Dog and new born baby?worried first time mom

I was feeling a tad quilty about rehoming our dog til I realised how small everyone else's dogs are!!

Our dog, whom we rehomed, is 70lbs, a Rottweiler/Chow cross mongrel who can kill a cobra in 30 seconds! Quite a different consideration to a Pekingnese, Pomerian or even a Spaniel...... (I imagine by the time your baby is a toddler, he/she would be heavier than the dog!)

kcinhk, not sure how large your dog is, but again that needs to be taken into consideration.

Oh - I forgot another good point about having dogs and babies, when your baby is sitting in high chair and throwing food around, your dog can clean up the mess on the floor! :tongue:
 
There are lots of articles on the web regarding pets and babies. Personally I have my dog during my pregnancy and after my now 17 month old baby boy born. And my dog never has a problem with my baby

Of course we have to supervise them when they play with each other but research has indicated that there are medical benefits in having a baby raising up with a pet at home together, for instance, boosting the immune system, and also reduce the signs of allergies, especially asthma.

The key is to train the dog too. I certainly believe babeis and pets get along very well.

Please private message me if you need further assistance.
 
the two that are actually ours are mongrels, but one of them is a border collie/husky mix and is probably close to 55-60kg... the other one is a mongrel as well and is about 30kg

some of the others we've had in our care since my son was born:
chihuahua
cocker spaniel
bearded collie
rhodesian ridgeback(so big, it looks like it is half horse!)
and
inumerable labs and retrievers
 
i only wish! with my hips as bad as they are, i'm still carrying ALL of the baby weight, and i delivered 6 months ago!!!

i don't know if i should post them here, i don't have the owners permission, but you can check out our website:

http://www.dbdogdayz.com
 
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We were quite lucky as we got our dog as a puppy and put her through the SPCA puppy training course which includes a section on training them not to snap if someone goes near their food. And she is a Labrador and has a great temperament for children. Our baby (now 2 years old) loves her and feeds her food and the dog is fab at hoovering up all the food spillages that the baby makes.

We did watch carefully when the baby first came home but made a big thing of stroking the dog whilst holding the baby and my helper still took her out for long walks. My biggest concern was whether the baby would display any allergies to the dog (and cat) fur but thankfully that was OK.

For us it was probably easier as we live in a village house and the dog was never meant to go upstairs anyway so we have always had a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. And the baby and the dog were never left together unattended. We try and keep the baby away from the dog now if she is sleeping and if the dog gets fed up with being pulled about she just gets up and walks away, although we are still aware of the potential dangers and try to make sure the baby doesn't try and ride the dog like a pony all the time.
 
on the "about us". the black one is bigger than he appears and at last weigh in was about 52 kg, if i remember correctly...hubby takes them to the vet, so i only get the second hand account

there is a photo of hubby with the rhodesian ridgeback sitting beside him and hubby holding a chihuahua. the ridgeback is huge, but an absolute teddy bear! we love him to death! too bad, we only get him when owners are away!
 
Wow...it's such a relief to hear that i'm not alone in having these queries about dogs and new born. seeing most replies here, it's true that most of the dogs mentioned are smaller dogs.
Our dog, is a regular size mongrel. I've started first lesson with our dog last week but not so sure about the trainer and besides i think she (the trainer) has really overcharged us. I've checked around (stupidly after the lesson as i was desperately trying to get the training to start asap) with another trainer, it's confirmed that the her price is really too high! HK800 an hour and she really looks at the time and ask immediately if i would like to extend to another hour, RIGHT ON THE DOT!
Does anyone has contacts for good dog trainer who are good with agressive dogs?
Has anyone heard of a trainer called Donsmith or Jackson? Please advise.
Please anyone with experience of sending their dogs with a trainer, besides the one at SPAC ( i was told by the first trainer that the group class might be too overwhelming as our dog is "not so confident" hence the defensive agression because she is scared).
Big THANK YOU!
 
Hi Somebodyfamous, my dog is a regular size mongrel. And she is very strong. We have spoilt her too much since she was young and did not send her for any training lessons earlier, hopefully we are able to ammend our mistakes with a good trainer!
Thank you for sharing your experience!


somebodyfamous said:
I was feeling a tad quilty about rehoming our dog til I realised how small everyone else's dogs are!!

Our dog, whom we rehomed, is 70lbs, a Rottweiler/Chow cross mongrel who can kill a cobra in 30 seconds! Quite a different consideration to a Pekingnese, Pomerian or even a Spaniel...... (I imagine by the time your baby is a toddler, he/she would be heavier than the dog!)

kcinhk, not sure how large your dog is, but again that needs to be taken into consideration.

Oh - I forgot another good point about having dogs and babies, when your baby is sitting in high chair and throwing food around, your dog can clean up the mess on the floor! :tongue:
Click to expand...
 
Wow
Hi Carang, do you have all the dogs in the house at all times? Or do you keep them in the garden?

carang said:
on the "about us". the black one is bigger than he appears and at last weigh in was about 52 kg, if i remember correctly...hubby takes them to the vet, so i only get the second hand account

there is a photo of hubby with the rhodesian ridgeback sitting beside him and hubby holding a chihuahua. the ridgeback is huge, but an absolute teddy bear! we love him to death! too bad, we only get him when owners are away!
Click to expand...
 
the dogs are in the house 95% of the time. They get walked regularly and get playtimes in the garden, but the rest of the time they are in the house.

so, if we can manage, i really think that one dog shouldn't be a problem!

good luck!
 
