We have a year old lab molly and we're expecting a baby in 4 months. Molly for the most time is a good dog. Just very exciteable around the cat or when giests arrive in the house. Jumping up and pushing generally to excited. Its pandemonium for 10 minutes and we're getting worried about adding a new born to thw mix. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Hi there, Do try not to worry With four months to go you have given yourself a nice amount of time to get off on the right foot with some calming training, and to work out some sensible systems to keep Molly and the baby temporarily separate during those high excitement periods of time. You can get extra tall baby gates which even adult Labs can't jump which might be helpful. Crate training for temporary separation is another option too. Here are a few articles which might be helpful for you to read: Teach Your Labrador To Relax No More Jumping Up Introducing Your Labrador To The New Baby Baby Gates And Puppy Barriers Congratulations on your impending arrival. I am sure that Molly and the baby will be great friends in years to come.
Welcome from Hattie 8 years and rescue boy Charlie 5 years. Congratulations how exciting There are a few new forum Mums who I am sure will give you some advice on how they managed their young Labradors with a new born. Good luck! Helen x
Hi and welcome! We have a 10month old chocolate lab called Ella and a seven week old son so I completely understand what you're going through! Obviously all situations are different but we have found Ella to be fantastic with our son and so much more gentle with him than with us! Ella is our first dog so we have no experience with this kind of thing but we just tried to allow Ella to be a part of everything. We watched over her but never told her off or stopped her going near the baby. Good luck for your upcoming arrival, I'm sure everything will go well for you
Hello and welcome from me and my two dogs You will have some chaotic busy times ahead, but you can work through them , the links given are very helpful indeed, good luck
Hi and welcome, as others have said introducing a new baby will be fine. As you have already identified Molly becomes vey excited around the cat and visitors and jumps etc., all behaviours you want to stop and not just because you're expecting a baby. The links from Lucy will help you and there is lots of help and advice here.
Hi and welcome, my lab is 3 years old and I have an 11 day old baby girl. 4 months is plenty of time to get a handle on excitable behaviour. The key is to be consistent and your pup should pick it up in no time! Definitley read through the articles Lucy posted as you will find them very useful. For us the main thing we are working on is calm behaviour around the baby and settling in her bed when we have visitors. Depending on who the visitors are, however, sometimes we do have to shut Penny in the kitchen with a baby gate as there are certain people she is just too excited for and physical separation is the only thing that works. She can still see us with the baby gate and will settle down on the floor watching us through it. We are also making a huge effort to keep her routine as much the same as possible - meal times, walks etc. Penny also comes up to bed with me for a couple of hours before my husband comes to bed (then she goes in her bed downstairs). This has been our thing since she was about 8 months old and she loves this cuddle time with me (she's a very affectionate dog, would be a lap dog if she was smaller!) so although it's hard with the young baby I feel it's really important to keep up with things like this so she doesn't feel pushed out now the baby is getting all the attention.
@purtchiarn, Just had a thought, if you don't already you could start clicker training Molly for quiet calm behaviour, all four paws on the ground etc. Lots of clicker advice on this site. This could speed up your training which would be better for you especially as your pregnancy advances x
