Hi, name is Jodi, and my husband, Matt, and I have recently undergone a major change in our lives... we bought a house recently, and 4 months after moving in, our daughter, Taylor, was born. That's enough right there to change our lives, but three years before all that, we had another addition to our family that made us a family as opposed to just a couple. In June 2008, we had brought home a Shih Tzu puppy, whom we named Sydney. She is the sweetest puppy we had ever met and still is at age 3! We became Mommy and Daddy to her as if she were our own. We have both loved her, taken care of her, and based some of our home-buying decisions based on her needs -- and wants. We had actually enjoyed having her so much and thought about making her a big sister by getting another Shih Tzu puppy so they could keep each other company while we both worked during the day. Sydney did become a big sister all right...
I found out that I was pregnant!
We really weren't planning on having any human children. We had always been aunt and uncle to kids in our family, but we never thought we'd want our own. We fell in love with being Sydney's parents that we thought we'd be parents to dogs. But it's amazing what surprises life throws our way.
I had heard people tell me, "Once that baby comes, you won't have time for that dog!" I know there were families in which that happened, but Matt and I certainly didn't want that to happen to Sydney. Certainly there must be a way for a new baby to arrive AND make sure that Sydney still felt like she was just as much part of the family as before! Despite the distractions of buying the house, moving, and dealing with pregnancy (morning sickness, bodily changes, hormones, etc.), I still wanted to learn how to make things work between parenting Sydney and parenting a baby.
While I was still pregnant, Matt and I had taken an class at Animal Friends (in the North Hills of Pittsburgh) called Baby Ready Your Pet. We had learned tips on preparing a dog for a baby, introducing a dog to a new baby, and living with a dog and baby. The class also focused on cats, birds, and other types of pets, but our main concern had to do with dogs.
I would like to focus this blog post mainly on the preparation of a baby coming (for the dog, that is).
* Buy a baby doll to use as a prop so that the dog gets used to seeing members of the household holding a baby. We used a prop baby for Sydney to used to seeing us with one.
* Play sounds of a baby crying and cooing so that the dog gets used to hearing those sounds. Some find it disturbing while others are genuinely concerned for the crying baby. It's a good idea to get them conditioned to baby sounds before the baby comes home. We downloaded baby sounds and kept them on the iPod or on our phones to play at random.
* By using the aforementioned prop baby doll, train the dog to jump/climb onto your lap only when invited to do so. Some lap dogs might jump on a baby that is taking a bottle/breastfeeding or just sleeping in someone's arms. Train them early to get on your lap only when you invite them so you can avoid any safety issues for the baby in order to avoid it being an issue to begin with. Also, make sure they know your signal for when NOT to jump/climb onto your lap as well. It'll take some repetition (and probably training treats). We did practice this with Sydney and rewarded her with training treats when she obeyed us.
* Allow the dog to sniff some baby stuff, like some baby clothes. We got Sydney used to seeing baby clothes and got her used to the baby's room by sometimes letting her go in there with us. Sometimes we took a toy of hers in there to play with her in there so that she may associate baby's room with "good" and "happy."
* If the baby is sleeping in a bassinet at first as opposed to the crib in the nursery, it might be a good idea to train the dog to sleep in his/her own doggy bed instead of in your bed. This is mainly to prevent the dog from finding a way to climb into the bassinet via the bed. We personally did not feel the need to do this with Sydney due to the fact that the bassinet was located several feet away from our bed, and it's at a height and distance in which Sydney can't get to it. But in other families' cases, training the dog to sleep elsewhere might be necessary.
* Start thinking about any possible issues with the baby having access to the dog's food when the little one starts crawling and walking. If the dog's food and water need to be moved, the change can be made gradually before the baby arrives. That way, it's not too drastic of a change for the dog. For example, Matt and I would like to move Sydney's food and water to the kitchen and then put the baby gate between the kitchen and living room doorway so that a crawling and walking Taylor can't get to the food. Sydney's bowls can be moved a foot or two at a time each day to gradually get her used to it not being in the same location as before. The gate can be added after a while. She will also learn with the gate there that if she needs to eat/drink, she'll let us know. It will take some time for us to learn her cues as well. This avoids any hassles and potential danger to the baby if the dog's food is "threatened."
* If any family/friends have a baby, bring him/her over to a) see how your dog reacts to a baby and b) practice things like inviting the dog onto your lap and teaching him/her not to climb up. We did not have anyone visit with a baby, so we had to hope for the best with Sydney's reaction to a baby.
* Make sure that there is no possible access the dog can jump into the crib or access the baby. No pieces of furniture or anything that he/she can get into that would be almost like a stepping stone or two into the crib. Same with a playpen or anything like that. When we set up the nursery, we made sure that any other pieces of furniture (changing table, dresser, rocking chair) were all placed in separate locations where they wouldn't be touching or come that close to the crib.
* And this tip will lead into the next blog, which will be about introducing the dog and baby when Mom and Baby come home from the hospital... before Mom and Baby come home, have Dad take a onesie/article of clothing that the baby had worn or a blanket in which the baby was swaddled to let the dog get the baby's scent. The baby's smell when he'/comes home with Mom should not be that new to the dog by then. The day before Taylor and I came home, Matt took a onesie that Taylor had been wearing and let Sydney sniff it when he went home that night.
I'll post later about introducing the dog and baby. Tips that we learned as well as our own story about Sydney and Taylor meeting for the first time!
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