baby

All right, so you’ve got a bit of a situation – after caring for a dog or cat as if it was your own child, now you’ve got a real one coming up. If you’re concerned about how pet and baby will get along, then you are not alone. Most likely pet and baby will become the best of friends, but in any case you need to be prepared for all the possibilities even if you’re confident they’ll get along just fine. First some tips for dogs:

Keep Your Dog Away From Your Baby’s Room

Start right away putting up a baby gate or keeping the door closed to help your dog learn to stay out of the baby’s room. Later on, you can allow the dog in the room, especially if you are in there, but it’s best to prepare him at first to stay away.

Introduce your dog to some other babies

If he’s never been around a baby, carefully introduce some into his life. He is much less likely to be anxious around your baby if he is introduced gradually.

Your Dog Has To Be Properly Trained

You can never tell with a baby’s behavior, so in this case, your dog will need to “grow up” if he hasn’t. If your dog does not obey you, it’s time for some training before the baby arrives. Male dogs will have to be neutered a good while before the baby comes out. It should make the dog calmer and more well mannered.

Then, there’s the cat – some of the same ideas work for cats, too, except that training them to stay out of a room is pretty difficult. Cats are almost as resourceful as MacGyver and can climb up just about anything. With that said, you may want to buy a net to go with your crib to keep your cat away. If your cat takes a nap next to you, make sure the baby isn’t in your bed at the same time as the cat.

Keep your pets’ food and water bowls away from your baby – this applies for cats and dogs alike. Babies love to play in them, and this can not only make a mess, but can cause the animal to be even more jealous. Also, at some point, if your child can get to the pet food, he will try to eat it. I bet you a million bucks that’s going to happen if you don’t take the right precautions.

It really isn’t hard for a pet and a small child to get along with each other. Just make sure both are able to settle in first and get used to each other, and you, baby and your pet(s) should all be okay.

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baby