How We Got Our Dogs to Like Our Baby—And the One Piece of Advice That Changed Everything
The low-down on introducing our fur-babies to our human baby
Baby Bridget turned one this week (!) and I decided it was time to write a blog post about the most common question I get—how we got our dogs to like our baby.
Here’s the thing—my guess is that if you follow this blog, your dog is probably pretty much your baby.
And, I mean, same. Our dogs are our babies, too. We throw giant themed barkday parties for our dogs every year, go on dog treat crawls, and plan elaborate dog-friendly vacations. It’s what this blog is all about.
When I got pregnant, suddenly everyone wanted to tell us that all that was about to change: we wouldn’t care about our dogs once we had a human kid, our dogs would be jealous, and we’d end up resenting the dogs for the time and energy they took away from the baby.
Well, I’m here to tell you that that’s absolutely not true. I love our little low-riders as much as ever. My heart just grew even bigger when we had a baby. And the best part is, I think they love the baby almost as much as I do.
So how did we get to this point? 👇🏻
I don’t want to pretend that we have the whole crazy juggling act of dogs-plus-kids figured out, but to be honest, one piece of advice made all the difference in getting our household to a good place.
When I was nine months pregnant, I waddled over to our vet for Lizzie’s annual check-up. Since I was obviously going to have a baby at any moment—I was a very pregnant pregnant-person!—our wonderful vet quizzed me about our plans for introducing the dogs to baby. I confessed that I was pretty worried about Dave’s jealousy (that tiny weenie brain can sure hang onto a grudge!) and Lizzie’s jumpiness around loud sounds and sudden movements. Plus, neither of them is great with new people.
Our vet reminded me that dogs are pack animals. If we wanted the dogs to see the baby as a member of the pack, rather than as an outsider, keeping them away from the baby would actually send their little pup-brains the wrong message. To get our dogs to love our baby, we needed show them that the baby was part of their pack. We should include them in baby-snuggles, baby meals, and baby walks.
I want to quickly add a disclaimer here that this was advice specific to our dogs who don’t have real aggression issues or emotional baggage. Please make safe choices specific to your dog. Our dogs mostly just show their feelings by peeing on our favorite rugs (Dave) and chewing hard-to-replace electrical cords (Lizzie). We weren’t really worried about them hurting the baby.
To be honest, I didn’t expect our vet’s advice to work so well. Especially with Dave. Dachshunds have a bit of a reputation as being bad with kids, and he and Bridget really started off on the wrong foot because we sent him to stay with my parents for two weeks before she was born. By the time he actually met her he was already in a huff about being abandoned and refusing to sit on my lap or look at me. Like I said, that little weenie-brain can definitely hold a grudge.
It took a few months of belly rubs and family snuggles and special treats for him to come around, but now he’s Bridget’s biggest fan. When he sees her first thing in the morning he gets all waggy and wiggly. It’s adorable.
I don’t know if I would have thought to handle the new baby like a new member of the pack without our vet, so I wanted to share our story in case you’re in a similar position. Because in those first months with a kid, the last thing you need is more stress!
I’ll leave you with a video of Lizzie trying to teach two-month-old Bridget how to play fetch. Enjoy!
