Dogs and babies
Having a baby is a very exciting, nerve recking, hormone changing experience that new parents can have! There are so many hopes and expectations! But what if we add a family dog to the mixture? often, we are putting too many exactions on our fur babies and expect to understand the sudden change and accept this new bundle of joy like their own. And a lot of new parents get caught by a surprise of their beloved Fluffy all of a sudden growling at a baby. It is not an uncommon situation but don’t worry! We can help!
Let’s look at this from your dog’s perspective. As a single fur child, it is not easy to start sharing all the attention with a little new creature that just appeared in the house seemingly out of nowhere! And now pawrents schedule gets completely thrown out the window, the walks are not predictable any longer and often much shorter than before. Where is the common denominator to this change? A baby!
New baby and a dog do not have to become BFFs right from the start, and I can almost certainly guarantee that this won’t be the case for a few years. Yeap, you heard me! Years! Babies, toddlers and young kids are rough, loud, unpredictable. All the things that our pups do not like. All we need to do is create a safe and predictable environment for all for them to thrive in. And it comes with lots of management.
Do not leave your baby/toddler and your dog alone unsupervised. Things could happen in a blink of an eye.
Learn to understand your dog’s body language. What is Fluffy saying to you when she is licking her lips? Turning head away? We recommend a book Doggie Language by Lili Chin to learn more about that.
Do not punish the growl! This is a very loud and clear communication from our dogs that we will never miss! I teach my clients to prevent growl from happening by simply removing the trigger (aka a child) away by reading the body language and recognizing sings of stress. But if you are not looking, the growl will let you know that your pup is not happy at the moment and this is your cue to remove the trigger or redirect your dog away. If we punish the growl, your dog might simply skip this step and go from being extremely uncomfortable but quiet into a snap and possibly a bite.
Supervise! Supervise! Supervise!
If you are expecting, now is a good time to work on some training and teach your pup a new skill so you have control after the baby is here.
We encourage you to reach out with any questions!
