The impending arrival of a baby can bring great joy and anticipation. However, for some dog owners there may also be an added sense of trepidation about how their dog will react towards the new family member.
Rest assured, dogs are excellent when it comes to adapting to new situations, if they are given the time. So, to help things run smoothly, preparations need to begin many months before the baby actually arrives. After making sure that your dog is receiving qualified veterinary treatment for any long-standing ailments, and is fully vaccinated and up to date with worming and flea treatment, you need to consider the changes that will take place when the baby arrives. You can prepare your dog for some of these changes by putting new furniture, such as cots and high chairs in place, and fitting baby gates to keep him out of ‘no go’ areas. If your dog has any behavioural issues, such as pulling on the lead or not coming back when called, then these should be addressed immediately before the baby arrives. It is important to begin to develop a strong positive association in your dog towards baby noises, using a specially created audio CD. You can also ask friends or relatives for any worn items of baby clothing, and leave them around your house, to allow your dog to get used to the smell of a baby. Finally, it is useful to begin carrying a baby doll around the house, acting out all the things that would be done with a real baby. This allows your dog to get used to seeing you undertake baby-related activities, and gives you an opportunity to reward him for appropriate behaviour. By the time your baby arrives, your dog will already know what is expected of him and you will feel much more comfortable with the situation.© After nearly two decades of working with dogs, we are still as passionate as ever about ensuring that the public and their dogs are given the best possible chance to maintain a happy and healthy relationship together. However, some common old-fashioned myths surrounding dogs not only make this challenging to achieve, but actually compromise dog welfare.
One such myth is that of the dog attempting to be ‘pack leader’ or trying to ‘dominate’ their owner. We have lost count of the number of genuinely caring and intelligent dog owners we have come across who innocently believe that their dog is challenging them to be ‘top dog’ or ‘alpha’, after hearing some seemingly credible dog person spouting this fiction as though it were fact. The reality of this falsehood is that people are advised to ‘out-dominate’ their dog and bend him to their will using feats such as rolling the dog onto his back, staring him down, and eating before him. This is such a sad, unsatisfying, and stressful situation for all involved. Worse still, some of the confrontational techniques employed actually increase the likelihood that the dog will display aggression - not as a ‘challenge’ towards their owner, but because of the pain and fear that these techniques create. So where did this myth come from? Well, many decades ago, studies were undertaken with wolves kept in captivity, which highlighted a 'linear hierarchy', fights for rank, resources, etc. By virtue of wolves and dogs being related, the assumption was made that their behaviour would be identical. Besides this incorrect assumption, the studies did not even offer a true reflection of wolf behaviour because they were based on unrelated wolves living in an environment so unnatural that it caused them to behave unnaturally and be in constant competition with each other. True wolf behaviour has been seen in more recent studies looking at wolves in the wild. These show that the packs actually consist of related family units who rely on unity and cooperation, not conflict. The parents are the leaders, gently raising their offspring with no need to fight, or defend, the imaginary ‘alpha status’. © |