Never leave your baby and dog together unsupervised!
Many dogs adjust well to the arrival of a newborn. Nevertheless, preparation and precautions are essential[1]. The information below is general and should be tailored to suit the individual dog and specific circumstances.
Preparation
Preventative health care
Start by ensuring that your dog is physically and behaviourally healthy, and up to date with all their vaccinations, worming, and external parasite prevention.
Socialisation and training
It is important to ensure that your dog is well socialised, and consistently responds to requests to sit, stay, lie down, and come (recall). Socialisation involves exposing an animal to a range of experiences to help them prepare for and cope with different situations, interactions, and environments. You may wish to take your dog to reward-based training and socialisation classes.
New routines
If routines and sleeping arrangements are going to change with the arrival of a new baby, you should prepare your dog ahead of time, allowing them sufficient opportunity to learn and adjust.
Extra resources
Extra resources (e.g., quiet resting areas, toys, food, water) are important so your dog can relieve any potential stress, and access everything they need while avoiding uncomfortable situations.
Precautions
Gradual introduction
Before a face-to-face introduction, allow your dog to become familiar with the newborn’s scent (e.g., item of clothing, baby blanket), and reward them for interacting with the scent calmly. Once they are comfortable around the baby’s scent, you can proceed to a carefully supervised face-to-face introduction with your dog on a leash and under effective control.
Make sure you have taken the time to learn how to understand your dog’s behaviour and body language – it is vital to understand what your dog is trying to tell you to help you manage the situation better.
Introductions should be very gradual, in a quiet and calm environment, and the dog (on-leash) should be allowed to choose to approach if they want to or not if they do not – never force this. Observe your dog’s behaviour closely to see if you should continue with the introduction. If the dog shows signs of stress or over-excitement, end the interaction, and try again another day. Only proceed to the next step of carefully supervised time off-leash when your dog is very relaxed and calm in the presence of the baby.
Reassurance
When you first bring your baby home, try to keep your dog’s routine as consistent as possible. Provide attention, rewards, and reassurance to build positive associations and reduce the risk of stress, frustration, and anxiety.
Supervised time together
When your dog is calmly enjoying safe supervised time in the presence of your newborn, involve them both in fun activities (e.g., walks) so that your dog associates your baby with positive experiences.
Can you also please add the following at the end? Direct supervision of children and dog interactions by a responsible adult is necessary and, where not possible, dogs and children should be physically separated by a secure barrier. Where a dog is showing concerning behaviours, owners should promptly seek support from a veterinarian with expertise in dog behaviour or a suitably qualified dog behaviourist.
Keep out of reach
Small dog toys may pose choking hazards to babies, and nappies, baby toys, and other small items may pose hazards if ingested by dogs so keep them out of reach.
Good hygiene
Good hygiene (e.g., proper disposal of faecal material, handwashing, disinfecting surfaces) can minimise the risk of disease transmission, whether zoonotic (from animals to humans) and anthroponotic (from humans to animals).
Gentle handling
Make sure your children understand that they must treat all animals kindly and handle them gently. Even if your dog is very tolerant, constant poking and prodding may cause discomfort, stress, fear, and anxiety. Continuously observe for stress signals (e.g., turning away, lip licking), and give your animal sufficient rest and space.
Reference
[1] Bergman, L., & Gaskins, L. (2008). Expanding families: Preparing for and introducing dogs and cats to infants, children, and new pets. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, 38(5), 1043–1063.
