When I was an undergrad in the 1980s, I worked a summer job at the Montreal SPCA as an adoption counsellor. Our hearts sank whenever we saw an obviously about-to-deliver woman come up the ramp with the intention of adopting a dog.

Our trepidation had to do with the higher-than-usual likelihood of the dog’s return to the shelter once the domestically appealing idea of dog (or worse, puppy) and baby arriving in rapid succession gave way to the inevitably chaotic reality. The common denominator among these failures was lack of preparation, in some cases simply because there wasn’t time between the acquisition of a dog, his training, and the plunge into parenthood.

In the ensuing years of counselling dog owners, I was relieved to see oodles of people succeed, including dog moms who expanded their horizons to become dog and baby moms.

What these successful families had in common was advance preparation: get the dog up to speed before the baby arrives.

The three areas I recommend you work on before the baby’s arrival are:
•   building a positive emotional response from your dog to babies;
•   a strong obedience behaviour that will come in handy; and
•   management and logistics plans and procedures to make your life easier.

Creating a happy response to babies
Get some items from a young baby, things that will really smell like a baby: unwashed bedding or clothes, or even a used diaper. If you don’t know anybody with a baby who can lend you some, put up a poster at a Lamaze class in your area, or at a local baby store. Put each item in a freezer bag and zip it shut. Now get a supply of out-of-this-world treats, something like roast chicken pieces. Fill a couple of zip-lock bags with these goodies.

Several times each day, take one of the baby-item bags and one of the treat bags, sit down somewhere and invite your dog over. Open the bag with the baby item. Let your dog sniff it for a good five or 10 seconds. Praise him the whole time and when the five to 10 seconds are up, give him a generous helping from the goodie bag. Praise him a little longer, then zip up both bags and put them away. Follow this procedure to the letter no matter what he does. He might sniff interestedly, be relatively uninterested, try to eat the diaper – none of this matters. Focus your attention on presenting first the baby smell and then the goodies.

A few hours later and in a different room, repeat the process. After a few days, what you’ll get from this is a conditioned emotional response to the smell of babies. Babies mean good things for dogs (as opposed to being ignored, banished or yelled at “Get the dog away from the baby”).

When your dog first meets your baby – the first impression is very important – let him investigate a bit, then ask for a Down (you’ll have trained this), and then reward him with one of the goodie-bag treats (the roast chicken). You can practise this same procedure using a doll held in your arms or, if you can get one, an actual baby.

Obedience prep
If you have the time, I highly recommend signing up for an obedience course, even if your dog seems pretty well behaved. It’ll strengthen your understanding of how he learns and sharpen important things like Sit, Don’t jump, Walk nicely on leash and Down. An even better option would be to hire a private trainer for a few sessions to build a solid Go-to-your-mat down-stay, which is the king of all dog-management behaviours. Once the dog reliably targets the mat and settles down there, the mat can be transferred from the baby’s room when you’re nursing or attending to her, to the living room if that’s where everybody is hanging out, or to anywhere you’d like the dog included but not all over the baby.

If you want to have a bash at training it on your own, peruse the training books and DVDs available at www.dogwise.com. If you train 10 minutes or so a day, it’ll take you on the order of a month to teach your dog to target his mat and stay there. One crafty technique to extend the duration of his stay is to give him a chew item (a bully stick, for example) and let him chew away provided he stays on the mat. If he leaves the mat, he loses the chewie. In a few repetitions, your dog will learn that the mat is a chewing oasis. Practise sending him to the mat whenever you sit in a chair with the doll. With enough reps, he’ll automatically target the mat and wait for his chew toy as soon as you start cradling the doll.

It’s also a great idea to crate-train your dog if you’ve not already done so. By this I mean training him to like being in his crate for gradually longer durations. Which brings us to management and support.

It takes a village
Among the circus of acquisitions (car seats, strollers, furniture, toys, gear, gear, gear) tack on a serious supply of chew items, and a dog walker for those days when you need a tired dog but cannot create this yourself for want of time. Find out what your dog likes to chew and stock up. Here’s an equation for you: chewie plus crate = contented dog out from underfoot. