Pet Appeal

Preparing Furry Friends for the New Baby By Heather Larson

When Denick Herrin of Wayne, Pa., was expecting her first child, she made sure her Alaskan Malamute was accustomed to having hands in his food dish while he was eating. "We also had this rule that any baby toys that sounded like dog toys were put away or given away," says Herrin.

The arrival of a baby brings a deluge of new scents and sounds into your home, all of which are unfamiliar to your pet. If you don’t start preparing your pet early, your dog or cat may be bewildered when this crying, squirming and strange-smelling being takes up all your time. Then your pet may find unpleasant ways to capture your attention.

Make Gradual Changes
Gradual changes to both dogs’ and cats’ routines will make the transition easier, but this is paramount if you have a cat, says Nancy Peterson, an issue specialist for companion animals with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Abrupt changes seem to upset cats more.

Peterson suggests you delegate cat care to another family member. Someone else should be feeding her and scooping the litter box while you're pregnant. When the cat sees this other person is fulfilling her needs, she won’t feel so abandoned when you bring the baby home.

Keep the nursery off limits to the cat. Putting a screen door on the baby’s room keeps pets out while still allowing you to hear the baby, says Julia Brannan, a resident in veterinary behavior at the Washington State University Veterinarian Teaching Hospital in Pullman, Wash.

Start early with changes in your dog’s routines, too, says Michelle Barlak, public relations coordinator for the American Kennel Club in New York. If you need to change where the dog sleeps, when he gets his exercise or any other aspect of his daily life, do it early in your pregnancy so he won’t associate those changes with the new baby.

Obedience Training
If your dog doesn’t have a firm grasp of the "sit", "stay" and "leave it" commands, now is the time to freshen up his obedience skills. A dog must be able to sit and stay on command when a new baby is expected.

If the dog jumps up on people, if he is overprotective of his food, toys or even family members, or if he is aggressive with people or dogs, you’ll want to hire a dog behaviorist to eliminate those behaviors.

"This is the time to establish boundaries with the dog," says David Reinecker, a dog behaviorist in Los Angeles, Calif. "In the cases where I’ve been hired to change the dog’s behavior, very rarely has the dog had to be removed from the home."

Reinecker suggests preparing your pet by doing the following:

• Apply baby powder or lotion to a baby blanket and hold the blanket as though it’s wrapped around a baby and carry it around the house. Set the blanket down and let the dog sniff it and get familiar with baby scents.
• Practice talking to an imaginary baby while keeping your dog in a "down-stay" position in another room.
• Get rid of dog toys that might resemble a baby, such as dolls and stuffed animals. Don’t take any chances your dog might think your baby is a toy.
• Take your dog to the park and introduce him to small children.

Besides acting and smelling different to your pet, babies make strange noises. To get your pet used to the odd and unusual baby noises, play an audiotape of a baby crying or a CD of baby sounds. Both Peterson and Brannan suggest a CD titled Preparing Fido. Besides crying, the CD plays babies breathing, grunting, squeaking, cooing, babbling, laughing and more. Whether you play the sounds for dogs or cats, start playing the CD at a very low level and then gradually increase the volume.

When Baby Arrives
When Jennifer Renfrow, who lives in Heidelberg, Germany, delivered her first child, she had her husband take home one of the blankets the baby slept on for their dogs to smell. "As soon as I walked in the door with the baby, I knelt on the floor to introduce the baby to the dogs at their level," says Renfrow. Her dogs were always very gentle with her children.

When Monique Fields of St. Petersburg, Fla., brought her baby home, her husband played with the dogs while she brought the baby into the house. Then they introduced the baby to the dogs who had been hearing the word "baby" for months. Whenever they got near Fields’ belly, she would say "Watch the baby" or "Easy with the baby." Now the dogs don’t bother the baby or her belongings. If a pacifier falls to the floor the dogs don’t even bother to sniff or lick it.

After the baby comes keep the pet’s routine as consistent as possible. Be sure you provide the dog with a private place where he can retreat, such as a crate. Cats seem to be able to get away easily enough on their own. But be sure to give your pet some personal attention to ease the transition for him and prevent jealousy.

No matter how well you prepare your dog or cat for the new baby, never, ever leave them alone together. It only takes a second for something unforeseen to happen.

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