Extending your family, particularly welcoming a new baby, is pleasurable and challenging at the same time. It’s delightful because a baby’s presence can make any room feel brighter and better. However, it can be difficult because you need to adjust to the baby’s demands and establish a good routine.
Although adjusting to your role as a parent takes precedence, you should not ignore your dogs. You may bond less with them, which can affect their emotions. They may be confused about why there’s a sudden change in their surroundings. And they may display uncommon behavior like running too fast. If you’re curious about how fast your dogs can run, you can check this article from Neewa Dogs.
To prevent your dogs from being hyper or feeling neglected, you should let them know about the addition to your family. But you have to introduce your baby to them slowly, even if you’re confident that your dogs are friendly and gentle. Below are some ways to safely introduce your dogs to a new baby:
In This Article
Update Your Dogs’ Routine
You’ll change your routine to meet your baby’s needs. This may include staying up all night for feeding, changing diapers, singing lullabies, and doing everything to keep them comfortable. With your busy days during the first few weeks, your dogs may be confused as to why their old routine is changing.
You can begin by feeding your dogs at different hours or hire a dog walker to do their walks instead of you or your partner. This should help them get used to their new companion rather than focusing on you. You can click here for other activities your dog may be interested in and the gears you can get them to enjoy said activities.
Teach Them New Skills
Ensure that your dogs can behave well around the house to keep a safe environment for your baby. With proper training, your dogs can immediately follow your commands and prevent a situation from worsening.
For example, you can teach your dog how to sit, stay, leave the baby things alone, and go away. While the latter feels a bit harsh, they’re helpful for dogs who don’t understand what’s happening and don’t know how to respond to the situation. Not every dog knows that walking away is an option.
Ideally, you should teach your dog new skills as soon as you’re pregnant. By the time the baby arrives, you can communicate well with your dogs and command them to behave.
Slowly Change Their Environment
Since you’re bringing a new baby home, you’ll need to make your house a baby-friendly environment. This may include baby-proofing the house and setting up a safety gate to prevent the dog from entering certain rooms.
To avoid surprising your dogs with big changes, you should slowly change their environment. Begin updating the space a couple of months before the baby is due, and let your dogs be comfortable with the new setup.
Gradually Decrease Attention
When your baby arrives, you may not be able to give your dogs the same amount of attention. To prevent your dogs from being sad about the sudden change, you should gradually decrease the attention you give your dogs.
While you may want to make the most out of your time with them before the baby is born, your dogs may be surprised when you no longer snuggle with them all day long. To slowly help them adjust, you should shower less attention, but not to the point that they’ll feel neglected.
Prepare New Toy
Giving your dogs a new toy can keep them distracted when they’re feeling sad or hyper about the baby’s arrival. To keep them entertained, you should prepare a new toy for your dog.
Preparing at least two toys should be enough to catch their attention. Give the toys to your dogs when you notice that they need a distraction.
Introduce Baby Items To Them
After your baby shopping, introduce the baby items to your dogs. When the baby arrives, let your dogs sniff some washed clothes. This should help them be familiar with the new scent and objects rather than being surprised by all new things. These things may overwhelm or overstimulate their senses, which can cause unpredictable emotions.
Greet The Dog First Upon Arrival
As soon as you arrive from the hospital, try to greet your dog first. They probably miss you, so they need to ensure that you’re okay. Ignoring your dog after being days away and focusing your full attention on the baby can have a negative impact on the dog.
Takeaway
Preparing your dog early before your baby’s arrival is the best way to safely introduce your dog to your new baby. It may be a long road to let them adjust to their new lifestyle, but it’s something that needs to be done for the safety of your baby. They’ll be together for a long time, so you want them to be comfortable with each other and get on harmoniously.
