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Dog and babies

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Mark Donnely

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Hello all,

Thanks for accepting me into the community! I'd like to ask for some advice please. So we have two pooches, one of which is very loving and docile, nothing can wind her up no matter what happens. The other however is still very loving and loves cuddles etc but as soon as a noise comes up or someone moves too fast or if you start dancing around, play fighting with my partner anything like that she gets very wound up. She starts to yelp high pitched noises and on occasion she has bit me. Once I was pretending to throw a ball for our other dog and she was getting wound up and ended up jumping up and biting my arm. Once I said something while she was in front of me and she mouthed my face, I say mouth becausw she didn't bite but it was a nip. We now have a baby on the way and I am worried about how she is going to cope with the noises, sounds etc and most of all worried about her nipping the baby as the baby gets older and starts moving around etc. What would everyone's advice be to our situation?
 
Congratulations on the imminent arrival!

When she has bitten you, is it just overexcitement or do you think there is any aggression? What breed is she, and how old is she? Could you give a run-down of her daily activities please - walks, training, play, and so on?

This could be a volatile situation and you might need to seek out a good behaviourist to see how you interact with her and how she responds. Avoid any behaviourist who talks about status, showing her that you or the baby rank above her, and so on - that theory is outdated and flawed.

One thing you can start on is establishing a safe, quiet place for her - maybe a crate (which could be open most/all of the time), a separate room with a cosy bed - and encouraging her to enjoy spending time there as a refuge from noise and activity. If a separate room, fit a stairgate so you can confine her (or keep the baby out) when needed. Encouraging calm behaviour in general might help - there's a good video here:

You also want to think about what your routine will be like when you have a baby (not that babies and routines tend to go hand in hand :confused:), and start adapting your dogs to it now - even getting a buggy in advance and practising walking two dogs and a buggy at the same time if that's what you're likely to end up doing. The fewer changes there are in your dogs' lives once the baby arrives the better. Oh, and it might be worth accustoming them to a dog walker if that might help with day-to-day life when the baby arrives.
 
You are a great owner to plan for this in advance. One addition - when your wife comes home from hospital with the baby, your dogs will be agitated, even the quiet one, because she has been missing and now there are strange smells about her. So she should come in without baby, let the dogs give her a good sniffing, and when they have settled, YOU bring baby in.
I'm sure you realise never never never leave dogs and baby together without supervision, even for a few seconds.
As you have said, the toddler stage is fraught with potential for accidents. Dogs will need to be kept away and never left confined eg crated where toddler can reach them. Be aware of 'redirected aggression' where dogs might go for each other because they are stressed.
Make sure dogs are given plenty of 'mind games' to occupy them while you are busy doing parent things, and if you possibly can, a couple of times a week, take each dog out separately just with you even if only for 20 minutes or so. One-to-one time is really settling for them.

All the best with your new arrival-to-be!
 
Thank you for your kind replies guys. So she is a shollie, a cross between a collie and German shepherd. She isn't a big dog more of a collie size. Are daily routine tends to be a run in the morning, then the dogs eat breakfast, then they sleep most of the day between getting up and splashing about in their paddling pool. They eat their dinner about 5 then I walk them again around 6.30 to burn off some energy. It's so hard because she's such a loving dog, I can't even play fight with her because she's so submissive. But as soon as I start play fighting with the other dog or running about just being my usual daft self or anything that's fast moving etc she starts to yelp and jump up at me like she wants me to stop. The times she's nipped me I think are from her being anxious that's how it comes across to me. I don't think she's excited jusy seems more nervous, we've had her from a puppy too so not a rescue. Usually shes the calmest dog but any kind of fast movement or noises and she's off yelping and if it continues long enough she nips your hand or arm or wherever is moving and making the noise or the motion. My partner the other day was pretending to throw their ball in the park to move them out of the way so I could kick it for them and our shollie ended up jumping up and nipping the hand she was holding the ball with. She loves people and she loves other dogs but as I say she gets anxious so quickly. And with a baby and then toddler the noises and dancing/running around is going to just become more and more frequent in our household. So as you'd expect I am worried.
 
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