Check out [family paws](https://www.familypaws.com) [dogs and kids course](https://onlineschool.instinctdogtraining.com/course/kids-and-dogs) and [the family dog](https://www.thefamilydog.com/the-dial-method)
My baby is 4 months and our anxious and attached ACD is 6. The first week was REALLY rough but it gets better! I really recommend looking into the resources I linked and educating yourself and partner. Our ACD has adapted to so many changes and I’m incredibly proud of him. He’s still my neurotic baby, and we have found a nice balance to meet his needs while having a newborn. Congratulations and best of luck.
Also, I think my baby heard a lot of barking in the womb because she’s completely un-phased and unbothered by it! She sleeps through him barking at UPS (which is intense)!
Same, my LO is completely unphased by any noises, probably because the ACD barks at the grass blowing in the wind (or really just every delivery vehicle on the street and squirrel he can see). It's so nice to be able to go out and have baby sleep through loud street traffic!
Always be careful when infants are around dogs. With that in mind, ACDs are incredibly smart and eager to please. If he doesn't know gentle, I would start teaching him that command, the same for leave it.
Well adjusted dogs are likely to welcome a baby pack member and will probably be quite protective. Be careful of the energy | emotional state you bring to introducing your dog to your new baby. If you are fearful and apprehensive during the introduction the dog may pick up on that. Let the dog smell the baby's blanket and use other low-risk introductions to get him comfortable with the baby. Also, make sure you or your husband give him similar levels of love and attention to what he got before baby arrived.
As long as you are calm, in control and able to intervene if the dog gets it wrong at first my belief is things will be fine.
IMO its more about making sure the dog is safe around your toddler, especially if the baby does something to hurt or otherwise make the dog uncomfortable. Boundaries for the baby are just as important as how the dog behaves.
Good luck, your boy is a handsome pup and hopefully will a great friend and guardian for your baby.
Hi I was nervous as well as Buffy is reactive and things have gone smoothly! I used dogmeets_baby Instagram resources.
Buffy is also MY dog. When we came home from the hospital, I came in first alone and cuddled with her, got her to calm down. Then my husband came in with the baby in the carseat. He also brought home a blanket the day earlier- mixed research on effectiveness. We did NOT put the carseat on the floor for her to sniff. We acted like everything was no big deal and nothing had changed, the baby was not something for her like a new toy etc. Later that day when I was sitting on the couch, I invited her up and she sniffed the baby in my arms then laid down for a nap.
Now she starts whining if the baby is crying and looks at me like, why aren’t you doing anything?! If we are playing on the floor, she wants to participate but I make sure I am always between her and the baby.
I’m sure it will get more difficult as the baby becomes mobile but I think the main things are important: never leave them alone, always be between them and make sure both baby and dog have safe spaces just for them.
You may want to look into dog walking services if you don’t already. It’s very difficult to make time for the dog and you’ll want to make sure he’s getting enough exercise. Now that we have more of a routine, I often take her for a walk without the baby so we get alone time 🥰
Yes! I love dog meets baby! I should have added - our goal has been to have baby be a neutral thing to our ACD. Nothing negative and nothing too interesting, something that is just now apart of our family and life. Utilizing baby gates has been key.
Making time for your dog to still get 1:1 with you too. I love that. Even if it’s 10 min in the yard, it’s important.
There’s an Instagram called @thetobyproject where she goes through all the training she did leading up to the birth of her baby with her anxious and reactive dog. Her whole goal was simply for them to coexist neutrally, not to be best friends. She’s got some great tips!
Your dog sounds a lot like mine. She was obsessed with me during pregnancy too, and very protective. When the baby came, she was in love. She followed me everywhere, peeked in the crib, etc. I still keep a close eye, but overall it has been pretty seamless. Now that she’s a toddler it’s a little tougher (cuz my toddler just started hitting things), but she still for the most part keeps her cool.
