Introducing Your Baby to Your Pet
Posted in Infants on 17. Sep, 2009
It never really occurred to me that my miniature dachshund, Oliver, would have much of an issue with our new baby. Sure, he was used to being “my baby,” with his place in my lap (which was harder and harder as my pregnancy progressed), but I figured he would adapt just fine. Boy, was I wrong.
Oliver started out by marking his territory in our daughter’s nursery. Then he decided to try incessantly barking at our elderly neighbors. And it was always, always when I had just sat down to nurse my daughter. Oliver seemed fine with the baby – he did not snap at her or bark at her, but he was ticked at me. How could I dare to bring someone else into his perfect world, and upset the balance?
After three months of chaos, we ended up finding a new home for Oliver. Things had gotten out of hand, and we needed to focus more on our new baby and less on the jealous dog who was tearing things apart and peeing all over the place. Now, I know that our story is probably the exception and not the rule, but I still learned a valuable lesson – it’s very important to prepare your pet(s) for the arrival of a new family member. They feel like part of the family, and it’s important to do whatever you can to ease the transition for everyone.
I would have benefitted from reading up on this topic before our first baby was born. Who knows, maybe things would have turned out differently? I encourage you to look into ways to prepare your pet for your new arrival, and you can get started by checking out the post below.
When Baby Meets Your Pet [The Early Show, CBS News]
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