Introducing Babies to Dogs

Hi,

As the time gets closer, I have thought about this more and more and am curious about how others have done this. We have 2 dogs- an (almost) 4 year old Basset Hound and a 1 year old Boxer. The Basset has lived with a newborn and a young child before (it's why we have her- her old owner didn't want to deal with her and just really isn't a dog person- she was her husband's dog and he is always gone for his military job) and the Boxer has never really been around children much, but when she has she has just been curious. They are both very sweet dogs, but they can get excitable and bounce around. Mostly they're pretty lazy in the house though. I just wonder how people have dealt with bring home babies to the dogs. This is going to throw my Boxer's world off because she has been our baby for the past year since we got her at 8 weeks old! And how you teach the dogs what toys are theirs and what toys are for the babies?

I've had so many people say to just get rid of the dogs and not have to deal with it and that is absolutely not an option for us. The dogs are family.

 

I love your committment to your pups. Let me see if I can pull up my old "papers" on introducing dogs and baby(ies).

ETA 1: Very important. Never ever EVER leave your dog(s) and kid(s) together unsupervised. I know it sounds so basic, but it only takes 1/2 of a second for a kid to be hurt, not only biting, but being stepped on, being clawed.

I know it's not a big deal now, but when they're about a year and really showing interest in the dogs, make sure to teach the children "gentle".

eta: 4pawsu is an awesome resource. One of the trainers is currently pregnant with her first kid, so there's a good chance that this might have more kid friendly tips soon.

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/pets_babies.html

http://www.4pawsu.com/bpkids.htm

http://tripp.fenderson.net/friends/karenoverall/protocol.html

 

Well this is definitely number one.

We have a small cockapoo (she is lovely) and I always kept her very close to me during my pregnancy.

Once the boys were born my husband brought their first blankets home from the hospital and let Gemma (that's our dog) sniff, so by the time we got home from the hospital the smells were somewhat familiar to her.

I also gave one of the hospital pacis to her (after we came home from the hospital) that way she got something from the boys.

 

When we brought our older son home from the hospital we had our 2 dogs, a Bull Mastiff and a Boxer/pitbull mix... We didn't do anything special or extra to introduce them.. We just brought the baby in and let the dogs come smell him/his car seat... And since I had been gone for a few days I gave them extra love and attention since they missed me... They are very well behaved dogs and listen good so if they started to get too excited we'd tell them to get in their beds and they would...
NOW.. When we brought the twins home we still had our 2 dogs but we also have a 1 year old English Bulldog added to the mix.. Same thing as before, except the bulldog is far more excitable and curious, and slobbery and stinky... We didn't do anything different introducing them, except holding the bulldog back a little so he didn't slime the babies their first night home...

Our dogs are our children too! Good luck! You'll quickly figure out what works for you and your family, you know your dogs temperaments, and if change is hard for them ease them into it by introducing the babies smell and such before hand..

 

we have a foxhound/lab mix that is energetic and "handy" (meaning, he swipes with his paws). we've kept him mostly separated from the boys up until recently. he's allowed to be in the room with them but i usually sit between him and them. and he's only allowed to approach when we give him permission and he's never allowed to initiate contact. this is especially important now that they're walking around at eye-level to him and they may be carrying cookies at any given time.

we followed the dog whisperer advice and taught him to always lie down if we're walking through the room carrying one of the boys. and we made sure he understood that babies are higher than him in the family hierarchy. dogs understand leaders and followers and they have to understand that the babies are leaders, too.

 

We brought home blankets from the NICU prior to their homecoming. When we came in with them we made no big deal and just set them in their carriers in the middle of the floor and let him explore and sniff them himselves. He didnt care two licks about them though lol. Now that they are crawling he likes to sniff and lick their faces. WHich he did that during tummy time but now my DS just throws his hands up and pushes him outta his face and they laugh and laugh at him when he barks or "grunts/grufs" at his toys. Its so cute

 

We have two very excitable boxers who love kids, but also had never really spent a lot of time around them. When we brought them home, they were VERY curious. They naturally knew to be very gentle with the kids, but we never left them unsupervised. Our biggest problem was communicating that baby items were off limits to the dogs... up until the babies came home, all stuffies and toys were "theirs". Always have a treat jar on hand, and every time you catch them doing something right around the babies give them positive reinforcement.

And literally, it does only take 1/2 a second for trouble to start.. our crib was in our master bedroom and I turned my back to throw something in the walk in closet and turned around to find our boxer girl up on our bed with one paw in the crib... just being curious, but still. It kills me to think what could have happened if I had walked away for a minute.

 

We also have two dogs. One is really calm and we know he would be no problem, but we were a little worried about our boxer mix since she is so hyper. My husband also brought home their little hats from the hospital ahead of time for them to smell. Then when the babies and I came home a couple days later, they just sniffed them and licked them a little but otherwise didn't seem to care. Now our babies absolutely LOVE the dogs! My younger boy smiles and laughs just at the sight of them sometimes, it's great! And for some reason the dogs never cared about the babies toys, although occasionally they will get into their dirty clothes or dirty diapers, but that's about it.

 

Thanks- I'm enjoying reading the experiences (and advice)!

~Don't you just love boxers???~