If you have a mouthy and/or excitable dog, how long did it take them to adjust to a new baby? We have had a 3 year old rescue for about a year. He's a little better than when we first got him, but he's part yellow lab, we think, so he's very jumpy and mouthy. He will nip at anyone, mouth our clothes, etc. He's never being aggressive, it's just how he interacts. We've tried dog training but it's only gotten a little better. Our 6 year old can either push him away, leave, or get our help. But we came home with our newborn this afternoon, and Jack is being crazy. He's trying to jump on her, bit her hat, and tried to nip at her several times. He also got really anxious/ excited when she cried, but that seems normal and tolerable. I don't know what the line should be in terms of how long we wait for him to adjust or what behavior we should tolerate. He's mostly a very sweet good boy, but I can't have him jumping all over us and biting us while I'm nursing and he can't be locked up in the kitchen for forever. Thoughts?
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Are you familiar with clicker training? You can associate the baby with treats and good things. That really helps. I can walk through the process step by step if you want.
Also, keep the dog busy and tired. I took dog and baby on so many walks on maternity leave. She (dog( was too tired to be a pain. I also froze her dinner in kongs so she was busy for a long time.
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Yeah you gotta get that dog exercised!! Can you walk a lot? She will adjust. My BILs Goldie was INSANE when they first brought their baby girl home. Protective but way better now.
Life will be messy for a while esp with 2but it gets better.
Also CONGRATS!!! I remember your journey from way back!! -
Congrats on your new baby! If you aren't able to walk him just now could you enlist help to do it for you? My dog was older when we brought babies home so he wasn't wild around them but as a younger dog we kept him busy with things like the Kong.
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@jhd: @pachamama: @Pollywog: thanks, ladies! I already have our regular dog walker coming twice a day for the next month, instead of once a day. And my husband also walks him every day. He can also play in our yard but we have a ton of skunks in our neighborhood so we can't let him out after dark (which of course now is like 5:00).
Thanks for the pep talk. I'm hopeful it will get better, I was just a little thrown off by him trying to nip her immediately. He's actually already been better tonight as long as she's sleeping, so that's promising. I'll try freezing some of his food too. -
@Chuckles: Hopefully with the extra walks he will calm down a little! I can imagine that was alarming!
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One tip I got from my MiL was to let the dog give the baby a thorough once over (we did this immediately upon arriving from the hospital, but I think any time in the early days would be helpful). We set the infant carseat on the floor and let our pit bull mix lick baby from tip to toe (restraining just enough to keep him from stomping on her). Apparently, there is something in dog psychology about being allowed unrestrained access to a new pack member. MiL pointed out that the baby will never remember the lick-down (even if she hates it), but it will make a big difference to dog in understanding that this new family member is not something they are being pulled away from, but something that they are supposed to explore and accept.
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I second lady Baltimore. We let both our dogs lick the baby all over to check him out and after that they are fantastic. He's a member of the pack and they treat him as such. We've also taught them that all humans are higher in pack order which is helpful
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@lady baltimore: @MamaBear87: I hadn't heard that before. Thanks! We've let him sniff her and give her a quick lick but I'll give this a try too.
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@pachamama: oh, I meant to say thanks! It was so nice to get support here during our losses. I don't post as much about it now, but I'm always lurking to stay updated on the other moms with recurrent loss.
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@Chuckles: me too
How are you settling in? -
@Chuckles: Just dropping in to say congratulations! I don’t have any tips on introducing a baby and a dog—we got really lucky and our lab gives baby her space—but I’m glad to hear you’re doing well otherwise and baby is here and healthy.
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