Training Your Dog before Your Baby’s Birth
Saturday, October 12, 2019
You normally will be anxious about how your dog will behave with a new baby on board. You may want to consider some training before the new baby arrives. The ASPCA has put together some training tips to make the transition a little easier.
Your dog will benefit from any training you can accomplish before your baby’s birth.
- Teaching your dog some basic obedience skills will help you manage her behavior when the baby comes. Please see the section below, Teaching Your Dog Important New Skills, for specific training guidelines. Consider enrolling in a group class to get a head start.
- Four months before the baby arrives: Gradually introduce your dog to the new experiences, sights, sounds and smells she’ll encounter when you bring your baby home, and associate these new things with rewards. This will help your dog learn to love life with the baby.
- One to two months before the baby arrives: Anticipate the changes you’ll make to your dog’s daily routine, and start making those changes.
Teaching Your Dog Important New Skills
Having good verbal control of your dog can really help when it comes to juggling her needs and the baby’s care. The following skills are particularly important.
Basic Manners:
- Sit and down
- Stay, wait at doors and settle: These skills can help your dog learn to control her impulses, and they’ll prove useful in many situations. For example, you can teach your dog to lie down and stay whenever you sit in your nursing chair.
- Leave it and drop it: These two behaviors can help you teach your dog to leave the baby’s things alone.
- Greet people politely: A jumping dog can be annoying at best—and dangerous at worst—when you’re holding the baby.
- Relax in a crate: If you crate train your dog, you’ll know that she’s safe when you can’t supervise her, and she’ll have a cozy place of her own to relax when things get hectic.
- Come when called.
Remember, your pets count!
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