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Post by wings on Sept 26, 2012 5:15:24 GMT -5
We're expecting our first baby in April. We have a few months to go, and I want to start preparing our two dogs for the baby. I am not that worried about Lela. She has been very good with friends' babies and toddlers. She is very calm and gentle with them. She has also lived with rabbits, guinea pigs and chickens before, so I expect she will quickly adapt to having a little baby around, and will not treat it as prey. Of course, I know to be careful and not to leave the baby unsupervised with any dog. Sammy is what I am a little worried about. He has a very strong prey instinct, and is not very clever or a quick learner.  He only seems to have 2 thought processes;. 1) It's food - catch it, kill it, eat it. 2) It's scary - run away!. Unfortunately, I have seen both reactions from him, when dealing with children. When little babies start making baby noises, he seems to think they are prey and he gets very 'interested'. He can also be very scared of older children (toddlers, who may be noisy and move fast). I have seen him panic when a child approaches him, even when they are being calm. Does anyone have advice on preparing the dogs (especially Sammy)? I have seen CDs with baby noises, which may help him get used to the noises they can make. I am sure Sammy will always have his prey instincts, but perhaps we can help him control them better. Would it help to do a lot of general training with him, so he learns to think and learn more impulse control? Would that actually help in dealing with his instincts regarding the baby? So far, he has not really learned much. I have done a couple of training courses with him, with little success: he gets so excited about the prospect of a treat, that he can't stop to think and figure out what he needs to do to earn the treat (one track mind). We taught him 'come here' and 'wait', and gave up after that, as he is generally so easy to manage anyway. I do have a couple of friend with babies, or babies due before us, but I don't think they would be willing to let me use their babies in a training program for Sammy. We may be able to go for walks together though (with Sammy of course muzzled and on lead), so he can get used to the sights, sounds and smells of babies. Any advice or stories about your experiences would be appreciated. I am dreading coming home from hospital with the baby, and then to find out my dog wants to eat it... |
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Post by Melanie on Sept 26, 2012 7:05:59 GMT -5
Firstly congratulations!!! I'm a little ahead of you (due December) and I've been preparing Axel a little, not too much to be honest as he's more like Lela, chilled and not bothered. I need to do work on walking with a pram, not because he pulls, but because he's known to walk into things and not really pay attention to his surroundings. With Sammy, I would suggest the walking with babies/children and spending time building up confidence around them. A baby cd would probably be a good idea too and perhaps even a realistic 'doll' wrapped in clothes that have been worn by a baby? What is he like with toys? Will baby toys/teddies excite him? If so, that'll need addressing too. I don't have any more advice really at the moment as I've not got experience, I'll leave that to the experts, I hope he learns to settle though - perhaps Lela will be a good example for him  |
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Post by barbaranixon on Sept 26, 2012 7:10:49 GMT -5
My son brought my newly born grandson over a couple of weeks ago. I know that Joly is soppy and left him free., but I crated Teddy, as he's unpredictable. However, when they visited a few days later, they walked in unannounced and Teddy was free. He totally ignored Theo.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2012 7:58:24 GMT -5
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Post by dizzi on Sept 27, 2012 10:34:07 GMT -5
Biggest issue we have long-term with Nancy is her soft toy theft. I won't lie - that's a continual pain in the butt, but if it's the worst we have from it -I'll take it.
Walking by the pram we didn't really have any issues with - a couple of times when they both weren't looking where they were going (as usual) and the ongoing lack of intelligence when they can't comprehend that they will NOT fit through ahead of a pram while on leads in a narrow gap.
We had a bother with Nancy to start with getting very wound up by baby noises - I don't think it was helped with me being stuck in hospital for ages since she came prematurely (so of course when we came home she was uber excitable), and I don't think the fact that she WAS so small, so the only clothing available was small, white and fluffy (just like Nancy's favourite things) helped either - I think she just took longer to realise it was a small person (especially since it was extra extra small).
One thing we did that helped a lot was to ring home when we FINALLY got discharged and got MIL to take the dogs out and walk the legs off them - so we could get home, get the baby settled, and then bring the dogs back. This failed massively since my entire family arrived (they'd been in-transit and were 50/50 about if they'd have to come to the hospital to see her or if we'd be home by the time they hit Nottingham) at the same time as MIL returned with the dogs and we finally got in the door ourselves (hospital having delayed discharge for 3 hours to write two lines on a bit of paper) so basically chaos reigned.
Layton absolutely adores Erin, keeps bringing her his toys to try to get her to play with him, Nancy's still indifferent - will do a drive-by lick, but is more interested in nicking the jingly Humpty Dumpty toy.
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Post by cranfordlass on Sept 29, 2012 1:29:34 GMT -5
Sorry no advice but just wanted to send my congratulations Sandra - delighted for you ! X
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Post by bilbo on Sept 29, 2012 8:26:34 GMT -5
No advice either, but congratulations!
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Post by bdiddy on Sept 30, 2012 2:54:03 GMT -5
We are also expecting a baby, due on 1st January. I just hope the baby isn't brought home around New Year's Eve time as one f our dogs freaks out at the fireworks anway which wouldn't be good. Like you we have one super chilled greyhound, Burton, but Lola is a lot more excitable with a higher prey drive. She is usually fairly calm in the house but gets v excited by squeaky noises etc! Also both are soft toy stealers and destroyers!