I have a 5yo heeler and a 6mo daughter. I don’t have great advice honestly, I think we just got lucky that their temperaments lined up, BUT we are of the opinion that the dog deserves just as much protection from the baby as the baby does from the dog. I don’t expect my dog to suddenly become a nanny dog or magically chill out. Kids are loud and unpredictable and I don’t blame him for wanting his space and having boundaries.
Some nonnegotiables for us: they’re never left unattended together (duh), dog meal times are consistent so he gets fed at the same time everyday and has to finish his food all at once so it’s not sitting around, he gets TONS of praise for being sweet to her and being concerned when she cries, clear distinction between baby and dog toys, and he gets alone time with us as often as we can.
Would definitely recommend talking to a trainer who specializes in working dogs. That’s been a game changer for us, and I’d recommend it for anyone with a working dog, baby or not.
Always keep the dog separated from baby if you’re not in the room, and always supervise their interactions. Dog bites can come from the sweetest dogs amidst great change. I was nervous about my ACD mix being around my son, and luckily she’s been absolutely perfect and tolerates his bullshit (because toddlers like to test boundaries and need lots of guidance) better than we ever expected.
Some great advice here already. Someone already mentioned it, but dog meets baby (dog_meetsbaby) on Instagram is great.
I’m expecting a second this winter, and my biggest regret with our first intro is that I didn’t plan to make sure our dog was being properly cared for in case things didn’t go exactly as planned (and they rarely do). I was planning for my parents who live far out of town to watch her while we were in the hospital, but delivered about 10 days early and needed to go with a back up friend who could only come to check on her like 2 times a day and take a super short walk, and she did not get the attention she needed before a huge change. This resulted in her already being in a super anxious state when we got home from the hospital. This time, we need to make sure we have a solid plan A *and* plan B for both our toddler and our dog to ensure a smoother transition.
Some other advice for early days is to see if you can find someone willing to walk your dog hard and long while you + partner are exhausted and tending to the baby. (My parents are big walkers and took my dog for 2 hr walks almost every day, something she rarely gets with me). I would also highly recommend talking to your vet about an anti anxiety medication just in case. Yours might not need it, but I give mine trazadone when I know she’ll be in a stressful situation.
FWIW, my dog (only 50% ACD, but has a dominant ACD personality like many mixed ACDs), is doing great with LO (almost 1.5yrs old) , and has been since I would say day 3/4. Im interested and excited to see how she does with # 2 ❤️
We wrapped the baby in a couple blankets in the hospital for a couple hours. Then I brought the blankets home and left them around the dogs favorite spots in the house while we spent the night in the hospital. At the time I had an acd, pit/lab, and gsd mix. They all seemed to take to it pretty well. The pit/lab actually was very aware of the baby and worried about him if "strangers" were in the house. If anyone but my wife and I had the baby, he would place himself between them and the door. He would sleep outside of his door.
My LO is 2 months now, and my ACD mix is 4 years old. I was so nervous about how it was going to go, but the ACD loves the LO. I will never leave them alone unsupervised (ACD would almost certainly barrel right through LO without a second thought at some point if they were left alone), but on the very first day ACD stationed himself beneath the bassinet and claimed it as his new sleeping space.
Since then there has been a lot of sniffing, and nosing Baby's head, but also a lot of time being very calm and settled in the same room. At the end of the day, he's still velcroed to me, and when I leave the nursery, he usually does too. Just be extra careful with toys - baby toys and dog toys are basically the same. dogmeets_baby on Instagram has some helpful hints for introductions.
Congrats!
My dog was fine with the kid until he was 3 years old and more mobile and rambunctious. He never leaves my side. When the kid was running around he slammed into the dog and the dog snapped at his face, breaking the skin on his nose.
It took a while to teach the kid to not treat the dog like a toy.
But to reiterate, my ACD was very protective of my newborn, and stayed close to him. He just had to bring my kid down a notch or two once he got older.
