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I just read the sticky about kids and dogs and found it interesting.
Does anyone have more tips for preparing dogs to live with a human baby? We have two dogs (Tessa - 2 year old husky x golden, Maggie, 3 year old Pyrenees x golden) and we are expecting a baby in September. Is there anything I can do to prepare the dogs?
So far my plan is to keep working on obedience with both of them (obviously). With Tessa, I want to focus on calm greetings and impulse control. She is a very friendly dog, but can get excited easily. She has in the past knocked small children over with her enthusiastic greetings. :doh: I also want to get her used to not licking people (she does like to eat poop... so that's kind of gross)
With Maggie, I mostly want to build her confidence. She is easily scared (mostly by loud noises and tall people) but getting better. She is very calm with children and seems to have infinite patience (though obviously I do not want to push her on that). She does not seem to be scared of kids at all (probably because they do not tower over her) She does sometimes get hyper when outside playing. I will have to teach her to calm down when near people.
Tessa is partially crate trained, but mostly at night. She hates being confined during the day.
Maggie does not like to be confined to the crate, and we never felt the need to (she never chews anything or make any problems whatsoever). Still, I am trying to establish with her that her crate (which is always left open) is a safe place. Same with the doggy bed. My goal will be to teach the child to always, always leave the dogs alone when they are on their bed or in the crate.
I am also planning to use a baby carrier rather than always relying on a stroller. Among other advantages, it will make it easier to walk the dogs and play with them outside.
Aside from that, I don't plan on ever leaving the baby unsupervised where the dogs can get to it. The dogs are not allowed upstairs (where the nursery will be) and we'll have a baby gate as an extra precaution.
Any other ideas?
Does anyone have more tips for preparing dogs to live with a human baby? We have two dogs (Tessa - 2 year old husky x golden, Maggie, 3 year old Pyrenees x golden) and we are expecting a baby in September. Is there anything I can do to prepare the dogs?
So far my plan is to keep working on obedience with both of them (obviously). With Tessa, I want to focus on calm greetings and impulse control. She is a very friendly dog, but can get excited easily. She has in the past knocked small children over with her enthusiastic greetings. :doh: I also want to get her used to not licking people (she does like to eat poop... so that's kind of gross)
With Maggie, I mostly want to build her confidence. She is easily scared (mostly by loud noises and tall people) but getting better. She is very calm with children and seems to have infinite patience (though obviously I do not want to push her on that). She does not seem to be scared of kids at all (probably because they do not tower over her) She does sometimes get hyper when outside playing. I will have to teach her to calm down when near people.
Tessa is partially crate trained, but mostly at night. She hates being confined during the day.
Maggie does not like to be confined to the crate, and we never felt the need to (she never chews anything or make any problems whatsoever). Still, I am trying to establish with her that her crate (which is always left open) is a safe place. Same with the doggy bed. My goal will be to teach the child to always, always leave the dogs alone when they are on their bed or in the crate.
I am also planning to use a baby carrier rather than always relying on a stroller. Among other advantages, it will make it easier to walk the dogs and play with them outside.
Aside from that, I don't plan on ever leaving the baby unsupervised where the dogs can get to it. The dogs are not allowed upstairs (where the nursery will be) and we'll have a baby gate as an extra precaution.
Any other ideas?