I think we will get baby gates put up soon so we can get them used to being excluded from certain parts of the house, like the nursery. I was wondering about getting one of those CDs but wonder how good they are and if they're worth the expense?
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Post by dizzi on Oct 1, 2012 6:44:07 GMT -5
Other things we've found (number 2 is on the way - also due in April... wasn't expecting things to happen that quick - buses spring to mind... wait 6 years for one, and then you get a second along almost immediately after!) - babygates work well if you reinforce NOT just jumping over them (Argos I think sell dog-gates which are higher, Kiddicare may as well - I'm sure I saw some in there the other day), we have a travel cot in the lounge where we put a play mat down and all the wondeful, enticing soft toys with squeaks and jangly bits (Lamaze could do a side-line in greyhound toys) stay in there (although on one occasion we've caught Nancy trying to pull them through the side netting)... we've also got a playmat/gym thing which has raised sides at least to start with - that one's awesome for putting out on the carpet and just having that marked out area that isn't for pointy little noses (obviously with supervision).
If you have a dog that's attracted to things white and fluffy - watch where you leave the cotton wool - thankfully I caught someone before they managed to have a munch of that!
Oh and white clothes and a house with two shedding dogs and one shedding cat do not mix!
The walking alongside the pushchair thing isn't actually the big deal I thought it would be, they seem to settle into a steady plod quite easily (although ask me this when I buy the bigger, wider one we're getting that'll take two seats in a couple of weeks). Although if you get one that's nice and manouverable, keep tight hold if you've got the dog lead wrapped around your wrist when walking through squirrelly areas - buggy(and me) nearly did a 360 degree rotation as squirrel-nutter dog spotted one, lunged, pulled my arm which was holding onto the buggy...
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Post by wings on Oct 8, 2012 9:45:51 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies everyone!
I had just been worrying about the baby not being eaten, I hadn't even thought of toy theft and walking with a pushchair yet!
I think I'll get a sling, so I have my hands free when walking the dogs. Both of mind are on lead, and both can get excited/lungy when they see other dogs, so I think think it would be safer that way.
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Post by poppysuffolk on Oct 8, 2012 10:39:59 GMT -5
Instead of buying a cd could you not find some baby noises/videos on the internet/you tube and then play them through the computer?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2012 10:45:45 GMT -5
I can recommend a Chicco Polly Magic highchair, it can be used from birth so you can have baby up out of hounds reach. Also a Baby Bjorn Synergy sling is very good. Don't be tempted to scrimp on a sling, it is really worth getting something decent to support your back also the cheaper ones will make baby sweat. It'll be fine, don't worry. You may feel like your life will never resemble normality again, but it will eventually  |
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Post by dizzi on Oct 8, 2012 14:03:45 GMT -5
Also a Baby Bjorn Synergy sling is very good. Don't be tempted to scrimp on a sling, it is really worth getting something decent to support your back also the cheaper ones will make baby sweat. Or something like a Connecta (or a Boba, Ergo, Rose and Rebellion, Babyhawk etc - sorry I'm a bit of a sling geek) - whereas everyone I know with a Bjorn has long since cracked and admitted defeat and that their baby's now too heavy for them to carry without it hurting their backs - I'm still wandering around quite happily with a 16lb 6 month old (well probably nearer 18lb or so now) on my front or back for hours at the time - even going up the killer hill of doom with her in it when the bus decided not to show up the other day. I'm actually pretty sure that wearing a sling so much is the reason I haven't ended up with SPD so far in this pregnancy (yes number 2 will be due with almost exactly a year gap between them) since my core strength's so much better now and this is the point it started causing bother last time and it normally starts earlier in subsequent pregnancies. |
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Post by pinkhairedelf on Oct 29, 2012 17:56:12 GMT -5
Hi there,
We are a few weeks ahead of you.. our newest little girl is 6 weeks! We have 3 dogs, a greyhound, a whippet and a lurcher.
We tried to prepare the dogs by putting a crib up i the living room and the pram up before the birth so they got used to it. We also borrowed my 4 yr olds baby doll which cried and set it off randomly - in the pram, in our arms, in the cot etc - so they got used to the new strange noises.
Bella was born at home and the dogs tbh werent as interested as we thought. Eddison the lurcher just ignores her, Mog the whippet things she is her pup and guards her when she sleeps and lkes to lay beside us if we are holding her..
Poppy the greyhound was a little more tricky - she wasnt impressed that this new squeaky thing was taking the attention of my other half away from her.. for the first few days she would steal her blankets, or try to mouth at her babygro or toes... we just told her no firmly but didnt jerk the baby away (obviously we made sure Bella wasnt in danger at all), we let her sniff Bella and slowly she is "allowing" this new human into her space.
Just watch dummies, bottles and nappies - they seem attracted to the milk smell and will try to snafle them any chance they get.
Congratulations and dont panic - the best thing a child can have growing up is the love of a dog.. we have 3 kids and 3 dogs lol
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Post by julies on Oct 30, 2012 2:30:32 GMT -5
Congratulations Have no idea at all about babies but I wondered if putting a blanket with the new baby's smell on it (while you're in hospital and then when you come home) in the dogs' beds would help show them baby belongs too? I'lll leave it to the experts J x |
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