We have a large dog and were also very worried about the arrival of our baby girl. This is a big issue that YOU will have to address, try to remember that this is your problem and not the dog's per say. As long as you take steps to help the dog there will not be a problem, but it will require time and vigilance on your part - which might not be so appealing once the baby arrives and you are tired.

Take a look at www.wishyouwereherehk.com . Mark is an excellent dog trainer and will talk to you over the phone about your specific needs before you agree to have him come to your house. All dog trainers charge around the same price as Mark.

I put a baby gate on the door of the nursery about 5 months before baby was born. My dog definitely did not like it, but it was the beginning of telling him that he is not welcome everywhere in the house. He whined a lot outside the gate and I used to just sit inside and read books or prepare the nursery - eventually he got used to just sitting outside and waiting for me.

My husband brought our baby's nappies and blankets home from the hospital before we checked out of the hospital so that our dog could get used to her smell.

We contacted Dr David Gething, can get you this vet's number if you need it, and he recommended we try a plug-in dog-appeasing pheremone. Not sure how much effect this had, it is hard to tell, but we plugged it in a few days before the baby arrived and then for about two months after she got home. It is supposed to smell like a dog's mother and helps to calm them down.

The main thing once she was home was to stick to the new rules, ie no licking, no sniffing, don't touch and eventually they WILL get it. It will take a while, but with your patience and hard work your son/daughter will grow up as your dog's best friend.

Congratulations on your forthcoming arrival!
 
Thanks Turtle for sharing your experience. The "plug-in dog-appeasing pheremone", is it expensive? can one purchase it thru the Vet you have mentioned. Do you mind to pass me Dr. David Gething's contact please.
Would you know how much the Dog trainer, Mark charge for dog training, as it's not mentioned on the website?
Thanks again.

turtle said:
We have a large dog and were also very worried about the arrival of our baby girl. This is a big issue that YOU will have to address, try to remember that this is your problem and not the dog's per say. As long as you take steps to help the dog there will not be a problem, but it will require time and vigilance on your part - which might not be so appealing once the baby arrives and you are tired.

Take a look at www.wishyouwereherehk.com . Mark is an excellent dog trainer and will talk to you over the phone about your specific needs before you agree to have him come to your house. All dog trainers charge around the same price as Mark.

I put a baby gate on the door of the nursery about 5 months before baby was born. My dog definitely did not like it, but it was the beginning of telling him that he is not welcome everywhere in the house. He whined a lot outside the gate and I used to just sit inside and read books or prepare the nursery - eventually he got used to just sitting outside and waiting for me.

My husband brought our baby's nappies and blankets home from the hospital before we checked out of the hospital so that our dog could get used to her smell.

We contacted Dr David Gething, can get you this vet's number if you need it, and he recommended we try a plug-in dog-appeasing pheremone. Not sure how much effect this had, it is hard to tell, but we plugged it in a few days before the baby arrived and then for about two months after she got home. It is supposed to smell like a dog's mother and helps to calm them down.

The main thing once she was home was to stick to the new rules, ie no licking, no sniffing, don't touch and eventually they WILL get it. It will take a while, but with your patience and hard work your son/daughter will grow up as your dog's best friend.

Congratulations on your forthcoming arrival!
Click to expand...
 
Hi there, Dr Gething's info is at http://www.creaturecomforts.com.hk/vet_services.html , give Trilby his wife a call and she will tell you how much the pheremone thingy is. Sorry, my daughter is nearly two now so I can't remember! Also, can't remember Mark's fees but just call him, he is a really nice guy and will ber very straight with you from the start.

Hope it works out OK.

I think someone else on this chat mentioned that you should give your dog as much love and attention as before when you can. I think that is important. Although I was busy with the baby and tired, I still made sure that I took my dog out every day for a walk for some 'us' time. Was good to get the baby weight off anyway!

A lot of people were talking about the size of your dog but I don't think that is important, it is more his temperemant than anything. Our dog is a very large dog, weighs nearly 30kg (!), but he is gentle as anything with our daughter and has never hurt her, or jumped up on her. He wanted to lick her when she first arrived at home, but we were very strict from the start and did not allow him to do this.

Now they are best friends and she lies curled up with him while she is watching TV.... wish I could post a picture, it is TOO CUTE!

xxx
 
we were thinking about getting a puppy. we have an 18m old boy. Should I put this off until my LO is a bit older?? Can anyone offer anya advice??
 
We got a four month old puppy when my last child was 15 months old. The next day I found very trying, whenever the puppy came near my daughter she?d run to me to be held. On the second day she would go up to he puppy and try to touch it and then run to me if the dog turned towards her. By the third day she was going up to the dog and bossing it around! The bit I liked best was after a morning of running around with each other they would both collapse and the whole house was quite while they napped.
 
I have a 3 yr old pug. this was my first ever experience of having a pet. when i saw that he sheds hair all time and all over the place I was worried although we had not even planned for a baby then. but my hubby really really loves him.

When ria came home the dog hardly noticed her. At that time we had clothcovered low sofas and the dog would sit over it all the time. i found this very unhealthy for the baby. But this was only my concern. My hubby did not feel it was as serious as i felt. I tried to keep myself and ria in my room almost all the time. When we got a safety door and restricted the dog behind it while ria would crawl all over the house, the dog would feel very sad.. this was a very trying time for me. As Ria grew older I started allowing them to mingle. She is now almost 20 months old. Just yesterday she was bitten by the dog. The dog also sheds tons of hair. I am really worried about the hair that lies all over the place.
 
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