Banjo and The New Baby

[Carol and Banjo]

....Over The River and Through The Woods...To Grandmother's House We Go......    My daughter and SIL came for Sunday dinner with the new baby yesterday.    I was so excited to have them visit Grammy for the first time since his birth on the 23rd.   I was also excited to have Banjo meet his new future best bud.

Unfortunately things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped.   My daughter didn't want Banjo close to the baby and definitely didn't want him to lick the baby.   He got a couple of "sniffs" in but clearly wanted to "explore".    I understand my daughter's reluctance to have a dog licking her infant.   I would have been the same way.    My instinct tells me that if she would have let me bring the baby to Banjo's level and let him sniff and lick, just as he does when people come to the house, he would have lost interest and "moved on".    As it turned out we ended up leashing him and he spent the whole visit clearly wanting to explore the new addition.    He isn't a "barker", but he did bark several times out of frustration. I could almost hear him saying "Just let me near him....I just want to get to know him"!    Mommy and Daddy kept remarking at how "loud" he was....baby was blissfully oblivious.   

So, I'm feeling disappointed that we didn't have a smoother intro and wondering what I could/should have done to facilitate a better first meeting.

I plan to talk to my daughter about allowing Banjo (totally supervised) to sniff and lick and get it out of his system on the next visit.  I'll be equipped with wash cloths to "clean up" the doggie licks.  Do you think it's wrong to allow this?    

I'm interested to hear what others have done in this situation.  

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

So sweet.....

[Bonnie and Kona]

When I think of babies and dogs I always think of this video

How to Hug a Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAveMThLoxo

I love the baby's expression through the whole thing.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

What an adorable video!

[Carol and Banjo]

Awwww Bonnie....this is awesome!

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

I've not read through all of these posts so someone may have already mentioned this. What if you were to give your daughter a clean or new little blanket or even a stuffed animal just something that she could use around the baby to give back to you so that Banjo could smell it to his delight?  I can only imagine how my 2 circus doodles would be with a new baby coming into the house and not being able to get close enough to sniff in all of those wonderful new smells:^)  Banjo could have also picked up on how excited you were to welcome the new visitor and wanted in on the action.  They can be so intuitive and smart that way.  Congratulations on being a grandmother!

[Doc and Ozzie]

I have had so much fun reading this discussion! Since I have a 1 year old daughter and a 3 month old pup it caught my eye. I realize mine is a very different situation since my dog was a pup brought home after the baby but, I think its all relative. We have always allowed Doc and Raven to be together telling them both "easy" when they get close And they are ALWAYS supervised. So far Doc responds well and has learned what "easy" means. Raven actually says "easy"now it is so cute! =) They are best buds, in fact now that Doc has a larger crate in the rec room we can't keep Rae out of it! They play with most of the same toys, the ones we don't want Doc to have we keep put up for now and only play with supervision. Doc hangs out next to her high chair during meal times and raven has already learned that Doc will gladly "clean" her hands for her! LOL. I am a nurse, and a firm believer in that children need exposure to some degrees to build a healthy immune system. While I wouldn't allow a stray to clean Rae's fingers or share her toys, I know that Doc is healthy and have read the studies on dogs and infants in the first years of life. Those studies are a big reason that we decided to go ahead and get our boy Doc instead of waiting until Rae was older. It has been tough to say the least, having TWO babies, with all the supervision and cleaning required.. but, we are already seeing the pay offs.. Rae LOVES her boy and visa versa. 

Again, I just loved reading the stories and seeing the cute pics/videos. I think that whatever you all decide to do will be just fine.. keeping new mom AND new grandmom's feelings at highest priority is key. Communication between you two is vital and when done in love and with respect it can only yield harmony. 

Here are a few fun pics of Rae & Doc =)

[Bonnie and Kona]

What adorable photos! Your little girl and doodle are as cute as can be. Such sweet friends!