With BB#1 this was my biggest concern! I knew that our dogs would be great with a new addition because they have always done well with children, but I had other problems with it! Any new mommy is probably going to have the same thoughts that I did, so I am going to go through them and give our solutions.
- Dog hair: Depending on the color hair your dog has, don’t buy things that will make the hair stand out. (Our dogs are brown and it really shows on black clothing so we never put him in it!)
- Furniture: We’ve never allowed the dogs to be on any furniture. This was a lot of work to train them but it is a huge help! This also helped our dogs to realize that they aren’t on the same level as our child! (Don’t get me wrong; we love our dogs, but THEY ARE NOT HUMAN!)
- Baby Talk: When we found out we were pregnant; we stopped the “baby talk” to our pets! If you talk like this to your child and/or pets, things will get very confusing and frustrating for everyone. The sooner you put a stop to it the sooner your dogs will adjust.
- Vacuum: My last and biggest piece of advice now that our son is 11 months old is to sweep everyday. We don’t keep our dogs out of rooms just because our son is in there; we want them to be together. So I do a quick sweep of the house every morning. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it really helps keep the hair off baby and all his things! I never worry that where he is crawling is dirty or covered with dog hair!
All in all, it really wasn’t a huge transition for our pets or us. I stressed way too much over something that had very simple fixes. I hope that these can be useful and helpful tips for your family!
-Kayla
Perfectly Imperfect Parenting 