Introducing your dog to your baby, the newest addition to your family can
be
a
rather worrying experience. This is particularly the case when
you
have
concerns about your control over your dog and also if you have doubts
as
to
your dog's temperament.
It is however a necessary objective. It is extremely unlikely that
you
will
succeed in keeping your dog and baby away from each other.
I have two young sons, one is a four year old and the other is two
years
old.
At the time of both of my boys' birth we had two dogs, a German
Shepherd
and a
Collie-Ridgeback cross.
Even though I had excellent control over
the dogs
I was
apprehensive when introducing them.
After all small babies are very vulnerable and a dog is able to
inflict
serious
damage, even fatal damage, in the twinkling of an eye.
Fortunately, most dogs do recognise the young of other species. A
dog
should
not see a baby as a threat. He should realise that a baby is
helpless
and
vulnerable. This will be even more evident to the dog if the baby
is on
the
floor when your dog and baby first meet.
So, normally absolutely nothing unpleasant should happen, but
please
don't
underestimate the potential for a serious problem. Please proceed
with
caution.
If you are unsure then consult your local dog behavioural expert.
Bearing the above comments in mind, the following is how I would
and
did
proceed when I introduced my dogs to my kids.
First, I lay a clean large towel in the middle of the lounge carpet.
I
placed
my child on the towel. I then brought my German Shepherd in. I had
him
on a
lead. I did not however jerk the lead or subject my dog to any
other
negative
stimulus. I did not want Duke to associate my baby with any
negative
influences.
The lead was only on Duke so that I had him under controlled
conditions.
Duke
naturally went over to Dean.
All I did was to make sure that
he didn't
sniff or
lick around Dean's mouth. When he attempted to do so, I did
not yank
the lead,
but rather diverted Duke's mouth from Dean's face with my
hand.
After I had introduced Duke to Dean, I took Duke outside, played with him
for
a
while and took him for a walk.
I repeated this process a few times until I felt confident that
Duke
had
accepted Dean completely. In fact they became great friends, I
was
very
confident that Duke would never hurt Dean. If Dean worried Duke too
much
as
babies will do, Duke simply walked away.
I'm sure that Duke had accepted Dean as an infant member of the family
and
I
was confident in that knowledge.
I used the same approach when introducing Cindy my cross breed to
baby
Dean,
and used the same approach when my other son, Mark, was born.
I was always quite confident that my children were never in any danger
at
any
time during the introduction process.
If I had been less confident
of
the
temperament of my dogs, I would have had a muzzle in place
during
the
introductory phase.
Please understand that these precautions are probably overkill as
it
is
unlikely that dogs when being introduced to babies would consider
them
a
threat, and are therefore not prone to hurt them.
However when dogs and young children are concerned you can never
be
too
cautious.
