Preparing Your Pets for a New Baby
In episode 5 of Up All Night, we cover a few ways in which you can prepare your pets, especially your dogs, for the arrival of a new baby. In this blog post, we're going to cover what we discussed in the episode along with some links to products mentioned. And remember - if you can, it's best to start all these things before your baby comes!
Know signs of stress or arousal in your pets
If you've owned your pets for a while, you're probably aware of what behaviors they display when they're stressed. For both dogs and cats, when confronted with something stressful they may try to avoid it by physically removing themselves. They may also pin their ears back and turn their heads away. For cats, a more extreme sign of stress would be hissing, biting or hitting. For dogs, there may be some less obvious signs such as yawning (fun fact: dogs never yawn because they're tired), shaking, panting, pacing, tail tucked between their legs (even if it's wagging) or displaying whale-eye (pictured below with Sawyer). Dogs and cats also share some signs of arousal, like tails up, forward-facing ears and 'hard'/intense stares; Arousal isn't always necessarily bad, but if you have a new, tiny baby and a high prey-drive dog that gets aroused by the baby moving, that may not be a great sign. If a dog is forced into a stressful situation, such as a new screaming baby they're forced to share space with, that can raise their cortisol (stress) levels; In a chronic stress situation, it can take 24 hours to up to 6 days for the dog to process that cortisol and get out of that state of stress and arousal. Below we'll talk about more ways to help your dog with that stress.
Get vet appointments out of the way and get/schedule deliveries for your pet supplies
Even the most friendly and sweet pets can show aggression if they're in pain or have an underlying health condition. If you're able, try to get your pet's annual vet visit out of the way before your baby comes. If your pet is on any medication, ask your vet for extra prescriptions or a few months worth of medication so you don't have to think about refills while you're learning to take care of a new baby. In the same vein, set up automatic deliveries for your pet's food or supplies - your future self will thank you! And if you have a pet who gets easily stressed or your baby is home and your pet is having a hard time adjusting, talk to your veterinarian. There are some supplements you can get without a prescription. For example, Purina makes Calming Care powder supplements you can sprinkle on your pet's food daily (keep in mind, many supplements take a month to show an effect). There's also a supplement called Calm & Confident by Vetriscience, or Proiable DC which contains Lactobacillus bacteria that has been proven to lower anxiety in dogs. Some dogs who have severe anxiety may need chronic medication prescribed by a vet such as Fluoxetine (Prozac) which is long-term and long-lasting, or more short term medications like Gabapentin or Trazadone.
Make sure your pets (especially dogs) are up to date on their commands
Your dogs probably already know basic commands, such as sit, down and stay. There are some other less common commands you may want to teach your pet before your baby comes. One of these commands is Place/Go to Bed, which is as easy as setting up a station for your pet (most commonly a mat or bed) where they know they to go to and stay there until you release them. It's best to pair that command with something positive, of course (like a treat or chew). Another is Wait, which is handy for when you (or the baby) drops something the dog wants but should not have. To teach this command, drop a treat and say "wait" and prevent your dog from immediately grabbing it. When they stop and look at you, say 'yes' or 'good' (whatever bridge you're using to signify they did the behavior you wanted) and then you grab the treat and give it to them, rather than letting them rush the treat.
Prepare enrichment for them for when you don't have time or energy for playing or walking
This one is fun, especially because you can crowd-source! If you haven't had your baby shower yet, a great idea is to have a "Kong raffle" or something similar, where guests bring dog toys that can be stuffed with food and frozen for later. You can even have a Kong-stuffing contest at your shower! But toys like Kongs or lick mats are great rewards for your dogs (or even motivated cats!) when training or when you need space from your pets when your baby comes. Kongs are a classic we're probably all familiar with at this point, but there are other great alternatives such as West Paw Toppls which are good for a dog's teeth and may be better for less capable or motivated pups. Pupsicles are also great for freezing treats in and their company has a lot of great options for making fun frozen treats. For dogs that love licking, we love the Kong Licks mat that has suction cups for a wall or for hanging in a crate. Otherwise, just simply putting your dog's meals in a slow-feeder toy or puzzle are great ways to mentally and physically tire them out. You do need to balance not just giving them high-calorie food each day, like frozen pumpkin, peanut butter or yogurt, so get creative! After a baby shower or as you nest for new baby, you're probably going to have a lot of boxes and tissue paper you need to get rid of - consider saving some for your dog that may enjoy tearing it up! You can even give them a simple head of lettuce to tear up since it's edible but low calorie. For cats, as a non-food option, consider giving them different textures to roll in, like putting some cut grass or dirt in a box.
