I am so appreciative of all of the blogs who have shared their tips and experience for preparing their dogs to welcome new babies into the family.
Maggie Marton of Oh My Dog! is here today to share their journey since welcoming Violet into their lives last year.
Click here for all my posts in this series.
Preparing Your Dog for a Baby That Mutt: Did there occur to you any specific areas you would like Violet’s training to focus on?
Maggie Marton: Cooper can sometimes feel unconfident around baby gear – rockers, swings and anything that made noise. So I wanted to make sure he felt at ease around all this baby stuff–rockers, swings and any noisemakers.
While going through adoption preparations for our daughter, we started setting up various baby things to familiarize our son with sights and smells before she arrived. Overall, it was simply about getting him comfortable with all the gear before she came along.
As you prepared Violet for Violet’s arrival, were there any unexpected behavior or reactions from your dogs that surprised or confused you? TM:
Maggie: Our little one arrived unexpectedly! Almost overnight after adopting Violet, we received word that her birth mom was in labor… and just four hours later were holding our new addition!
Once Violet arrived, though, what truly amazed me was his instant connection to her. Though maybe we had luck on our side here, he took to her like she was meant to be his big sister! And so began their life-long friendship! He’s the “big brother” Violet needed all along!
Maggie: My best advice to others who own dogs is that maintaining their schedule as planned is absolutely crucial for their well-being and my advice applies specifically.
Emmett was our senior dog when Violet was born, but soon after passed away shortly afterwards. To honor both him and Cooper’s memory we made sure they received consistent food, walks, cuddling/playtime/cuddling time/cuddling/play time treatment as usual and were both snuggled into bed with us every night like always.
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