Most expectant parents have plenty of time to spend preparing for a baby, but for unsuspecting dogs their new housemate appears overnight! It’s important to ensure your dog always feels part of your family, and to prepare them for the change in their routine, plus all the unusual sights, sounds and smells that the new arrival will bring. Doing this with plenty of time to spare means setting your dog up to cope well with this exciting change!
Puppies need to meet a range of different people during their ‘socialisation period’ (between around 3 and 12 weeks of age) so they accept contact with people as a normal and positive part of life. Ideally this includes meeting children. Meeting at least one older child (8 years plus) and also a baby or toddler is ideal, as they mean very different experiences for a puppy. For safety, contact with children should be actively supervised at all times. Where younger children or babies are introduced to puppies, they should be held by their parents. Where access to young children is not possible, it helps if they can hear recordings of children playing and babies crying using good quality recordings.
To make sure they see people as consistently positive, the introduction of new experiences to puppies needs to be gradual and controlled. It’s also important that puppies are not already anxious or fearful when they interact with adults or children, as this will increase the risk that they will associate contact with these negative feelings.
The earlier you start preparing your dog, the more time they’ll have to adjust and feel comfortable. You’ll also be able to go at your dog’s pace which is important for their confidence. The time you put in now will really pay off when your baby arrives, as you’ll be able to devote your time getting to know the baby, confident that you’ve already taught your dog useful skills to help them feel settled too.