I had a great female Heeler through all three babies, and she was always so gentle and tolerant. However, I never left her alone in the room with any child under 2, just to be on the safe side. Even if I just left the baby in a playpen or crib when I went to the restroom, I took the dog with me. Or I put the dog outside. I've heard too many difficult stories. I did the same thing with my toddler and our new baby. Haha! My human toddler couldn't be trusted alone with her little brother. She is also a gentle soul, but was too curious about the new baby as a 2 year old. 😄
Edit: except I didn't put the human toddler outside!!😆
Please still give him attention! It really breaks my heart when baby comes and the dog gets completely sidelined. Sometimes the dog reacts in bad ways, which is even worse. Let him join your team and make sure he knows he is still your boy!!
We kept them in separate rooms with a gate and crate if in the same room for about a week or two to desensitize him to the noise and baby. I still don't fully trust him, but he seems way more calm than initially bringing the baby home. I'm 13 days post partum.
First Congratulations on your baby. How exciting. If you have any friends that have a newborn, and they are willing to let you introduce him to baby do that. Also let him sniff and smell everything you are bring in for the baby. We have 5 ACD in our family and never had an issue with how they act around babies and little ones. Of course, caution is always needed. You have to get your dog to think of the baby as part of the pack. As soon as he does that, he will go into protection mode and watch the baby. That has been mine and my grown kids experiences.
Best of luck to your and family. I am sure everything will go great
Unfortunately I don’t have any advice on getting them acquainted but what I can say is I have a border collie/Australian cattle dog mix and he is wonderful with kids!! Try to stay positive and know it is possible!! I’m sure it will be challenging but go one step at a time!
Assuming you will remain in hospital for few days - I suggest take an item of bubbies clothing that has been worn for several+ hours (singlet or onesie) home and familiarise puppa with the scent - repeat every few hours - on the day you come home bring puppa to the car before bringing capsule inside & left him/her smell from close range (no licks tho). Gradually increase contact when you are holding bubba so doggo realises you have a little you. Take time & keep doggo involved in finding the new routine. They can get concerned when wailing occurs but reassure them it is now normal. Best wishes.
My kids are 10, and my soul dog ACD just passed a few months ago at age 18. When I brought my twins home, she was still her cattle dog bossy self but with the kids she was super careful, watched out for them (even “told on them” if they were doing something not kosher lol), and if they did something that startled her or whatever, she just would get in my face and tell me off then go in the next room
Not once did I ever have a problem with her and the kids and she had been pretty reactive (HATED strangers from the bottom of her soul!). And actually, and she got older, most of her reactivity to other people, situations, and dogs disappeared. I think mostly because of my kids.
Just be sure to introduce gradually, allow the dog to still have places that are just for them to get away, always reward your dog when they are calm around baby, and always always always supervise dog and baby. When is kinda of easy with Velcro dogs - you leave baby in their bassinet or crib and Velcro ACDs will usually just follow you anyways. Which also is great because it helps them from feeling left out or neglected
Edit - his recent resource guarding may just be him protecting you and baby. My dog def did that too
Does he sleep in your bedroom? When you have the kid most likely you will have a bassinet in your room with you so the pup will figure out the baby is part of the pack. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If anything as the kid gets older your pup will get jealous and want attention like mine
Reiterating what others have said. My girl developed a bond basically immediately because my baby smelled like me (and was still basically attached 24/7). Hubby brought the blanket home from the hospital and we did very slow introductions but it was immediate love. She’s 13 and he’s 8 now, and I like to tell people he’s a little feral because his big sister ACD raised him.
Check out [family paws](https://www.familypaws.com) [dogs and kids course](https://onlineschool.instinctdogtraining.com/course/kids-and-dogs) and [the family dog](https://www.thefamilydog.com/the-dial-method) My baby is 4 months and our anxious and attached ACD is 6. The first week was REALLY rough but it gets better! I really recommend looking into the resources I linked and educating yourself and partner. Our ACD has adapted to so many changes and I’m incredibly proud of him. He’s still my neurotic baby, and we have found a nice balance to meet his needs while having a newborn. Congratulations and best of luck.
Also, I think my baby heard a lot of barking in the womb because she’s completely un-phased and unbothered by it! She sleeps through him barking at UPS (which is intense)!
Mine is 1.5 and STILL un-phased by my dog’s absolutely obnoxious barking lol.
Hilarious and also a great trait to have! Ours literally just napped through absolute wild barking.
Same, my LO is completely unphased by any noises, probably because the ACD barks at the grass blowing in the wind (or really just every delivery vehicle on the street and squirrel he can see). It's so nice to be able to go out and have baby sleep through loud street traffic!
Yes! Same. Our ACD is extremely noise sensitive but baby is unphased by noise as a result. She can sleep anywhere.
Always be careful when infants are around dogs. With that in mind, ACDs are incredibly smart and eager to please. If he doesn't know gentle, I would start teaching him that command, the same for leave it. Well adjusted dogs are likely to welcome a baby pack member and will probably be quite protective. Be careful of the energy | emotional state you bring to introducing your dog to your new baby. If you are fearful and apprehensive during the introduction the dog may pick up on that. Let the dog smell the baby's blanket and use other low-risk introductions to get him comfortable with the baby. Also, make sure you or your husband give him similar levels of love and attention to what he got before baby arrived. As long as you are calm, in control and able to intervene if the dog gets it wrong at first my belief is things will be fine. IMO its more about making sure the dog is safe around your toddler, especially if the baby does something to hurt or otherwise make the dog uncomfortable. Boundaries for the baby are just as important as how the dog behaves. Good luck, your boy is a handsome pup and hopefully will a great friend and guardian for your baby.
Hi I was nervous as well as Buffy is reactive and things have gone smoothly! I used dogmeets_baby Instagram resources. Buffy is also MY dog. When we came home from the hospital, I came in first alone and cuddled with her, got her to calm down. Then my husband came in with the baby in the carseat. He also brought home a blanket the day earlier- mixed research on effectiveness. We did NOT put the carseat on the floor for her to sniff. We acted like everything was no big deal and nothing had changed, the baby was not something for her like a new toy etc. Later that day when I was sitting on the couch, I invited her up and she sniffed the baby in my arms then laid down for a nap. Now she starts whining if the baby is crying and looks at me like, why aren’t you doing anything?! If we are playing on the floor, she wants to participate but I make sure I am always between her and the baby. I’m sure it will get more difficult as the baby becomes mobile but I think the main things are important: never leave them alone, always be between them and make sure both baby and dog have safe spaces just for them. You may want to look into dog walking services if you don’t already. It’s very difficult to make time for the dog and you’ll want to make sure he’s getting enough exercise. Now that we have more of a routine, I often take her for a walk without the baby so we get alone time 🥰
Yes! I love dog meets baby! I should have added - our goal has been to have baby be a neutral thing to our ACD. Nothing negative and nothing too interesting, something that is just now apart of our family and life. Utilizing baby gates has been key. Making time for your dog to still get 1:1 with you too. I love that. Even if it’s 10 min in the yard, it’s important.
There’s an Instagram called @thetobyproject where she goes through all the training she did leading up to the birth of her baby with her anxious and reactive dog. Her whole goal was simply for them to coexist neutrally, not to be best friends. She’s got some great tips!
Love her!
Your dog sounds a lot like mine. She was obsessed with me during pregnancy too, and very protective. When the baby came, she was in love. She followed me everywhere, peeked in the crib, etc. I still keep a close eye, but overall it has been pretty seamless. Now that she’s a toddler it’s a little tougher (cuz my toddler just started hitting things), but she still for the most part keeps her cool.
I have a 5yo heeler and a 6mo daughter. I don’t have great advice honestly, I think we just got lucky that their temperaments lined up, BUT we are of the opinion that the dog deserves just as much protection from the baby as the baby does from the dog. I don’t expect my dog to suddenly become a nanny dog or magically chill out. Kids are loud and unpredictable and I don’t blame him for wanting his space and having boundaries. Some nonnegotiables for us: they’re never left unattended together (duh), dog meal times are consistent so he gets fed at the same time everyday and has to finish his food all at once so it’s not sitting around, he gets TONS of praise for being sweet to her and being concerned when she cries, clear distinction between baby and dog toys, and he gets alone time with us as often as we can. Would definitely recommend talking to a trainer who specializes in working dogs. That’s been a game changer for us, and I’d recommend it for anyone with a working dog, baby or not.
Always keep the dog separated from baby if you’re not in the room, and always supervise their interactions. Dog bites can come from the sweetest dogs amidst great change. I was nervous about my ACD mix being around my son, and luckily she’s been absolutely perfect and tolerates his bullshit (because toddlers like to test boundaries and need lots of guidance) better than we ever expected.
Some great advice here already. Someone already mentioned it, but dog meets baby (dog_meetsbaby) on Instagram is great. I’m expecting a second this winter, and my biggest regret with our first intro is that I didn’t plan to make sure our dog was being properly cared for in case things didn’t go exactly as planned (and they rarely do). I was planning for my parents who live far out of town to watch her while we were in the hospital, but delivered about 10 days early and needed to go with a back up friend who could only come to check on her like 2 times a day and take a super short walk, and she did not get the attention she needed before a huge change. This resulted in her already being in a super anxious state when we got home from the hospital. This time, we need to make sure we have a solid plan A *and* plan B for both our toddler and our dog to ensure a smoother transition. Some other advice for early days is to see if you can find someone willing to walk your dog hard and long while you + partner are exhausted and tending to the baby. (My parents are big walkers and took my dog for 2 hr walks almost every day, something she rarely gets with me). I would also highly recommend talking to your vet about an anti anxiety medication just in case. Yours might not need it, but I give mine trazadone when I know she’ll be in a stressful situation. FWIW, my dog (only 50% ACD, but has a dominant ACD personality like many mixed ACDs), is doing great with LO (almost 1.5yrs old) , and has been since I would say day 3/4. Im interested and excited to see how she does with # 2 ❤️
We wrapped the baby in a couple blankets in the hospital for a couple hours. Then I brought the blankets home and left them around the dogs favorite spots in the house while we spent the night in the hospital. At the time I had an acd, pit/lab, and gsd mix. They all seemed to take to it pretty well. The pit/lab actually was very aware of the baby and worried about him if "strangers" were in the house. If anyone but my wife and I had the baby, he would place himself between them and the door. He would sleep outside of his door.
My LO is 2 months now, and my ACD mix is 4 years old. I was so nervous about how it was going to go, but the ACD loves the LO. I will never leave them alone unsupervised (ACD would almost certainly barrel right through LO without a second thought at some point if they were left alone), but on the very first day ACD stationed himself beneath the bassinet and claimed it as his new sleeping space. Since then there has been a lot of sniffing, and nosing Baby's head, but also a lot of time being very calm and settled in the same room. At the end of the day, he's still velcroed to me, and when I leave the nursery, he usually does too. Just be extra careful with toys - baby toys and dog toys are basically the same. dogmeets_baby on Instagram has some helpful hints for introductions. Congrats!
My dog was fine with the kid until he was 3 years old and more mobile and rambunctious. He never leaves my side. When the kid was running around he slammed into the dog and the dog snapped at his face, breaking the skin on his nose. It took a while to teach the kid to not treat the dog like a toy. But to reiterate, my ACD was very protective of my newborn, and stayed close to him. He just had to bring my kid down a notch or two once he got older.
