I have two dogs, a 22 pound, 4 year old female American Eskimo named Princess, and a 44 pound female 2 year old Shephard/Beagle mix named Tara. I'm due to have a baby at the end of January. I also have a teenaged son.
Princess was abused as a puppy, is very timid with people she doesn't know, and often thinks she's in trouble when she's not. An example is, one of my neighbors had a new baby a couple months ago, and whenever we heard the baby crying, Princess would have her ears back and tail wagging, her body sign language for when she usually did something bad, like pee on the floor or sneak some food off the table. She's a true Mama's girl. I suspect she will have a hard time when I'm in the hospital for a coule days- I've only left her twice before, for two or three days, both time with my FIL, who she adores, and she regressed to not being houstrained and refusing to eat until I came back. It suspect it's possible she might have jealousy issues with the baby, but that she will also be terrified of the baby, especially when the baby makes any noise.
Tara is a really laid-back dog, nothing bothers her, she loves everybody she meets, especially children. She's recently met several babies and toddlers in my apartment building, and loves them all, will actually "guard" them, for example, if they start to wobble too close to the stairs, things like that. ("Guard" them, as in physically stand between them and the stairs, not in any aggressive way.) She has, however, become protective of me towards other dogs in the area (not my other dog) recently, since I got pregnant, (I've been very sick and week most the time), beginning with making sure she's standing in between me and any dog other dog she sees on our walk, to recently beginning to bark at other dogs she thinks gets too close, and in one case, she actually growled and snapped at another dog (never seen her do this before, to any humans or other animals) because the other dogs was a yappy little thing that started barking and growling at me.
Princes listens 99% of the time and has an extremely submissive personality when it comes to humans. Tara listens 95% of the time and is submissive to humans, but is also easily distracted- we joke that she has doggy ADD. It's a very accurate description.
Now, when the baby comes, how should I go about them "meeting" the baby (obviously I'm not gonna let them too close or unsupervised!) and, given the descriptions I've given of them, what especially do you think I should look out for as far as possible problems or dangers?
Princess was abused as a puppy, is very timid with people she doesn't know, and often thinks she's in trouble when she's not. An example is, one of my neighbors had a new baby a couple months ago, and whenever we heard the baby crying, Princess would have her ears back and tail wagging, her body sign language for when she usually did something bad, like pee on the floor or sneak some food off the table. She's a true Mama's girl. I suspect she will have a hard time when I'm in the hospital for a coule days- I've only left her twice before, for two or three days, both time with my FIL, who she adores, and she regressed to not being houstrained and refusing to eat until I came back. It suspect it's possible she might have jealousy issues with the baby, but that she will also be terrified of the baby, especially when the baby makes any noise.
Tara is a really laid-back dog, nothing bothers her, she loves everybody she meets, especially children. She's recently met several babies and toddlers in my apartment building, and loves them all, will actually "guard" them, for example, if they start to wobble too close to the stairs, things like that. ("Guard" them, as in physically stand between them and the stairs, not in any aggressive way.) She has, however, become protective of me towards other dogs in the area (not my other dog) recently, since I got pregnant, (I've been very sick and week most the time), beginning with making sure she's standing in between me and any dog other dog she sees on our walk, to recently beginning to bark at other dogs she thinks gets too close, and in one case, she actually growled and snapped at another dog (never seen her do this before, to any humans or other animals) because the other dogs was a yappy little thing that started barking and growling at me.
Princes listens 99% of the time and has an extremely submissive personality when it comes to humans. Tara listens 95% of the time and is submissive to humans, but is also easily distracted- we joke that she has doggy ADD. It's a very accurate description.
Now, when the baby comes, how should I go about them "meeting" the baby (obviously I'm not gonna let them too close or unsupervised!) and, given the descriptions I've given of them, what especially do you think I should look out for as far as possible problems or dangers?
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