Babies and Dogs Class

Last week I attended a Babies and Dogs class. There was some interesting information I thought I would share with you fine people.

1. Your dog knows you're pregnant
Campbell has not shown any change in behavior so I'm a bit skeptical of this one. I have heard of animals being clingier, but Cam just cares that he is getting food. They also said that dogs don't really associate the difference between people/dogs and that they will just think of your baby as a new member of the pack and because of this it's important that before baby comes home that you establish yourself as the pack leader.

2. Dogs go through a pattern of aggression
When dogs get mad they all go through the same pattern before you get to biting stage. First the curl their lip, then they growl, then they open mouth slap (have their mouth open and bop the other person or animal in the face and then finally they bite.) Dogs rarely ever go directly to biting. They said you should be aware of the lip curl and growl stage so that you can end a situation before it gets bad. Also, you shouldn't reprimand the dog for doing these signs because you want them to warn you.

This is helpful to me because when Cam has a bone Fern (the cat) will always come up to him and sniff what he's got. This basically pisses Cam off and he curls his lip and growls at her. Before class my instinct was to reprimand Campbell for being aggressive with Fern but I was taught that we should reprimand Fern and remove her from the situation because Campbell isn't doing anything wrong and that we was actually being good for sending out warnings.

3. Territory
Food:
We've always fed Campbell after we've eaten to mimic in the wild that the alpha dog eats first. But we've always been feeding him in the same spot. The recommended changing up the time and place you feed your dog to reinforce that you are in control of their food. We'll this has totally thrown Campbell for a loop. Each night we put his food bowl down somewhere int he house for him to eat dinner. Each night he goes back to the spot where he used to always eat dinner looking at us like we are weird. He eventually will go eat his food but always checks back to his old spot.

Sleep:
Same thing with the sleep as with food. You should move the dogs sleeping spot around so that they don't get territorial over a certain spot in the house. The funny thing is I always thought Cam associated us saying "Go to your house" with his dog bed. But when we moved his bed to the other side of our bedroom and told him to go to his house he ran to the spot where his dog bed usually is.

3. Before baby comes
Start prepping your animals for the changes that will start to happen in your house. If you have a baby swing or bouncy chair leave it out in the living room and sometimes turn it on so your pets get used to the sound and the motion. Leave a diaper out so your dog can get used to the smell and use the baby lotions and washed you have bought so the smells will become normal in your home.

4. Introduction:
They basically said to make it as big of a non event as possible. For those having a baby out of the home they suggested the partner coming home with a piece of clothing the baby has worn or a rag/blanket that the baby has been wiped down with. Before coming home your significant other needs to come home with this material. If you have a bigger dog walk in with the item in your pocket and for a smaller dog stuff it in your sock. Then walk in as you normally do, don't draw attention to the item just walk around so the dog will associate this new scent with you.

When you do get home show the dog the baby and just kind of go on with your routine. The key is to make the baby coming into the home a non-event.

Basically all the stuff learned in class was instruction on how to make the dog see you as the master so that when baby enters the home they behave the way you want them to.