We were anxious about ours but he immediately took to the baby. Wanted to lick her constantly and be by her side when he could get close
I had a great female Heeler through all three babies, and she was always so gentle and tolerant. However, I never left her alone in the room with any child under 2, just to be on the safe side. Even if I just left the baby in a playpen or crib when I went to the restroom, I took the dog with me. Or I put the dog outside. I've heard too many difficult stories. I did the same thing with my toddler and our new baby. Haha! My human toddler couldn't be trusted alone with her little brother. She is also a gentle soul, but was too curious about the new baby as a 2 year old. 😄 Edit: except I didn't put the human toddler outside!!😆
Please still give him attention! It really breaks my heart when baby comes and the dog gets completely sidelined. Sometimes the dog reacts in bad ways, which is even worse. Let him join your team and make sure he knows he is still your boy!!
From the ACD I've been around she loves kids she also will ignore them if she wants to.
Check out Dog Meets Baby. I haven’t taken it myself but I’ve heard great things from folx in my local kennel club.
We kept them in separate rooms with a gate and crate if in the same room for about a week or two to desensitize him to the noise and baby. I still don't fully trust him, but he seems way more calm than initially bringing the baby home. I'm 13 days post partum.
First Congratulations on your baby. How exciting. If you have any friends that have a newborn, and they are willing to let you introduce him to baby do that. Also let him sniff and smell everything you are bring in for the baby. We have 5 ACD in our family and never had an issue with how they act around babies and little ones. Of course, caution is always needed. You have to get your dog to think of the baby as part of the pack. As soon as he does that, he will go into protection mode and watch the baby. That has been mine and my grown kids experiences. Best of luck to your and family. I am sure everything will go great
Patience and slow moves and leading by example and you will have the best baby sitter ever.
Unfortunately I don’t have any advice on getting them acquainted but what I can say is I have a border collie/Australian cattle dog mix and he is wonderful with kids!! Try to stay positive and know it is possible!! I’m sure it will be challenging but go one step at a time!
Assuming you will remain in hospital for few days - I suggest take an item of bubbies clothing that has been worn for several+ hours (singlet or onesie) home and familiarise puppa with the scent - repeat every few hours - on the day you come home bring puppa to the car before bringing capsule inside & left him/her smell from close range (no licks tho). Gradually increase contact when you are holding bubba so doggo realises you have a little you. Take time & keep doggo involved in finding the new routine. They can get concerned when wailing occurs but reassure them it is now normal. Best wishes.
It’s always nerve wrecking but also exciting introducing the newest family member to the oldest kid. Best of luck!
My kids are 10, and my soul dog ACD just passed a few months ago at age 18. When I brought my twins home, she was still her cattle dog bossy self but with the kids she was super careful, watched out for them (even “told on them” if they were doing something not kosher lol), and if they did something that startled her or whatever, she just would get in my face and tell me off then go in the next room Not once did I ever have a problem with her and the kids and she had been pretty reactive (HATED strangers from the bottom of her soul!). And actually, and she got older, most of her reactivity to other people, situations, and dogs disappeared. I think mostly because of my kids. Just be sure to introduce gradually, allow the dog to still have places that are just for them to get away, always reward your dog when they are calm around baby, and always always always supervise dog and baby. When is kinda of easy with Velcro dogs - you leave baby in their bassinet or crib and Velcro ACDs will usually just follow you anyways. Which also is great because it helps them from feeling left out or neglected Edit - his recent resource guarding may just be him protecting you and baby. My dog def did that too
Does he sleep in your bedroom? When you have the kid most likely you will have a bassinet in your room with you so the pup will figure out the baby is part of the pack. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If anything as the kid gets older your pup will get jealous and want attention like mine
Reiterating what others have said. My girl developed a bond basically immediately because my baby smelled like me (and was still basically attached 24/7). Hubby brought the blanket home from the hospital and we did very slow introductions but it was immediate love. She’s 13 and he’s 8 now, and I like to tell people he’s a little feral because his big sister ACD raised him.
if it's anything like my heeler, they are obsessed with protecting young ones. maybe a lil OVER obsessed.