Some friends came over for dinner the other night and brought their five-month-old son. This proved as a test run for the dogs with respect to their interaction with babies. They both have a lot of exposure to small children but minimal exposure to babies. They both play well with children. Since Politically Incorrect Dog was a pup, we’d subject him to all sorts of dry runs for behavior. We’d grab his tail, ears, jowls, whiskers, feet and take various food items/toys from his mouth. He never once was aggressive while we did this, which is the goal. We’d praise him for reacting positively to these pokes and prods. We do these things so that we can get him accustomed to not overreacting and acting aggressively when these things are done to him by kids. That way, when a child grabs something, he will not bite.

Our efforts have been successful. Politically Incorrect Dog was very interested in the baby. He sniffed quite a bit and didn’t want to be too far away from the action. At the same time, we also don’t want him getting too excited or playful and jumping. He’d approach the baby and gently sniff or gently rest his head on the child’s tummy and we’d praise him. Once, the child reached up and grabbed a big handful of whiskers and started tugging. Politically Incorrect Dog was the model of good behavior. He sat patiently while enduring this pretty unpleasant experience and never once snapped or pulled away. In fact, he seemed excited about the experience in general.

As an added bonus, Politically Incorrect Dog can detect poopy diapers in about two seconds.

Politically Correct Dog gently sniffed a few times and was uninterested in the baby after that. They have no idea what’s coming. So, we’re also preparing them for that.

We set up the nursery and displayed some of the toys. The hard part is informing the dogs that those toys aren’t their toys. We let them sniff the toys and give them praise. When they try to pick one up, we gently take it from them and praise them when they let go. We are being very careful not to give unpleasant corrections when they show interest in baby stuff as this could make them uncomfortable around baby stuff.

Also, after little Ms. Uncle is born, I will make a few trips home with blankets and clothing that baby has used. I’ll let the dogs sniff the items and praise them so that they associate the scent with something pleasant. When baby finally comes home, the dogs will be introduced to her in the front yard, which they view as neutral territory. Since in our front yard, there aren’t territory issues for them to deal with they should welcome the new addition into our pack.

We are also acclimating our daughter to the dogs. See, we don’t want our daughter to be awakened by the sound of dogs barking. So, we give the dogs the speak command a few times a day. Little Mrs. Uncle already has ears and can hear certain loud sounds that occur outside the womb. If we get her accustomed to the dogs’ barks and our voices, these hopefully won’t scare her after she’s born.

Posted in Notes to Junior on March 16th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |