Several years ago I helped a young woman introduce her dog Sugar to her baby Lucie with great success. Only later would I learn that the woman was Meg Collins, the founder of the popular pregnancy and motherhood blog Lucie’s List.
Recently I reconnected with Meg and was honored to write an original guest post for her website. Here’s Meg’s introduction to that post.
From Lucie’s List: Preparing Your Dog for a New Baby
In 2010, we were very nervous about introducing our dog to baby Lucie. Upon bringing her home from the hospital, our loving 7-year old pit bull mix (Sugar) would pace nervously back and forth around her Pack n’ Play as our baby napped in the living room.
Feeling uneasy about this, I Googled local dog trainers, which led me to dog/baby expert and author Mike Wombacher.
Mike successfully helped us through this situation and just recently developed an e-Course version (discussed below) of his book, Good Dog Happy Baby, to help new parents prepare their dog for a new baby.
I demo’d the course for him (loved it!) and told him I would happily bring it to our audience. The course is self-paced and especially great for people who don’t have the local resources to get this type of training in-person. Full disclosure: I get a small commission if you purchase the course, but I think you’ll like it as much as I did.
We’ve had a close (adult) family member suffer a traumatic bite to the face (from a different dog) and there is nothing that can undo that scar. My own husband was bit as a toddler when getting into his dog’s food, so it’s an issue we (unfortunately) know well.
Mike’s article (linked below) is full of quick tips for dealing with the critical phases of introducing dog to baby; it will also help you assess whether or not your dog is a candidate for the full course. Enjoy!
And I’m also happy to report that Sugar is now 14.5 years old and continues to be a beloved member of our now-larger family. We are indebted to Mike for helping us through that transition.
You can read the rest of the post on Lucie’s List here: https://www.lucieslist.com/lucies-list-blog/2017/03/24/preparing-dog-babys-arrival/
