Welcome back for another installment on how my wife and I prepared our dog Baxter for the birth of our first child, my daughter! This post was actually written before she arrived!
Today I’m sharing our plan for all areas in our house where Baxter and baby will share space. This plan is part of my overall goal to keep everyone safe while making sure both dog and baby respect each other’s space. You can see all posts related to this baby prep series by clicking here.
Reminding families with serious behavioral or special needs issues when adding a baby to the family that our best advice would be to seek assistance from a reputable and professional trainer is important.
As we’ve prepared Baxter for his arrival, one of the most beneficial resources has been our trainer.
My initial conversation with her after I told her about my pregnancy focused on the importance of space and boundaries–training both babies and dogs to respect these limits.
Her comments got me to thinking about which spaces will be shared with Baxter or with me as an individual.
With her daughter, our trainer set up a boundary around where the dogs would usually lay down. Instead of setting up physical barriers, however, she simply instructed her daughter not to get too close. While this approach may not work for every child, our trainer noted that by 8-9 months our daughter had learned to respect that space.
How to create a safe space for both you and your dog
Baxter’s Space His main bed can be found in our living room near his food and water bowls – an ideal spot from which he can keep an eye on everything going on in our house, as well as provide him with privacy when necessary. However, this has sometimes proven sensitive territory for Baxter.
Baxter may growl at strangers who pet him while in bed, so we have designated his bed and food bowl as baby-free zones – it is his space, after all! And this also applies to his beds located throughout the house.
Baxter consistently responds to our command to “go lay down,” with him making his way directly back to his bed. To ensure a seamless transition when baby arrives, we have been practicing this command from various points around the house so he’ll be fully trained by then.
(To learn how to teach your dog the “place” command, read our post).
Baxter will own his chair in the living room; even though it doesn’t belong exclusively to him. I won’t use it for nursing nor put baby there for photos with Baxter.
Baxter needs his own space Baxter needs his own spaces too! To accommodate this need, we placed a blanket and bouncy chair on the floors in both our living room upstairs and family room downstairs, after giving Baxter time to explore these newcomers, we requested that he remain outside these zones.
There has been much discussion around the “leave it” command and people misusing it too broadly. Baxter responds well to our use of it, from no eating something, stopping sniffing something, or moving away (to move). So we use “leave it” as a signal that he needs to move away from chairs or blankets.
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