Preparing your dog for your baby's arrival

Make sure preparing your pooch is on your pregnancy to do list!

There's a lot to think about when you find out your family is having a new (human) addition. If you have pets, you need to start preparing them early. Below are my suggestions for how to help your dog(s) be as well prepared as possible for their sibling's arrival.

If your dog already has significant behaviour challenges, or you are worried about how they react at any stage of this process, please reach out for professional support as soon as possible.

There guidance below will help you get started with preparations for a newborn. However, if you are welcoming an older child, or a baby who is already mobile, there will be extra things to consider. Please see our next post of preparing your dog who when your baby starts crawling, climbing and walking.

Don't worry if you come to this post late, and you are already close to your baby's arrival. Any thing you can do in advance is a bonus, so get started with what you can now.

What will a new-born mean?

-          Some areas being off limits or restricted access

-          Lots of new equipment

-          Less routine / more changes of plan

-          Less structure to walks times & maybe less time for walks

-          The birthing parent maybe not being able to do dogs walks for a while

-          Noise and disruption in day and night (sleeping patterns)

-          Not able to immediately provide attention at all times (such as when feeding)

-          More visitors both family and strangers (health workers etc)

Things to plan in the first trimester

-    What changes to access will there be?

-          Where will you want to be doing most your feeding / changing etc?

-          Will there be any big daily routine changes?

- Any big furniture reshuffles?

Sleeping arrangements

Safe sleep advice for babies advises that they should be in the same room as you for the first 6 months at least. It is also essential that your dog(s) do not have any unsupervised access to your baby. This means that when you are sleeping they need to either be securely shut out of the room, or crated in the room.

For some dogs it may actually be better for them to get used to sleeping downstairs or in another room to minimise disruption to their sleep when you are up during the night.

This is going to take a while to get used to, to I would suggest you make plans and start slowly introducing these changes as early as possible.

Accepting barriers

There will be times when your dogs may need to be closed out of the way, or be in a separate room to you and your baby. It is really important that we make sure your dog is calm and relaxed when they are closed behind a door, baby gate or into their crate.

This also means if you do have any concerns over how your dog is reacting to your baby, you can safely separate them in a low stress way until you can arrange professional support.

Things to start in the second trimester

Sounds:

Babies make a lot of strange and unusual sounds that some dogs can find worrying, exciting or overstimulating. It is important to check how your dog reacts to baby associated noises well in advance. I would suggest repeating this through your pregnancy. If at any time they start to show any signs of stress, over excited etc. then you will need to address this.

Below is a great free resource from Dogs Trust to guide you through the process...

Sound Therapy & Firework Training for Dogs | Dogs Trust

If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll find the ‘sounds smoothing’ section which is especially for baby preparations. It also has a downloadable how-to-guide.

Signal of non-interaction:

It’s not ideal to have the dogs jumping up when you are holding a baby. We can try to teach them that they won’t get attention whilst you are carrying the baby to help reduce this.

To start we need a fake baby. Maybe a teddy in a baby grow? Or a large doll?

When you are carrying the doll (like a baby) the dogs will not get any interaction or attention from you.

Pick up the ‘baby’ and ignore them for 10 seconds, then put the baby down, or pass to someone else (who will do the same) and give the dogs a fuss.

We want them to notice the difference between you holding the ‘baby’ and not. Slowly start to build up the duration and practice in different scenarios and with everyone who will be involved in day to day baby care.

Things to work on in the third trimester

Equipment:

-          Start to assemble and bring equipment into the house as soon as possible.

Do it a little at a time so it’s not overwhelming.

-          Leave things around so they can be sniffed and investigated.

-          If things move, make noise etc. start to demonstrate them and pair some tasty treats.

-          Start to intro the buggy with one person walking the dogs on lead, and the other pushing the buggy. Make sure they have enough distance to remain calm, and gradually get closer until they are able to walk along side.

Smells:

-          Babies smell (from a dogs POV anyway!). They are milky and poopy and interesting.

They also come with lots of smelly lotions and potions.

-          I would start introducing the dogs to these smells now.

-          For example, if anyone offers to give you some old baby stuff ask them not to wash it first.

Or if you are seeing a baby use a muslin to gather scent to take home to the dogs.

This is an exciting time, and one that goes smoothly for the vast majority of families. However some dogs do find the change very difficult, and investing some extra time and thought in advance could make all the difference. If you have any concerns about your dog's behaviour around a baby or child, please separate them immediately and seek professional support. And finally, never leave a young child and dog unsupervised.