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Sixteen
NEW
BABY
A new baby
in the home can be a very turbulent time and not just
for the human members of the family. Whilst the couple
involved have had around nine months to prepare for
the arrival, to any dogs in the family it can come
as a complete surprise. It is also very difficult
to predict how the dog will react to the new arrival,
even if it normally accepts other peoples' children.
It can also be a problem when the dog is spoilt to
make up for the new arrival or if the parents are
overprotective towards the baby.
The baby should
be introduced to the dog at the first opportunity
, not kept away until the dog gets a chance to investigate
the baby itself. The simplest method is to lay the
baby in its basket and place the basket on a piece
of furniture just below the dogs head height. This
will allow the dog to see and smell the baby but reduces
the chance of it inadvertently standing on it. Allow
the dog to approach the basket on a loose lead and
sniff the baby. If needed you can gently push the
dogs nose away from the babies face, it is natural
for a dog to greet a baby by licking t he face. During
this meeting you should be as positive as possible,
do not scold the dog for any minor wrong doing. Once
the dog's curiosity has been satisfied then give him
a pleasurable experience, tit-bit, walk or even a
game of fetch. Continue this for two or three days
and the dog should start to look forward to seeing
the baby.
Allow the
dog to be part of the babies normal routine; if you
shut the dog away at feeding, bath and nappy changing
times you can build up resentment. A word of caution
at this point - never leave a dog alone with a baby,
no matter how much you trust it.
I was asked
to visit a family's dog recently who, since the arrival
home of their new born baby, had developed a behaviour
problem. I was initially told that the dog was being
overprotective towards the baby when visitors came
round. However upon visiting the home myself I found
that in fact it was the opposite. When a visitor came
to the house they would ignore the dog and go straight
to the baby and give it attention. The dog was accustomed
to the visitors greeting him when they called round
and was obviously feeling left out. On questioning
the owners it was apparent that the dog was being
spoilt and through these actions his hierarchy within
the family was raised above that of the baby. The
owners felt that the dog was being left out and were
allowing him to sit on the settee and sleep on the
bed amongst other actions which raised his hierarchy
(see Dog Trainers Tips- 2.) A simple course of action
was advised. This included not allowing the dog on
the settee or upstairs, feeding him after the baby
and preventing him going through a doorway before
the owner carrying the baby, which not only lowered
the dogs status but also enabled him to accept the
baby. Within three days the dog was totally at ease
in the new family situation.
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This article
was written by Paul C Bunker, a professional dog trainer.
You can visit the website at www.Southwestk9services.com for more articles and
dog training resources. You may freely distribute
this article or save to any electronic media as long
as it is left intact, including this copyright box.
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