Dogs and Baby

I have 2 dogs that I love so so much. And Im about to have a baby that I also love more than anything. Problem is my dogs are so spoiled they have always sleep in the room with us and they follow us all around the house. One Ive had since I was 10 and he is now 14 years old. He doesnt do much now but sleep and cuddle for hugs.
My other one we adopted her from a shelter and she is just such a sweetie! But she can have a shedding problem at times. And because of that we are wanting to keep the dogs down stairs away from the baby. We dont want one to feel left out so because one has to be down stairs so does the other one. Im feeling really sad about making them stay down stairs. I use to always do it but when my husband left for Iraq last year I was so lonly I told them to come sleep in the room with me and its been that way ever since.
Is it bad to have the dogs around the baby? I mean they wont be huvering over her or anything. My 14 year old all he does is sleep really. He will get up to follow you to the next room and sleep there if youare taking to long. My other one she loves kids she calms down and lowers herself to the ground when kids come around so they can pet her. Ive just heard that its bad to have dogs around babies. Its ture isnt it?    

From my experience, dogs can be very protective of the new baby. You teach them that the baby is a welcome addition, and they should guard the baby the same as they guard you.

I dog/house-sat for my in-laws for 2 and a half weeks. I rarely bring the baby over to their house, so the dogs were still getting used to him. They were all curious at first and when they'd try to lick him, I'd push them away and say "no, don't lick the baby." Since my in-laws have gotten back, they've been in and out of the room with the extra crib, wondering where baby has gone. They're worried about him.

Aw thats so sweet! See my dogs are very sweet but very protective at the same time. They know when something isnt right and that gard dog instinct has kicked in before.
Also Im thinking if the baby is cryiung to much, my 14 year old he doesnt like a lot of noise he will get up and go down stairs on his own. But my other one she always want to know whats going and and seems to try to help and fix it. Im scared shes going to want to jump up to the baby or something.

I no how you feel i have a Chihiwawa and my boyfriend sweres up and down that ima get rid of it when the baby comes lol like im suppose to just give it away... Everybody keeps asking me what im going to do when the baby comes.

We have a dog that's a little over a year old and she is the spoiled baby right now so we are all going to have to make some adjustments when the baby comes along. I was told to buy a baby doll to practice with the puppy and get her used to the idea of a little person in our home. So that's exactly what we did. We have been carrying the doll around and sitting with it and when the dog comes near the baby she has learned that she's allowed to lick his feet and hands but stay away from the head. We can even leave the room with the baby sitting on the couch or in the recliner and the dog sits next to the baby doll and cuddles with it after awhile. A few times I have actually sat holding the baby doll and the dog and "hit" her with his arms and legs, because who knows what the real baby will do when he comes along, and the dog just sits there and looks at me like "Umm, Mommy what is this thing doing and when is it going to stop?" but she has never tried to get back at the baby doll so I think we're making progress.
Good luck with your dogs, I'm sure they will be fine...most dogs are protective of people especially children!

Rina-o1-o9-2oo8 wrote: I no how you feel i have a Chihiwawa and my boyfriend sweres up and down that ima get rid of it when the baby comes lol like im suppose to just give it away... Everybody keeps asking me what im going to do when the baby comes.

Yea! Like you are supposed to just get rid of it! A pet is like having a kid. If people couldnt handle it before they got it then they shouldnt have gotten it int he first place.
You dont just throw away your pet because a baby is comming in the picture! You just have to compromise. People keep asking me for a while there too. What are you doing to do with your dogs? I am always like...um what do you mean what am I going to do? Im going to let them do what they have always done what do you mean what am I going to do?! I refuse to get rid of my dogs!

I have a bassit hound and he is great with my daughter who is 15 months. I know that is a little different than a new born but its still a baby and she still don't know anybetter but she can pull my dogs ears and steal his food and sit on him and he will just lay in there and let her.

