Preparing your dog for a new baby
When you bring a newborn home for the first time, your dog’s daily routine drastically changes, with less time available for walks, playtime, and attention. When newborns enter the crawling and walking phases, and when toddlers begin to speak, dogs must quickly adjust to a new kind of “chaos.” For many dogs, especially those with anxiety, these adjustments can lead to new and unwanted behaviors. If you’re planning to bring a new child home, or even having nieces and nephews for a visit, here are some tips to prepare your pup for the inevitable changes that come.
- Learn to read dog body language. Dogs communicate almost entirely through body language, so learning their language will prevent unavoidable heartaches. If you know when your pup is stressed, you can coach children when it’s time to give the dog space. There are subtle stress signals that can be hard to read for many pet owners. Keep an eye out for lip licks, showing whites of the dog’s eyes, stiffness, backing or looking away, and staring.
- Teach your dog to go to a spot. Training your pup to go to a mat, blanket, or bed on cue is a great way to promote calm behaviors, as well as provide a safe place to go if they’re overwhelmed. Use positive reinforcement and treats to train this behavior, so the dog chooses to go to the spot on their own. You can also instruct children to leave a dog alone when in their “spot.”
- Train your dog to settle in a crate or behind a baby gate. Teaching your pup to relax in these spaces can help you to manage while caring for your child. Make the crate a fun place to be by practicing often and using Kongs, treats, puzzles, and bones. Training these behaviors can have other benefits as well. If your pup needs to board in a kennel, requires crating at the vet, or you’re having a party, you’ll be happy you’ve practiced this!
- Use enrichment to help burn energy. Boredom is one of the main causes of behavioral issues like chewing and barking. While dogs still need exercise and time to experience nature, using treat puzzles, Kongs, and scatter feeding to deliver your dog’s dinner helps burn energy by using their brain. You can also hide toys around the yard, play hide and seek, or take your dog on car rides when making quick runs to the store.
- Substitute long walks with training time. You may not have much time for lengthy walks, but practicing important life skills like staying on a mat during dinner time, or coming when called, can help you burn your dog’s mental energy while building a bond and encouraging good behavior. You can also use a long-line (a leash of 30+ feet) and go to an open field to explore and practice recall.
- Practice gently handling your dog’s ears, tail, and paws. While it’s never encouraged to leave a child unsupervised with dogs, or let a child pull on or climb on dogs, it’s good to prepare your pup for experiences that come with a child in the home. Practice gently pulling on ears/tails and give hugs, and pair this with treats. Each time you touch your dog, give plenty of treats and praise. As a result, if your child happens to pull on your dog or tries to give a hug, the dog will be more likely to have a positive reaction.
- “Practice” having a baby in the house. Playing baby sounds on your phone, rocking a baby doll while your dog is on their mat, taking your dog for a walk with an empty stroller, going for walks at parks full of kids, and gently having your pup meet friends’ children are great ways to acclimate your dog to life with children
- Use a dog walker, pet sitter, or find a friend. Hiring someone to exercise your dog alleviates your stress during busy times. And it’s important to ensure any walkers, trainers, sitters, or daycare staff steer clear of all aversive techniques. Using aversive methods will create more behavioral issues in the future.
- Teach “leave it” and “drop it.”. Many owners struggle with teaching dogs the difference between kids’ toys and dogs’ toys. Training a strong “drop it” and positively reinforcing your dog heavily when they play with appropriate toys can save you frustration in the future.
- Never leave dogs and children together unsupervised. While we all want to believe our dogs and kids will never do anything wrong, accidents happen. Always exercise caution with child/dog interactions. After all, dogs aren’t able to speak our language and let us know when they feel like they’re being bothered or overwhelmed.