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Congratulations, you’re having a baby! There are going to be a lot of changes around the house, but having a baby does NOT mean you need to get rid of your dog. Kids and dogs make a great pair when everyone (the dog, the child, and YOU the owner) is well trained. Dogs are a great part of any childhood, and most families have no trouble balancing a dog and a baby. Plus, the payoff of keeping your family pet out of a shelter, and seeing your child grow up with a dog as a constant companion, is worth every step of effort you’ll need to put in.

Before the baby arrives:

Start getting Fido ready now! You’ve found out you’re having a baby and there’s lots to do, but things will be even crazier when the baby comes, so take advantage of your 9 months by doing the following:

• Train: People usually get rid of their dogs when the baby comes because the dog is “too much to handle” with a newborn. This is often because the dog is not well behaved to begin with—it’s too much to handle a dog lunging on the leash while you’re trying to push a stroller. Enroll in obedience classes or do some research on what you can do to train your dog out of his bad habits. In the early days of infancy, you’ll need a dog who walks well on a leash, lies down when you tell it to, and who doesn’t bark or jump up. Call in a trainer if your dog is exhibiting food aggression or any of these issues, and they’ll help make sure your whole family is ready for having a baby around. This is training that all owners should do anyways from the start, and it’ll make your life 10x easier, and your dog 10x more enjoyable.

• Desensitize: Is your dog scared of kids? Just not used to them? Start getting him/her used to them now. Invite over friends with young children and start practicing. If you need to, keep your dog on the leash at first. Anything new can be scary to a dog, and fear can lead dogs to act out in different ways. Get your dog used to baby smells and sounds, play recordings of babies crying in the house (they can be found online), and get them used to small children touching them and being in their house. If you socialize your dog with babies and young children as much as possible in controlled settings, your dog won’t be as fazed when the new baby enters your household (and takes over your life).

• Prepare: This is going to be a big change for everyone, including your pup. Start moving in new furniture, baby toys, etc as soon as you can, so that changes are spread out, not just one big change a week before the baby comes. Set doggie playdates with a dog walker or a neighbour who will help you out when the baby comes, so your dog can get used to being with them when you’re at the hospital, and then for those days when you need a little help walking, etc.

When the baby first comes home

• Introductions: Have your pre-introduced dog walker or neighbour take the dog for a long run before you come home with the infant, so your dog is tired out and hasn’t been sitting at home full of energy when you arrive. Be calm and the dog will be calmer. Let the dog sniff the new baby in its babyseat/basket, but don’t put the carrier on the floor. Praise calm sniffing, even a gentle lick, but correct pushiness or over-excitement. The dog should know that the baby is not for him to play with or something to get excited about.

• Attention: You’ll be busy with a newborn, but show your dog that a baby does not mean they’ll be ignored or confined—you don’t want Fido to build resentment towards the child. Try to give the dog as much attention as you can. Understandably, at first you won’t be able to give your dog the one-“child” attention it’s been receiving, but show it that a baby doesn’t mean no more You. Pet your dog while you rock the baby, or make an effort to sit by the dog and play with it with your feet while you feed the baby. When the baby won’t stop crying, your dog will make a great walking companion if you take the stroller out to try and calm it down.

• More attention: You might not have enough time at first to give your dog as much as you feel they need, and in that case you can shift some of your work. Get a dog walker, or get a neighbourhood kid to come play with your dog. When your baby’s sleeping (and you’re not) give your puppy some love. Issues arrive when dogs feel ignored and don’t get enough exercise, but with a dog walker and a bit of effort from you, your dog won’t be neglected.

• Patience: The early stages are the hardest, but with a well-trained dog all it takes is dedication and a few changes to keep your dog from becoming too much for you to handle, and to creating a dog that’s great with babies.

Babies and toddlers 

Newborns are worrying novelties to many dogs, and the lifestyle changes they bring needlessly lead to many pups being rehomed. Yet once babies start grabbing, crawling, and eating on their own, it’s a whole new set of issues owners face. Whether the child entered the home as a newborn or not, the steps above for “Before the Baby Arrives” should be implemented for any young children. Once the dog is desensitized and better behaved, the following steps will help babies and dogs (and parents!) live peacefully in a home:

• Train your dog: If your dog wasn’t fully trained at first, new behaviour issues may arise or just be noticed once Junior starts crawling. Jumping up, nipping, and food aggression need to be dealt with. There are tons of training resources at your fingertips: look on the web, find a trainer, ask your vet. Any behaviour issue can be fixed with education and determination, and these 3 are not hard to solve, but are very important when children are around.

• Train your kid: All children (whether you have dogs or not) should know how to behave around dogs. Teach your child from an early age the following rules:

• Never pull on ears or tails, and don’t try to grab a dog’s feet.

• Don’t scream in a dog’s face.

• Don’t pet a dog while it’s eating or sleeping, and don’t take it’s food.

• Never run around a dog, especially at a dog.

• Never approach a dog that is growling, barking, or showing it’s teeth.

• Don’t tease a dog with food you’re not going to share.

• Do not corner a dog

Most dog bites that occur with children are simply self-defence on the dog’s part. If a child corners and screams at a dog, the dog does not know this is Junior's way of saying “I want to play!” After 10 minutes of being screamed at, poked, thrown toys at, chased, teased, most dogs (or any human) will snap back. Dogs do not have words like humans do, they have body language and teeth. If the child is too rude to observe body language, and the parents are neglectfully not present to aid the dog and teach and remove the child, the dog will take matters into its own hands and be forced to defend itself.

As a parent, it’s your job to avoid these situations when your baby is too young to know—although no matter how young they are, let them know that what they’re doing is wrong—by doing things like feeding the dog away from the baby, and NEVER leaving a young child unattended with a dog.

• Create limits: Both physical and not. The dog should be taught not to stick its nose up to the baby’s high chair (correct it when it pesters the baby’s hand up there for food, or tries to steal off the high chair tray, and don’t let it clear the tray when baby’s done). Baby gates are great because you can keep your dog out of a room where the baby is playing on the floor or eating a snack (although many dogs love having babies play right next to them on the floor and are great), but the dog can still see what’s going on and isn’t excluded completely. Similarly, dogs can be fed behind baby gates while your toddler is crawling around.

Children and dogs are a great combination that benefit both kids and pups! Don’t give up your loyal friend to possible euthanasia or to an unfamiliar new home because you don’t think your dog will fit with your new lifestyle. Dogs are adaptable and most importantly: trainable. You’re all going through big changes; let your dog be a part of it and it’ll make you feel less stressed to have your loyal companion by your side, ready to raise a new family member with you.

When you introduce a new baby to a household that already has a child, many more issues come up than the ones you encounter with dogs and a new baby. It takes time, effort and patience to create balance in the family, but no family would abandon their current child for the new baby if there were some rough patches, why would you give up your 4-legged family member?