Pet Safety And Babies

If it is time to bring your baby home you should so with caution, especially if you have a pet. The precautions necessary may depend on breed or size of the dog, but in any case helping your baby and dog get along is important.

The reverse is also true when you want to introduce your baby to a pet you already have. It may be a bit of a challenge but you can do it.

What to Expect

Most of the time, it is possible to bring home a baby and have it interact with you and your pet. It is very well possible to have this take place with no harm to either your baby or your pet.

It also is very possible to bring your pet home knowing that your pet will welcome it. There may be a bit of competitiveness as the dog may miss the attention it gets.

Bringing Home your Baby

There are a number of ways to introduce your baby to your pet. One way to do it is to bring home a blanket that was used in the hospital when the baby was born. If a dog gets used to the scent of your baby it increases the risk the animal will be used to your baby when your newborn comes home.

Be prepared when you bring your baby comes home for your dog to become a little bit jealous. The dog may be threatened because the animal is used to getting all the love and used to having free reign of the home.

Now all of the sudden the dog has to share space with the baby. Make sure you do not ignore your dog and give the dog the attention it needs as well as the attention your newborn needs.

One thing you can do is let your dog sit near you while you hold and/or feed your baby. However, if your dog is not yet trained you should instruct the animal as to how to behave around your newborn.

Bringing Home Your Pet

It may be hard to bring home an untrained puppy if you have a newborn baby in the house. You may in this case want to hire a dog trainer or perhaps have someone babysit your animal while you train your dog.

You can also just wait until your baby is older. The reason for this is because having a newborn baby is a lot of work as it is, and then add to that training a dog on top of it can be an extra burden.

However, no matter what age your child is you should still discipline and potty train the pet. One advantage in having a pet after your child has been around for awhile is that the pet will be not as spoiled as to wanting the space for itself.

However, you also run the risk of your baby, toddler, or child being afraid of the dog. In this case, the baby is the one who needs to adjust more, not the dog.

However, a majority of the time the baby-especially one that is nearing a year old-may find the animal a suitable companion. It to them may seem more like a “toy” only it is alive rather than run on batteries.