Getting the family dog ready for baby

My cousin recently announced his wife's pregnancy. One thing seemed to be on everyone's mind after the good news settled in: The couple have 2 extremely spoiled beagle dogs. They are allowed inside, they have specially cooked meals of a night, they sleep in the couple's bedroom and basically, as my cousin put it jokingly, looked after better than he was!

Some tips for getting your dog/s used to baby:

• BEFORE the baby arrives, decide if you will let the dog inside or not. If you decide to let the dog stay indoors, make sure the dog knows the baby's sleeping room (whether it be yours or baby's own) is forbidden before bub arrives.
• If you decide to keep the dog permanently outside, make this transition a long time before the baby comes, otherwise the dog may resent the baby.
• Give a baby blanket (thats been wrapped around your bub) to your dog to get him used to the baby's scent.
• This tip is pretty obvious: NEVER leave a dog and baby alone together. Not even for a few seconds. There have been a few news stories recently of babies and kids being hurt (and worse) by dogs left alone with them.
• Give your dog attention. Take your dog for walks when you take the baby out for a walk in the pram. While baby is sleeping, even though you probably have a million other things to do, try and have a few minutes of play with your dog. They will appreciate it!
• Once you are home from hospital, let the dog look at and smell the baby while in your arms and well out of reach (but if you have a crazy jumpy dog, maybe not such a great idea! Let him sniff through a screen door or something similar).

Here are some other things to remember when you have a dog and a baby is arriving:

• Keep worming up to date, as well as flea treatments and immunisations.
• Keep your dog as clean as possible. If  you can afford it, get a mobile dog bath over once a fortnight.
• If your dog has previously been allowed free run of the house, and is now outside, realise that boredom could set in and could result in naughty habits. My own labrador thought is was a top idea to yank clothing off the line and drag it around the yard! If your dog starts a naughty habit such as mine, try out different toys. Kongs are great boredom busters. My husband and I also put treats in a used plastic bottle with the lid left off and this seems to keep him interested trying to get the treats out.
• Keep the baby's toys well away from the dog, make sure he knows the baby's toys from his own.
• If the dog is allowed inside, practise good hygiene (vacuum and mop floors regulary, disinfect dog's belongings)
• The dog should eat outside or bowls should be out of reach of baby especially once crawling.

I hope some of these tips help the dog owners out there who are about to have a child!