Set up baby equipment before baby comes and introduce your pets to a fake baby
This one may feel silly when you do it, but it's a great way to ease your pets into being around a newborn for the first time - start carrying around a fake baby that you play baby noises from. We use a stuffed animal in a onesie that we carry in our arms playing baby noises from (there are plenty of baby crying videos on Youtube for example, just start quiet and work your way up to louder cries) while speaking to the stuffed animal as if it's a real baby, and we put the fake baby (while fake crying) into the equipment our real baby will be using, such as the bassinet or car seat. While you do this, make it a very positive expereince for your pets. For example, scatter treats on the ground or give them a frozen Kong or a long-lasting chew as you pace around with the fake baby. Practice coming in an out of the house with the car seat and discourage your dogs from rushing it. If you plan on walking your dogs with the stroller, practice that before baby comes too! You want to set up the equipment and just ignore it until your dog ignores it too. The goal here is that we want to keep things positive, do short bursts so it's not a chronic stress situation, and hopefully by the time baby comes, the crying and baby equipment will all be neutral to your pets. If you have a generally fearful pet, you may need to desensitize them to these new things and sounds, which a professional trainer can always help with.
Create pet zones and baby zones
Alright, we know this one is easier said than done. Depending on your living situation, this coud be especially tricky. Ideally, where your baby sleeps is a baby zone, no pets allowed. And yes, this means if your pets normally sleep in your room but your baby is going to sleep in your room, you should start transitioning your pets out of sleeping in your room before the baby comes. The point here is, if you are asleep in the same room as the sleeping baby, you cannot actively supervise your pets, and that's when accidents can happen. Not to mention, when you come home with a new baby, you may not want the added stress of your pets making noise in your room at night. Further, your pets may not want to be locked in a room all night with a crying baby! Set you, your baby and your pets up for success by giving everyone a safe, quiet space apart. Dog zones (I'll touch on cat zones in a moment) should be really positive places for your dog where they're fed and where they sleep, and the transition should be gradual. Start by baby-gating off dog zones and only closing them in for a few minutes at a time with something rewarding (like a frozen treat or long-lasting chew), and practice having time apart. This can also be a great way for you or guests to have intentional time with your dogs where the dogs can be the sole focus. Cat zones can be more difficult, because many traditional baby gates they can just hop over. There are floor-to-ceiling baby gates, but they are expensive and cumbersome, so using traditional doors and rooms as cat versus baby zones may be easiest. If you for some reason cannot keep your dogs out of your room or away from you because it causes them too much stress, consider using crates or a 4-foot tether attached to certain spots on walls in your home (think like putting an eye hook behind a dog bed and attaching them to a tether to that), that way they're still separate from you and don't have free reign of the room.
Plan for who is going to watch your pets when you go into labor
Whether labor spontaneously happens to you or you schedule an induction or C-section, you're going to need someone to watch your pets, especially because you can't really know how long you'll be away. If your pets do best at home, great! Find someone to stay over (that can come over on relatively short notice) and have instructions written clearly ahead of time (I personally labelled all the pets food ahead of time and made their medications easily accessible). Don't forget to leave their vet's information as well. Otherwise, you could have your pets stay over someone else's house or board them. And have a plan for what it looks like when you get back home and how you reunite with your pets!
Have a structured introduction between your newborn and your pets
When we know better we do better - we are not letting our pets, ESPECIALLY dogs, rush up to our newborn as soon as we bring them home. If your pets have never seen a newborn human before, they may not fully understand that your baby IS a person. And that's ok! That's why we did so much prep above - we got our pets used to baby sounds, used to the equipment, and we can allow our pets to sniff the baby's belongings. But give yourself and your pets time apart to adjust when you get home. When you do eventually feel you and your pets are ready to take that next step, do it with as much control and positivity as possible. If you can, have another adult around that can control your pet, especially a dog, and give them treats or praise after sniffing part of the baby. Keep the initial interactions short and positive. But we're not letting our dogs do whatever they want around our new baby as soon as they want. If you find that your dog is struggling with the loud baby crying when you get home, you can still work on desensitization by playing fake noises paired with rewards while keeping the baby apart from your pets. Playing white noise can also help cut out the higher pitched sounds of baby cries (and your baby might appreciate the white noise too!)
Listen, we know having to research pregnancy, labor, birth, and newborn care is a lot, on top of needing to know what the heck to do with your pets and baby. Hopefully with this information and some time to prep, you'll thank yourself once you're postpartum for having done this work. If you're reading this, that's half the battle and you're doing great! Remember, we're all new here and doing our best. Have some patience with your newborn, your pets and yourself. You've got this.
Comments