6 Tips to Prepare Puppy for Baby
Imagine this. You’re pregnant and you’re about to pop! You’ve got everything ready for baby, from the decorated nursery to the packed hospital bag. But is your fur baby ready?
Your fur baby was probably your first “baby”, so it is used to all of the love and attention. With a new baby, your dog will have to share this love and attention with the newest kid on the block. Here are some tips on how to prepare your fur baby for the arrival of your human baby to ensure a smooth transition and to guarantee a start to a lifelong friendship with “baby’s best friend”!
Start with the basics
If your dog hasn’t been to basic obedience school, it’s probably a good idea to enroll them before your baby arrives. Even if your dog has gone and graduated, a refresher wouldn’t hurt! This way, both you and the dog have a handle of the basic commands, such as sit, stay, come, etc. Practice in the months before your due date and you’ll have a well-behaved pup that will listen to commands even with the new distractions, sounds, and smells.
Make Gradual Changes to Routine
A few months before you give birth, consider making gradual changes to your dog’s routine, such as walking routes and where they eat and sleep. The reason for making these gradual changes before your little one comes is so the dog won’t associate these changes with baby and become jealous. For example, you may no longer be able to take Fido on those hour-long walks to the park and back. Gradually decrease the length of these walks that is something more reasonable for when you have a newborn baby. The same goes with feedings. If Fido is used to being fed at 8:00 am on the dot, change up the times, but of course within reason.
Furthermore, if you are going to allow your dog in the baby’s room, start spending some time in there. Let puppy get used to the crib and rocking chair. Dedicate a small space that is out of the way for a dog bed. Put a few treats on there to tempt your dog to go there and start getting comfortable.
Lessen the love (for now)
Yes, this sounds so mean! But decreasing the amount of love and attention that your dog receives before you pop is vital for the long-term success of your fur baby and human baby getting along in the future. I’m not saying to fully ignore your puppy (because they invented puppy eyes for a reason), but the worst thing you can do is to lavish your dog with a whole bunch of lovin’ only for it to suddenly stop once baby arrives. Slowly decrease the amount of playtime and roughhousing and switch up the times of the day that you play with your dog so they don’t come to expect to play at a certain time. Because, duh, newborns are not on a schedule.
However, once your little one grows up and is mobile, there is plenty of love going around.
