Any suggestions for an older puppy around babies?

Question

My dog is a 6 month old Mini Dachshund and he is our pride and joy. He LOVES kids and all other people and is a very sweet and loving dog. He loves other dogs and is very submissive and does not show any sign of aggression. We go to great lengths to see that he is properly socialized with humans and dogs and well trained. He will lick you to death if you let him. The problem is we have never really had him around babies. I had some girlfriends come over tonight and my friend has a 5 month old baby. Buddy was very curious and wanted to smell the baby all over, lick his head and ears, and when we would not let him up on the couch with the baby he would bark. He was so hyper around the baby we put him in his crate. He wasn't trying to hurt him but he was very excited and curious. He is the baby's size and we were nervous he would accidentally scratch the baby or nip his toes where the socks are. Buddy loves socks.

Suggestions for training our dog to deal with babies gently?

He loves the 3 and 4 year old kids in the neighborhood. All the kids love Buddy and often play with him. He would NEVER intentionally bite any of them. They play fetch with the ball for hours. We would never leave him alone with kids though, especially not a 5 month old infant. Will he know the difference between a doll and the real thing? Its babies he has a hard time with. It like he doesnt know what they are and barks at them.

He does very well with commands. He sits, stays, lays down and we rarely if ever give him treats other than praise. He is house broken and only has an accident if we have bene lazy and not taken him out. I need help with one isolated issue. Its JUST the baby, not toddler, not child, just BABY.

Answer 1

I would have someone hold the baby and you hold the dog and not let him hurt the baby but get use to him. If you keep exposing him to babies he will eventually calm down. Another option would be if you have a play pen have the baby in there where he can't get to it and correct him when he barks. We have a Pomeranian that was just like this. We taught her that if you say "easy" that she couldn't jump up on the baby or toddler. It works really well if your dog already has some obedience training.

Also you said your dog has had some training so use the commands it knows; sit, lay down, stay, etc. to calm him when the baby is around.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

I would have him on a leash at first whenever the baby was around and get him to sit. Once he is sitting quietly, bring the baby to him. Use firm tones with him and remove the baby if he gets too excited. When he's doing the right thing- heaps of gentle praise. He sounds like a lovely dog, and I'm sure that he will learn very quickly that he needs to be ultra gentle around the "tiny humans".
He's probably sooo excited because he already knows how precious babies are. My dog was the same with our new baby.

Good Luck:)

Answer 3

Adding to tonks comments... you should also be working on your dog's obedience. Sit, stay, heel, self control (take nothing off the coffee table, etc). All these things help build up your partnership and a balance of understanding of the rules.

When taking pup for walks for example, does he pull you along or is he respectful and paying attention (mostly - I know he's still a puppy). The entire dynamics of your relationship with him will help set the stage for a wonderful dog with self control and manners.

When he comes up to you, does he expect you to be a treat vending or petting machine? (He'll do the same thing to kids.) Or has he learned to sit for attention first? That's self control. It really does work to teach it. Toddlers, kids, pups don't learn self control automatically. It has to be taught through every day interactions.

Sounds like you are on the way to a great relationship.

I highly recommend the "no free lunch' approach - "nothing in life is free". The article is online "NILIF" if you search it.
http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Answer 4

yes - go to clickertraining.com,
With clickertraning you can teach your dog calmness and a 1000 other things. It is all positive training that the dogs just love, and it is fun, besides you can work it into your everyday life easily
In your case, basically you want to reward him for calm behaviour around babies
Of course children and dogs should never, ever be left unsupervised, no matter what

Answer 5

Well, this is not an answer to your question.

But after reading your story, I couldnt help smiling. Your dogs seems to be such an adorable playful thing! So cute..that he would bark when you wouldnt let him near the baby. Looks like he's a dog who gets a lot of love and has a lot of love to give. :)

Answer 6

Well Id for sure try and just have him on a leash. My dog was hyper around children so we put socks on all her feet and bought a muzzle and had her on a leash. We didnt want her to bite any children for sure. So we took the nessisary precautions. Well know she is addicted to dressing up.(sigh) Anyways this way he cant scratch or bite the baby and he cant get to jump on it either. Have it on a leash and itll get used to it. Trust me. If not I think other people have suggestions.

Answer 7

just like anything else you need to keep exposing your dog to the babies take the dog to the park when there are moms with their kids there and the younger sibings, have your friend come over when Your dog is gentle praise them, tell them how much a good dog they are even give a treat, Trust me the dogs usually know when and how gentle they have to be. just keep exposing them.. Also get a doll baby and hold it around the dog let the dog sniff and lick and tell him/her Gentle they will get it trust me dogs are smart furkids!

Answer 8

just do not leave them alone and if you make over the baby make sure you make over your dog it will realize that baby is not a threat and will accept the baby . Many people will make over the baby and forget the pert well that makes the pet jeolous you do not want that

Answer 9

thats just like my dog..iono about the training part, but he will know the difference between people's body parts [fingers and etc]. i also have a few month old puppy, and she already knows the difference. they would just very gently nibble on it.