Lab vs. Baby

[Mike Walerak]

In less than a month We will have a new baby in the house with us and I am concerned how my yellow lab will act towards it. Everyone has told me that she will either be very jealous or very protective.

So I am asking how others have delt with this situation. What are some of the problems you guys have had? I would really hate to make her an outside dog dog because she really is like a child to us.

mw

[Northland Sportsman]

We went thru this about a year ago. Our GWP was our only child until then. We just had to watch how things went. She was a little confused by the new addition at first, but has really gotten used to him and doesn't seem bothered at all. She was a bit jealous too but that seems to have dropped off. She would growl a little bit and go the other way when our young one approached or touched her, but never nipped or acted agressive which wouold have concerned me a lot. Now she is fine. Babies are not very mobile at first so a slow introduction when they are youg seemed to work the best for us. Good luck and just keep an eye on them until you feel comfortable.

[Jill]

I have a 9 month old and I too was initially worried about how the yellow lab would do with the baby. While I was in the hospital, my husband took home one of the baby's blankets he had been swaddled in. He put the blanket in the dog's kennel so he could become accustomed to the baby's scent. The day we brought the baby home, we brought the dog in the house and let him come up to us and sniff, etc. From that point on our dog pretty much ignored him. When the baby cried, the dog seemed sad too! Overall I agree with the previous poster that the dog seemed confused at first about the new addition. Now that our son is crawling, he will go up to the dog and grab him which tends to startle the dog, but I think they are getting used to each other. Whenever you have the dog and the baby together though it is important to keep an eye on them.

Congratulations on your upcoming addition!

[Reef Runner]

We also have just had a baby, she is 9 weeks today, and have a 3 year old yellow lab. We worried about the same thing. We have tried to make sure we give Jack, the lab, attention when we are holding her. Also we try to let him lay next to her on the floor, give a few licks to her head, and play with him by himself when we can.

Good Luck,

Shannon (Bell) Norman

[Big D 1]

10 years ago I had a Chessie (which, if you didn't know, chessies are notoriously one person dogs) Did the baby blanket gig, worked like a charm...son came home, and the Chessie didn't even know he never was there.....

ref: protective...nobody, and I MEAN NOBODY messed with my "chessie's babies"....my dog had one guy by the...ummm...gonads...when my dog thought he was gonna hurt my son....

i would do the baby blanket gig, but don't forget "special attention" for the dog too when the baby comes home

[Hossienda]

My lab was 9 months old when we brought our first baby home. She really did not pay that much attention to the baby at first and gradually started going up and sniffing him. The baby is 18 months now and walks all over the place with our lab right beside him most of the time. She is very protective of him, even to the point of laying outside his bedroom door while our son is taking a nap. She loves to lick his face and doesn't mind being used as a stool and such. It really is amazing how they have grown to be almost inseparable.

-Hossienda

[Sutty]

We have a 12 year old Lab and just had our second baby. One thing to remember is when your child gets to the toddler stage and falls over a lot you need to be real close.

When our first daughter started to walk she fell on and startled the dog. She (the dog) reflexively snapped and barked at our daughter (it was a close one she didn't bite her)Our dog loves the kids and is real good with them. Now they can fall over on her and the dog can keep sleeping but when she was just getting used to them being mobile it was another break in period.

[Stratosman]

Funny story here.... I have two labs, a black and a yellow, well last spring before we had our first child my mother in law was kinda concerned about the same thing. Now I know my dogs very very well and neither one of them has ever even shown aggression towards another human, one is a little more hyper however. Anyway, this was the one she was concerned with, so, she has this bright idea to buy a doll that looks like a baby and show it to my dogs...I just smiled when I heard this because I predicted the outcome knowing my dogs. Sure enough the black dog jumps up and grabs the doll from her and proceeds to shake it and play with it like a toy (which it was)... well, this didn't help mom in law with the idea of two dogs sharing a house with baby. Well, they were both absolutly fine with our daughter and showed zero signs of jealousy and now one year later our little one will walk up to them and give them kisses and pet them on the head.

Just knowing the personality of my dogs made that whole doll incedent extremely funny. But each dog is different and precaution is never a bad idea.

[Mike Walerak]

All good advice!

Now, if I could figure out how to mount that car seat to a seat pedistal in my boat!

mw