Everyone knows that it’s important to introduce your dog with your baby’s scent as early as possible. The baby’s blanket, even used diapers can be used at home to help your pup get acquainted with your new babe. Bring the items to a neutral area in the home and let your dog sniff the items. Every time he sniffs, mark it with a clicker or the word “yes!” and give your pup a treat. Do this for a few minutes, a few times a day until the baby is home. Once home, under close supervision and with your dog on leash, slowly approach your baby (in mother’s arms) and let your pup sniff away. Follow the steps outlined above again, but start with your pup sniffing your baby’s feet first, then later the face area. It’s important to speak to your dog in a calm, loving voice, praising his good behavior.
Obedience training is very important as well. You need to be able to recall your dog no matter what. Further, when you say “leave it!”, he moves away from your baby immediately. But many other commands are important – sit, down, stay, drop it, come, touch (another recall command), wait, back up, etc. All of these commands have one thing in common – they help you get more control over your pup’s behavior.
You can set a clear, physical boundary in your home, letting your dog know what particular area is off limits unless invited. I recommend putting down blue painters tape on the floor, creating the boundary around your baby’s off-limits area. Dogs can see blue and yellow, hence the blue painter’s tape. Once the tape is down, walk your dog on leash up to the tape and say “no!” and lightly tug her back away from the tape. Once a few feet from the tape, tell her “yes!” and give her a treat. Do this over and over again, walking up to different areas of the tape so your dog understands the full layout of the boundary. After doing this for 10 minutes, twice a day for a week or so, start testing your pup. Walk (on leash) with your pup toward the boundary and slowly step over it and stop. If your dog stops on the correct side of the boundary, reward with the marker word first “yes!” and then praise effusively with a treat. If your dog makes the mistake of stepping across with you, say “no!” and take her back to the safe area. Give no treat once your pup is back on the safe side. Then try it again and again. Do this in different areas of the boundary, 10 minutes twice a day for a week. If more training is necessary for a high degree of accuracy, then do so. Follow this up with intermittent training during the week, 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there for a few weeks.
You can also teach your dog a couple of other commands to get him to move away from your baby. “Away!” is one of them. Simply let your dog approach your baby and when he does, take a treat and put it in front of your dog’s nose and then toss it 6 feet away from your baby while saying “away!”. Once your dog gets to the treat, say “yes! Away!”. Repeat until your dog is solid on the command. You can also teach him the “back up!” command. Find a narrow hallway in your home. Call your dog to you and when he comes, start waddling toward him and say “back up!” continuously until he steps backward one step. As soon as he steps back, say “yes!”, “back up!” and treat. Repeat until he is proficient with the one step back and then go for two steps, so on and so forth.
Getting back to supervised interactions, at no time should you ever leave your dog alone with your baby, even if your dog is 100% accurate in all his training for weeks on end. That doesn’t mean he has to be on leash all the time and closely monitored, but your most precious should be protected from your sometimes behaviorally imperfect pooch at all times.
On any given day, be cognizant of when your pup is behaving near your baby and reward reward. And just like your baby will have down time, make sure your pup also has away time, maybe in his crate, or maybe chewing on a bully stick or a yummy-filled kong.
