Young, large dogs with babies/children

By MrsBrewer Nov 3, 2014

I would love to hear some stories of people with large dogs and introducing them to the baby, especially large younger dogs!

I have 2 lab mixes (one is 100 lbs, and the other is about 60 lbs) the larger one just turned 2, and the other will be 1 in December. I will be having a LO in June of next year.

They are the sweetest dogs in the world, but I'm just a little nervous that because of their size, they might forget to be gentle?? Idk maybe it's an irrational fear!

Anyways! please share your experience! :-)

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14 comments

FliegepilzHut
pomegranate / 3533 posts

Nov 3, 2014

I've thought about this a lot (not that my dogs are that big-- more mid-sized-- but rambunctious!)!

Have your dogs ever been around infants/young children? Are they obedience-trained? Crate-trained?

I think labs have a reputation for being fairly kid-friendly...but some are much more high-energy than others. I would think that long sit-stays, gradual introductions (introducing the sounds & smells before the actual baby), and maybe conditioning the dogs to expect you to have your hands full (carrying/holding baby) would go a long way in the early days. Wishing you lots of luck! I bet they'll do well.
LBee
pomegranate / 3895 posts

Nov 3, 2014

I have two 90 lb dogs - both complete gentle giants (with giants being the operative word). They have been great with the baby! We didn't do what everyone says to do (ignore them so they will get used to it, etc), but we DID commit to each other that the dogs' quality of life would not decline as a result of the birth of our son. This means that we both still give them lots of love and that even 10 days after my c-section I was outside throwing the frisbee with them.

With that said, we did send a blanket home from the hospital to help the dogs get used to my son's scent. We also had my dad stay at our house so they didn't get uprooted with his birth. When he came home from the hospital we had me come in first and let them go crazy (or as crazy as they could with me being post-surgery) and then we had my husband bring him in. We had several new toys for them in his car seat, which they loved and entertained them when we were super busy in the beginning.

We did have one incident that I wished we had worked on with our dogs prior. One of our dogs paws when you stop petting her and kind of "hits" you. Well, one time my son was doing tummy time and I was laying on the floor with him + petting the dog. Long story short, she ended up pawing him right on his head and leaving a HUGE scratch. It didn't break the skin (thank Goodness), but resulted in lots of tears and the dog hiding under the coffee table. I wish I had worked on breaking that habit prior to him coming home
MrsBrewer
coconut / 8854 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@FliegepilzHut: Yep, they are both obedience trained and crate trained. Although we took down my older dog's crate because it was just too big! But he will always willingly go into the crate (no negative associations with it at all)

They have not been really introduced to babies or children though, we really don't have any around us to introduce them to!
FliegepilzHut
pomegranate / 3533 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@MrsBrewer: Maybe going to a park and rewarding them for being calm (and relatively disinterested) around young kids (and screaming) would be an option?

@LBee: Owie! That was the sort of thing I have worried about-- my dogs' tendency to jump up...or paw up into my lap if I'm not paying "enough" attention...
MrsBrewer
coconut / 8854 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@LBee: Thank you for replying! This is our theory too, we don't want to neglect our dogs once the baby comes, they are my first two "babies"!

Great idea though about having you go in first, and then your husband bringing in the baby. I feel like our dogs listen much better to DH anyways.

I also know exactly what you mean about the paw hitting you to get your attention. Our younger dog does this when she brings a toy over and wants you to throw it for her, she will kind of just paw at you to get your attention. I will have to start working on that!
LBee
pomegranate / 3895 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@FliegepilzHut: He was not a happy camper. Tears all around. They've actually been a lot better about it after that incident and primarily either walk up and lick him and/or ignore him. I think the relationship will evolve as he gets older.
MrsBrewer
coconut / 8854 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@LBee: How old is your LO?
Radish
nectarine / 2079 posts

Nov 3, 2014

We have a small dog, but all of my friends with small LOs have large dogs and as far as I know there hasn't been a problem. Most of the time the problem is the kid being gentle with the dog. I think with a lot of dogs it is pretty instinctual to be careful of the baby - if not then they tend to be trained easily.
LBee
pomegranate / 3895 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@MrsBrewer: 12 weeks on Wednesday - the hardest thing is that unless I babywear (which I have trouble doing as I have a bad back), our pups can't go on walks unless my husband and I both go. This made them really sad on my maternity leave because my husband was back at work and I couldn't take them outside to walk the neighborhood with me.
MrsB2012
nectarine / 2466 posts

Nov 3, 2014

I have a rescue, they said he is a border collie x lab, but we doubt that's what he is. Anyways, he's a giant, just over 100 pounds and will be 2 in Dec. B is 15 months old.. so he was... about 7 months old when she was born.
He has been nothing but amazing with her. He wasn't around any smaller children or babies before she was born, and we didn't do anything special when we came home. He did stay with my mom for the first 2-3 days so that we could adjust without having him get jealous. He seems to have an instinct with her, he's always been very very gentle around her and is careful not to get too hyper around her. B romps all over him, stands on him, pulls his lips and hair and he's never so much as second glanced at her.
We have made a huge effort to keep his routine, getting walked every day regardless of what else is going on. I think it's really really important to keep your dogs routine and keep showing them the same love as you did before.
MrsBrewer
coconut / 8854 posts

Nov 3, 2014

@MrsB2012: Thank you so much!! This sounds so ideal!! I'm so glad that you are having a great transition!!

We don't walk them all to often, rather we take them out to the dog park (which is only 2 miles from our house) and we definitely plan on still taking them at least every other day which is what we currently do!
MrsBrewer
coconut / 8854 posts

Nov 3, 2014

I also totally agree, I think dogs just sense that babies are small and delicate! Did anyone have issues with the dog being afraid of the baby at first? My older dog is soooo skiddish! We always joke that even though he's 100 lbs, he's the biggest baby with loud sounds or noises.
MapleMoose
grapefruit / 4213 posts

Nov 3, 2014

My 90-something pound German Shepherd mix (not sure what else, she's a rescue pup) was 6 months old when LO1 was born. She was still a playful energetic puppy but one of the things we trained her was "easy" so we used that command when we first introduced them and for the first week or two. I made sure to give the dog a proper greeting when I got home from the hospital while DH held the baby so there wouldn't be any jealousy issues right away. We always gave the dog a little one-on-one attention while the other held the baby in the first few weeks/months. We would hold the baby down at the dog's level and let her sniff and look. Now LO1 is a year and the dog is 1.5 years and they are buddies. The dog doesn't mind being poked or pulled and enjoys when LO eats because she gets lots of floor food lol.
Boheme
papaya / 10473 posts

Nov 3, 2014

Our golden/lab/shiba mix seems to have always instinctively known to be gentle with LO! He's awesome with him

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