Hi folks, MAX's background As a new parent of my furry baby - Max, this forum had been extremely helpful to me 4 years back, when you guys advised me against the advice of a quack of a dog trainer here, who suggested me to keep Max locked in 1 room to ensure that he doesnt destroy things around in the house. I and my wife still regret listening to that advice and keeping max in a single room (at times alone) for that first 1 month. Anyway, thats the story of the past and max is now a 4.5 year old handsome boy and we have a 7 month old beautiful baby girl now . We call her Amaira. Pre-baby arrival prep Online research advised us to not make much of a big deal about the baby when we bring her home. We have done the following since our baby was born: - We started roaming around the house with a doll in our laps and played baby crying sounds on youtube. - We didnt make any big deal about the baby coming home, and luckily, neither did Max. For him, she was another thing that makes irritating noise and doesnt move around. - I started spending more time with Max so that he doesnt feel ignored. - We ensured that Max's routine doesnt change an iota bit. So his walks, food, etc. has been as before. Current situation - Max now seems a little more interested in Amaira, but we still try to keep a safe distance between them. - He is smart enough to not touch/lick her toys. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he sniffs, but doesnt go after her toys. - He is not overtly fond of her either, however, doesnt mind when she is around. Also, as he is perennially hungry, he is always around when we are feeding solids to Amaira. Query - Max tries to lick Amaira. Is that fine? isn't it unhygenic? What if he licks her hands and she sucks on those? - is it ok to let Max lick Amaira's face? - We want to leave Amaira down on play mats, but Max also comes and sits on the same play mats. Is it okay to let that happen? (ofcourse under our supervision) - Any other specific pointers to ensure that both of them grow fond of each other without imposing any risk to each other's development and health. Thanks a lot in advance!!
Hi, we were like yourselves when we began looking after our new born grandson, we even walked with an empty pram to get our lab used to it! We didn't let our girl lick the baby or his toys. We paid the dog extra attention when our grandson lay on his playmat so she felt included, we let her sniff him and praised her. The most important thing is never ever leave them alone together. We have baby gates on every door and always separated them if we couldn't supervise, even when our grandson got older. Our girl was the most gentle loving lab who never hurt a fly but er on the side of caution just in case. They grew up together and adored one another. Sadly we lost her last year when our grandson was 11, but they had many happy years together. Good luck
Cooper is almost 5 and our Granddaughter is 2-1/2. We and her parents are not too concerned about dog licks. After all like most toddlers GD has been known to eat dirt. Cooper is not a terribly licky dog anyway, but she can be a bit of a bull in a china shop. Our GD is big for her age, but still nowhere nearly as heavy a Cooper so she has been knocked down a few times. We don't worry about Cooper but do not let our GD go anywhere in the house unsupervised. At 2-1/2 she is a lot more likely to get into things.
