Doodle Plus Babies

[Sarah]

I have a wonderful two year old doodle. My fiance and I have several friends who are all due in July and wanted to know of anyone experience with their dog and a new baby around and how they reacted. Our friends come over a lot and are a little concerned. Don't want the big fella kept up while they are over. Any suggestions?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

What a great idea!

[Lee Seidman]

we have two grandchildren one is  three months old and the other is two years old and two large DoodlesLexi and Billabong  I would never leave a child alone with any animal,  we are so fortunate, our Doods have  never bothered either grandchild, they don't even take their toys. They have been introduced to them and when they visit they consider them part of the family....not a problem. I would be more concerned that the children might pull ears or a tail, but the Doods just seem to take it in stride. I would permit them to smell the baby and even lick it, not make a big deal out of it and they will be friends forever!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

When my granddaughter was first born, our dogs got very nervous when she cried. They got over it.   Our house is not baby proofed so we purchased one of those fence type thingies. This was also a way to let the dogs get used to her and her to them.  Her parents have worked hard to teach her to love the dogs because they have two.  We have worked hard to introduce our dogs to little children (her) and their noises and movements.  She does throw her toys out of her play area, but so far we have retrieved them before our dogs chewed them up.   When she is on the loose, the dogs allow her to take their toys.  We are always vigilant but it has worked out very well. This was taken when Evie was a couple of months old; she is now 16 months.

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

We are expecting our first baby in the next few weeks as I'm just about 37 weeks pregnant.  I will say that we are in the process of preparing our dogs for her arrival.  We now have a pack and play set up so they are used to that being in our living room and soon we will be putting batteries in the infant swing so that the dogs can get used to that noise and movement.  We also have set the infant car seat out (with us home) so that is not a novelty item anymore.  After my showers I am putting baby oil on my stomach to help with the itching but we were also told it is helpful to use lotions/creams/oils that will be linked to the baby scent so the dogs will be used to that as well.  Aside from those things, we hired a trainer to come work with the dogs so that they know not to be on the stairs at the same time as us, will hopefully be better with greetings, to limit the nuisance barking, and this past weekend they were even outside practicing walking with a stroller.  While we know we will definitely have issues and have to watch them constantly when they are around the baby, we feel that limiting some of the "newness" and starting to have the baby stuff around will make it less enticing to steal once the baby comes. 

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I have some experience - about 10 of my friends had babies within a year.  And we entertain frequently - many of them bring their babies (now toddlers) over during dinner, etc....

Peri is just so excited it takes a while for her to calm down. I sometimes keep her leashed until she gets "settled" and greets the adults.  Then, the problem is keeping her tongue off the babies! She literally cannot restrain herself.  She is super gentle, so this is GREAT, but she wants to lick them all over.  I will be watching her and she looks at me, acts like she is going to walk past the baby, then darts in and steals a kiss!  Luckily, MOST of my friends are huge dog lovers and are not too concerned with a little tongue action.  I have had one friend get concerned and I do put Peri in her crate to calm down. 

Peri is a mini, so she is smaller than the standard doods. But I think in generally, they are big balls of love and good with babies. STAY CALM, I agree with what others say. Ignore the situation and don't get too tense (but keep you eye on dood!).

[Janice Hammond]

We have a nine month old grandson and Sadie our 5 year old doodle totally adores him.When he was a newborn and came to our house fort he first time no one made a fuss about her being close to the baby.We just let her discover Kaden on her own.She gently sniffed him all over and then sat right down in front of him and gave him a really gentle kiss.It was so sweet.

When Kaden is over now Sadie hardly leaves his side and Kaden squeals and laughs when he sees her and reaches to pet her.

Truly a mutual admiration society.

[Leslie J]

Cocoa is wonderful with kids, but she can be too exuberant at times, especially when kids are running around and/or throwing balls.  We also have friends whose children are not used to dogs and get scared.  When necessary, I give Cocoa a treat and put her in her crate.  She doesn't love it, but she has learned to tolerate it.  It's in the middle of the house and she watches everyone and sometimes gives me a warning bark if she thinks the kids are being too wild :)

Some new parents (especially with a first child) can be very cautious and concerned- especially if they weren't dog lovers before the baby).  There's not too much you can do to change their minds. 

Cocoa, like many doodles, is incredibly gentle with kids and will let toddlers grab bones from her mouth so I leave her out to hang out with the kids most of the time. When I crate her it's not because I'm worried about her, I usually do it when the humans have a problem with dogs.