have a dog who will be 2 and a half when the baby is born.
Im wondering how she will be-right now she's our only baby. Is there anything we can do to prepare her?
Any recommendations?

Re: dog & baby

They say that your husband should bring home something from the hospital that the baby has worn or been wrapped in.. that way the dog can get used to the babies scent.

I'm sure everything will be fine and they'll be the best of friends. Your dog will surprise you and be super protective over the little one. :)

Re: dog & baby

Our dog just turned 2 and she was like our baby too (plus she is really high energy!)
We set up the things we thought would set her off, like the swing and watched her carefully. also we let her go in the baby's room but we watch her so if she goes nears omething shes not supposed to we make a big deal over it. So far, she doesnt seem to care much. Once the baby is born DH will be bringing home a dirty diaper and blanket to get her used to the smell. I have an article about this in my NB ill look for it and bump it

Re: dog & baby

thanks! I actually take my dog everywhere with me. she comes to work with me every day.

Re: dog & baby

we have two dogs and had no issue with transition with either... we did do a few things to help transition... we took away all plush toys several months prior to ds beinh born to reduce the temptation, we set up the nursery and baby stuff at 36 weeks and actually ran the swing for a while so they were used to it, dh brought home the blankets from ds every time he came home from the hospital, when i came home i walked in alone and he carried in ds, whenever one of us was feeding ds the other was petting the dogs...


i like to sya it was successful, only one toy has been chewed but in the dogs defense it was covered in post dinner drool and ds did hand it to him... they do have a small amount of adjustment issues (increased barking due to the need to rpotect the baby) but that is it..

i do have to say that if you do every little thing with your dog you may wnt to cut back simply because you wont have the time and that may create resentment

Re: dog & baby

Pet Post

Above is a link that I think you will find really helpful.

Re: dog & baby

I was also going to post the above link for you. We plan to set up all the baby's stuff before the baby comes so the dog has a chance to get use to it all. The swing, crib, etc.. DH is going to bring home blankets from the hospital everyday for him to sniff. I also plan to walk the dog with the stroller towards the end so he has a chance to get use to it. As long as your dog is trained, and respects boundaries you shouldn't have a problem. If not it is time to get to work on that asap!

Re: dog & baby

My cocker spaniel was a little over 2 years old when we brought my DD home from the hospital and honestly, she was fine. She didn't seem to be at all phased by the baby being here. My DH did bring a blanket home from the hospital but I don't know if it really made a difference. Once we were home the dog would sniff her a few times and lay close by her a lot, especially when she was sleeping in the bassinet. She seemed protective but in a very sweet way.

Prior to her coming home my dog would occasionally go into the baby room and sniff everything and look around but that was it. Now my DD is 15 months old and she is obsessed with the dog and my dog barely gives her the time of day. They are really cute together though, my DD really gets a kick out of her.

Re: dog & baby

Great thread !

Re: dog & baby

Posted by baybee

thanks! I actually take my dog everywhere with me. she comes to work with me every day.

Re: dog & baby

Okay so I may not be pregnant (baby threads just interest me) but I must say that the answers everyone recommends are great, however, they make me laugh for the following reasons:

Right now my dog is 11 months and a HUGE baby . He is so hyper and LOVES to play with anything that moves..as such...

He loves to steal socks AND towels/bath rugs! So when everyone says let him sniff the babys blanket..if i threw that in his face..he would think I was trying to play tug of war

I also picture him trying to steal my kids socks all the time (since he loveees to steal ours!!)

I sure hope he calms down before we have kids otherwise we are in trouble

Re: dog & baby

Posted by jennarose023

Posted by baybee

thanks! I actually take my dog everywhere with me. she comes to work with me every day.

you can bring your dog to work??? where do you work?? yes i'm jealous cuz i want a dog and DH says i'm not home enough

Message edited 12/20/2009 12:47:34 AM.