puppies and babies

[Kathy Brady]

Hi All,
Our daughter recently blessed us with a grandson, Brady, who is now 4 weeks old. Tully (18 weeks) has been fine with him--interested, but not overly so. Last night, however, Tully pawed Brady on his little newborn head. It was so traumatic for all of us. I know he was not being aggressive, just curious, but it was frightening as the baby is so tiny. I usually have him leashed when there are little ones around until he acclimates, but yesterday my husband let him off and I had my back turned. Can anyone advise me of what to do? Tully has been a wonderful pup, but he is really feeling his oats these days. Any suggestions for calming him down as well?

[Adina P]

Training and more training will help Tully learn to behave appropriately... But in the meantime puppy and baby simply need to be kept separated--it's just a LOT to expect for a young puppy to be careful with a young baby. So Tully needs to be leashed up or crated when baby is in pawing or nipping distance. Just careful supervision is all you can do and confining puppy (leash/crate) so he can't accidentally hurt the Brady.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

Did Adina mention training? NO? Well the answer here is TRAINING. Your pup is old enough to be in training! This will help you be able to set boundaries for him. He will learn the valuable skill of Stay, this will allow you to have him Sit and Stay with you or do a Down Stay on his bed and you not fear when you leave the room. HOWEVER NEVER (yes I am hollering) leave a dog of any age unsupervised with a baby! Please~ there are so many dangers. I have a 14 month old and I know it is hard because I may only leave the room for a second but if I do and the baby doesn't come with me the dog does. My dogs are all trained to advanced levels and I just dont do it. I do let them play supervised but never leave the room even if they are both sleeping.... the dog comes with me.

[Ali]

Training your pup the "leave it" command as well as teaching the dog to avoid maybe a certain area. I would suggest looking into getting an in-home trainer, that way you can train the dog the best you can in that particular environment (your home). Maybe once the dog is getting good, start including the baby in the training sessions. But I totally agree, that no matter how trained a dog is, they should never be left alone with a baby. Good luck with everything!

[Kathy Brady]

Hi All,
Thanks so much for all your good advice. It's been a long time since we've had babies and puppies together here! Interestingly, we've had a breakthrough. My daughter and son-in-law and the baby just spent 4 days here because they lost their power from the terrible ice storm we had. At first, Tully was very interested and inquisitive with the baby. I kept him on his leash and praised him when he was calm. After the first day, all he wanted was to get away from the crying, smelly, wiggly thing in our arms! We never let him off leash, but he just gave Brady a good sniff at first and decided that doggy toys and bully sticks were far more fun! We all feel much better. Tully will stay on leash, but I have hope that he's going to be great with kids. Also, our puppy class last week focused on the "leave it" command, so we were able to reinforce that too. Thanks again for all the advice!
We have another grandbaby due in May!

[Marianne *OZZY & ZOEY]

Just think how cute it will be in a couple of months the baby will be older and getting around and I love to watch babies and puppies together.

[Lake Girl, Lizette]

I have two puppies now....4 1/2 and 6 months old. My baby, Molly, is wonderful with our grandson from the get go. I was fearful of letting her go. Afraid she would nip, scratch, etc. and my daughter-in-law told me to let her be. Sure enough she was as gentle as good be...licked, licked, and seemed to know Jaden was a baby. Molly is very active so I was stunned. She is wonderful with our grandson. Then along came Nestle that grew up with a baby at the breeder's home. She had a 14 month old baby. Nestle is great with Jaden as well....very cautious, doesn't bite, doesn't jump on him, and actually is protective and only just met him last Saturday the first day we had her. I personally think doodles are wonderful with children and babies. From personal experience...I think maybe walking your puppy first before they come over and getting him a little tired may help. I also think leashing him is maybe restrictive and he is making him more reactive. I am certainly no expert but my former dogs if I restrained them they acted even wilder and behavior got worse than if I just released them and than put them in their crate if they didn't behave. Good luck.