Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

How to prepare dog for baby's arrival?

Options
  • 05-04-2021 10:35am
    #1
    kweeveen86
    Registered Users Posts: 124 ✭✭


    Good morning,

    Would be very grateful of some advice if anyone out there has been through the same...

    We have a two year old Cockapoo who has a very nice temperament and is very loving but can be really energetic and exuberant and just ploughs into people and takes running jumps at people when he's over-excited. He's also very clingy and follows us everywhere.

    Just wondering if anyone has some pearls of wisdom about how best to prepare him for the arrival of our first baby in June? Thanks in advance!


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    You really need to engage with a professional dog trainer as soon as possible.

    At two, hes still very young, so should be easily trainable, but if you don't get a handle on this behaviour soon, you could be in trouble.


  • Options
    #3
    Dahdum
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Dahdum


    Before the arrival of our little one last yr, we enlisted the help of a trainer. Our sighthound is jumpy, boisterous and completely unaware of her size. Tackled her jumping with the trainer. Relatively easy to get her to stop jumping on us which is a relief for when you’re carrying a precious little potato about. (She still jumps on other ppl, so not completely fixed!). We had planned to get the trainer to help with more baby related things but with Covid, it wasn’t possible.

    In addition to sorting the jumping, we tried to get her used to the idea of there being something else in the house before that something else arrived. We got a doll in smyths......not too dissimilar to a real baby size wise. In her presence, we cuddled it, talked to it - basically giving something else attention while she was present. We also pushed the pram about the house so she could get used to the size, noise, movement etc. We didn’t want her to freak out when heading out for a walk with the pram.

    While using the pram and cuddling fake baby, we played a variety of baby crying noises on YouTube. During this time (fake baby and the pram), we gave her treats and praised her.

    Our idea was that we need to desensitise her to things that might upset her or cause her to be a little more curious than we’d like. So far, things have gone relatively well. I’d imagine there’s a whole host of other things you could do to prep but these are 3 things we tried.

    Best of luck.


Advertisement