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How to Get Your Dog Ready To Meet Your Baby

3) Desensitize your dog to the sounds & smells of a baby.

This goes hand in hand with the last tip.  In addition to simply carrying around a baby doll and moderating your dog’s reacting, you really need to sell this baby doll as “real.”  The visual isn’t enough.

As you’ve probably experienced, dogs are highly driven by their sense of smell and hearing.  We can’t simply show the dog the baby; we need to incorporate realistic sounds and smells that will be associated with the real baby when he or she comes along.

While you’re walking around and playing with your fake baby, consistently mix in some sounds of baby cries and laughter.  Remember, the goal is to desensitize your dog to these sounds so that when it hears the real thing, it’s not alarming.

Smell: This one is a bit more difficult, due to the fact that babies can be the source of many smells (good and bad).

However, there are certain smells – like that of baby powder or baby oil – that you can easily introduce.  Start putting baby powder or oil on your own clothing and skin, as well as on the baby doll when you’re around your dog, to begin desensitizing it to these smells.

4) Control the introduction to the baby.

When it’s time to finally let your pup meet the new member of your household, it’s important that you control the introduction.  Not only are you doing this for the safety of your baby, but you want to establish boundaries and reinforce correct behavior for your dog early and often.

In addition to the safe and gradual introduction, you want to make sure to establish boundaries with the baby’s nursery.

At first, you’ll want a physical boundary (like a gate), but you also want to show the dog that the room is off limits unless you invite the dog into the room.

This is something that can be worked on before the baby arrives.

5) Reward good behavior and maintain regular exercise for your dog.

There are two extremely powerful tools when it comes to influencing desired behavior from a dog:

  1. Rewards (treats)
  2. Exercise

An exhausted and rewarded dog is a happy and calm dog.

This may sound like dog training 101, but it’s amazing how much we forget when we’re suddenly tasked with caring for and raising a new human being.

As you train your dog to behave around a baby (both before and after the baby is born), don’t lose sight of the fact that you need to continuously reinforce good behavior.  Most dog training experts agree that rewarding good behavior is significantly more effective than punishing bad behavior.

Don’t lose sight of that very simple principle.

Exercise, in many ways, is a reward for your dog (because dogs love to run and play), but it’s also amazingly effectively at calming your dog.

Guess what your dog is less likely to do when it’s out of energy?  Attack your baby.

Exercise is also useful when you’re using some of the training exercises previously discussed, as a low energy dog is more likely to pay attention to you and react positively to your training.

Are you ready to avoid chaos in your house?

Hopefully the tips above for how to get your dog ready for a baby will get you on your way toward turning your crazy puppy into a well-behaved dog, especially as you prepare for parenthood.

There’s nothing more chaotic than having to deal with a newborn baby and an out-of-control dog, so don’t take this issue lightly.  There may be a lot of work to be done, but with enough patience and persistence, you’ll get there.

Do you have any other good tips for getting your dog ready for a baby?  Share them in the comments!

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