Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dogs and Babies


We have two yellow labs named Lotte and Ruby (shown with Santa there to the left; note that Lotte--the one on the right--seems less than excited about the chokehold St. Nick has applied). One of the big questions we've had is how our little girl will react to them, since it's likely that she's never encountered dogs before. We're not terribly worried about them; as a breed labs are known for being wonderful with children, and every time we've had kids over to visit things have gone very well. But we want to make sure that the first meetings between baby and doggies go smoothly. Does anyone out there have suggestions about how to introduce Stanzi to Lotte and Ruby (and vice versa)?

3 comments:

  1. Everything will turn out fine!

    I am also preparing the first encounter of my baby girl with my labrador dog. What I am going to do: I'll let the dog get used to the girl's smell before he meets her, and won't change my behaviour towards him or freak out everytime he approaches the baby, as it could make him jealous.

    As for the encounter, I'd try to find a very calm moment to let them meet, so that the dog doesn't get too excited about the new little person he has to live with, and scares her!

    I hope some others have experience and good ideas about this, as I am worried too.

    Good luck, and Merry Christmas! 2009 is going to be a very very good year.

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  2. We did much the same as above. But we also gave the dogs a piece of baby's clothing so they could get a really good long sniff. They later smelled babies feet while we held him. If you are taking a baby picture book with you to China, you might consider including a pic of the dogs interacting with you. Our son loved his soft baby album with pictures of the family, and the dogs. Best wishes and congratulations. She's so sweet!

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  3. Congrats!!! I just happened across your blog from RQ, and saw your doggie question. We brought our daughter home in December 06 to two large boys, as well as two cats. It was smooth sailing. We did a couple of things. First, we had Lili's room set up for months before, and they were allowed in and out of it at will. We brought a small stuffed dog to China, and she played with her doggie all the time. We always spoke of them to her, and even wore dog pajamas, which she giggled at. But I think the best tip was one we read online somewhere. They suggested that when we returned from that long trip to China, that we go inside alone and greet our dogs. We stayed inside for at least 10 minutes until they calmed down, while a friend held Lili outside. It worked like a charm! By the time she met them, they were fairly calm, so noone was overwhelmed. Good Luck!!!!!

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