Well, i have a female Pit Bull thats just over a year old.. so she still has the puppy manners. (i.e. barely any) lol She too sleeps next to my bed, on the floor on a hello kitty doggy bed i made for her   When my baby comes, (everyone is saying i need to get rid of her and i WONT she's part of the family too) I plan on just putting up one of those very tall baby gates up in her room to keep Pebbles out for a while.. just so she learns that when the baby around it means back off, unless i tell her too. My hubby and I are in the process of moving into a new apartment.. so when that happens.. the first thing i am planning on doing is teaching her calm in the house.. and not to go in baby's room even before she's born. Then, after she learns this stuff, i'll have no problem at all even letting her sleep next to the crib. She absolutley LOVES kids.. and anything living for that matter. It'll just be like Pebbles is one of the kid's and when Mallory is born im sure there will be some jealously issues.. nothing that i cant deal with.  
I'm sure your dogs will be quite curious.. even your 14yr old dog. Just make sure you're in charge and they KNOW that they cant approach baby without you saying its okay. And, i dont think your dogs are spoiled hun.. not atleast with following you around.. their pack animals, and you're the leader of the pack.... so of course they're going to follow you!   Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Sorry, I know this topic is about dogs, but does anyone have cats and if so than are you keeping them also? I have heard that they aren't safe, but I haven't found any research to support it, only people making assumptions.

i had two cats with my daughter and they were both inside cats. They never even bothered with my daughter or her bottles. My female cat did though when my daughter turned about 9mnths at that time my female cat had just had a liter of kittens and i think was missing some kind of nutrience so when my daughter was done with her bottle if you would leave it on the coffee table and walk away you would come back to it and the cat would have the nipple chewed off drinking whatever was left. But like i said i never had a problem before then and even at that time the female cat would never go in her crib or try and steal her bottle. I also keep a child safety gate the high ones up in her room so that the animals know that her room is off limits. And to this day my dog knows that if the gate is down it still don't mean that he is allowed in there. My dog was sleeping with me and my husband in bed but my daughter went through this fase for about 2 months were she wouldn't sleep in her toddler bed or the crib she had to sleep on one of those Couch/bed things that you can by that are just foam and it has like the princess theme or spiderman and it folds up into a little couch or out into a little bed well she had to sleep on that now she is in her toddler bed and my dog has become fond of her princess bed so i have put it in the living room and taught him that was his bed so he no longer sleeps in our room or our bed. He's a good dog.

i have two cats, and two dogs. all are spoiled rotten. the only thing im worrying about is fleas (tis the season) so they are getting their baths and treatments. the one thing i'm doing differently is they now know that they cant go into the baby's room without me. surprisingly, a spoiled rotten dog CAN do well with a new baby, you just need to make sure you pay attention to the dog too. with the whole shedding thing, as long as you vacuum and dont let the dogs into the baby's room without you, everything should be fine. honestly, its the little tiny dogs i would be more hesitant with. bigger dogs seem to be easier and the older they are, the less likely they are to care  

I have three cats and 2 dogs and it drives me crazy when people ask if I'm going to get rid of them or they tell me I should! If I were you I would start by putting a gate up on your bedroom door. This way they can still see you and won't feel cut off from you. I would start this now so by the time the baby is here there won't be any surprises. We keep our dogs in a kennel at night because our puppy would still get into trouble while we slept (peeing or pooping, eating cat poop, getting into the garbage, stuff like that) but every night before we go to bed we invite the dogs up into bed with us while we watch tv. So far this seems to work and keeps the hair problem under controll. We also shut the door to rooms we arn't in so they stay out and the room stays clean.

I don't think it's bad at all to have dogs around the baby. I grew up with them and have tons of pictures of me and the dogs when I was real small. There is even one with me a few weeks old in bed with my mother and the dogs. You might have to make a few changes such as a doggy gate and closing doors but as long as you gradually make these changes and slowly introduce baby to them there shoud be no problems.

I have two dogs and my oldest is 6 and I have a puppy thats 8 months old and I'm not concerned about bringing a baby into their lives...they're both very well behaved and well mannered. Dogs are more accepting than humans think. Just lay down rules and boundaries and limitations with the kid right from the start and things will work out just fine for you and you can have your dogs and your kids  

actually as far as the shedding issue goes i read a article that said children raised in homes w/ pets were less likely to have allergies or asthma. so your doggies may be healthy for the baby!!