Preparing your pet to meet your new baby – Top Tips from Odd Hog

Preparing your pet to meet your new baby – Top Tips from Odd Hog

I will always remember the day we brought Leo home as a newborn. Our life as we knew it was over and this was also the case for our lovely cat, Blue. No longer would he have all our attention and love, he was always our fur baby but we now we had an actual human being to look after too. Blue was always pretty indifferent towards Leo, their first meeting consisted of a quick sniff from the cat, Leo’s newborn baby smell obviously melted Blue’s heart too because we never had any problems. However, not all pets take to a new member of the family so easily. For anyone who is worried about introducing their beloved pet to their newborn baby, lovely Kim who blogs over at Odd Hogg has some great tips on how to prepare your pet for the family’s new addition. Over to you Kim..

Top tips for preparing your pet to meet your new baby.

For many of us our pet is our first baby. He/She has had your undivided attention for probably a few years. They may be used to having the run of the house, cuddles on the sofa and probably know exactly how to get your attention. A new baby not only changes your life but also really affects your pet.

When we were expecting Piglet I was a little worried about how our dog Rodney would react. We took a number of precautions and in the end it turned out we had nothing to worry about.

Here are my top tips for preparing a pet to meet your baby:

  1. Start early. If you’re going to make any major changes you should do it as soon as you find out you are pregnant. In our case, we stopped letting Rodney on to the sofa. This way your pet will not associate the disruption to their routine with a small screaming “thing” that’s just come into their house.
  2. Create a safe haven. Rodney had originally been crate trained, but he had come out of it before Piglet was on the scene. We reintroduced the crate while I was pregnant and I’m so glad we did. It is somewhere Rodney is able to go away from the noise and inevitable visitors and get some down time. As we changed the rules around the sofa Rodney now opts to sit in the other room in his crate (with the door open) of an evening rather than sit in the living room with us. He has not been pushed out – it is purely his choice.
  3. Introduce new objects before the baby arrives. Around a month before I was due to have Piglet we set up his moses basket in the living room. The purpose was to stop it being too much change all at once. Rodney was accustomed to the moses so when Piglet arrived and was placed in it the novelty had already worn off.
  4. Make care arrangements. Labour is not often a quick process, so arrangements will need to be made to make sure your pet is looked after. Its not easy when you don’t know when you’ll go into labour but most people will be willing to be flexible if they’re helping you out. I also had some lovely friends help out with walking Rodney once I was home with Piglet to make my life a little easier and make sure his routine wasn’t disturbed.
  5. Smell before meeting. We took a muslin that Piglet had been lying on home for Rodney to sniff before Piglet came home from the hospital. It is a bit like humans putting a face to a name, once Piglet was in the door he was able to recognise the smell. If you’re on the ball you can also give treats as they sniff the object, meaning they will associate that scent with good things.
  6. Control the introduction. Do not let your pet get too close to the baby. You should maintain a distance between them so that they learn to respect a boundary around the baby. Be sure not to discourage curiosity though, its ok for them to want to know whats going on. It should just be carried out in a calm and controlled manner.
  7. Don’t forget your pet. In the excitement of a new baby and lots of visitors its easy for them to get lost in the scuffle. We made sure Rodney was receiving lots of praise and extra things to keep him entertained. To avoid over excitement we opted to keep him separated from most of the visitors, only bringing him through to see those we knew he loved.
  8. Enjoy it. A bond between a child and their pet can be incredibly strong. With guidance and supervision they can be great friends.

Note: No matter how placid you believe your pet to be it is not advised to leave them unattended with a baby or child. Children are unpredictable and can easily frighten a pet, resulting in injury. Always err on the side of caution.

Thank you for all your excellent tips Kim! It sounds like Rodney was well prepared for piglet’s arrival and I am so glad everything went smoothly. If you have a baby on the way and also have a fur baby, I hope Kim’s post has been a very useful read for you. If you want to read more from Kim, you can check out all her posts on pregnancy, babies and family life over on her fabulous blog Odd Hogg.

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You can follow Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

How did you introduce your pet to your baby? Did all go well or was your pet not impressed by the new arrival? Has Kim’s post helped put your mind at ease if you are a pet owner with a baby on the way? I’d love to know your thoughts.

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11 Comments

  1. Colleyswobbles
    August 24, 2016 / 7:43 am

    I don’t have any pets but I imagine it’s a worrying time when introducing a new bundle into the world and if they’re going to get along. Most of the time they’re the best of friends and it’s so lovely for them to grow together. Great tips.#bloggerclubuk

  2. August 24, 2016 / 7:51 am

    Some of these things I would have never thought of! You sometime don’t think of animals as little people and it is so important for them and your new family. Great tips and thanks for sharing with #bestandworst
    Sarah Howe recently posted…Best and Worst Week #63My Profile

  3. August 25, 2016 / 10:54 pm

    Great tips. We have a Labrador and I remember bringing Max home dressed in a fluffy onesie that had ears and everything, obviously he thought he was a teddy bear and wanted to play with him. Once he realised he definitely wasn’t a teddy bear he left him alone, by the time we brought Evie home he didn’t even bat an eyelid! x #BloggerClubUK
    Emma Plus Three recently posted…Going Organic with Green People Plus GiveawayMy Profile

  4. March 28, 2018 / 9:51 pm

    These are great tips! I especially like the tip to have the dog smell some of the babies belongings and give him a treat to associate that the baby is good. I think dogs naturally want to take care of babies as well, I’ve seen where babies cry and the dogs let the owners know.

  5. October 10, 2018 / 11:15 am

    Great post. I do love my pet so much I can’t wait to see of first meeting between my baby & pet. Just cutey lovely article. keep blogging.

  6. October 13, 2018 / 11:58 am

    Wonderful article to read. I have cute puppy & I have been blessed with a baby also it will be very helpful about their first meeting. love this article. Keep it up.

  7. November 4, 2018 / 2:25 am

    Our jack is very dominant and we keep him outside but from when he gets up till he goes to sleep he will yelp and whine and yap until he gets a walk. Anyone know what to do? And he isn’t in any sort of pain. He was doing something he wasn’t Ment to be doing so I put him on his side in a submissive position and made him stay there but my nan comes out and I get a yelling at for doing it. I have also tried to tell my nan don’t walk him until he is quiet but she won’t listen she thinks just because she has the lead that he thinks she is the boss but I tell her because she lets him walk in front of her he is the boss and I tell her that is one of the problems but she thinks it’s stupid and tells me to be quiet

  8. January 2, 2019 / 2:12 am

    We just took home our first born and was wondering how to introduce him to our dogs. Thanks for sharing this article. We found it helpful.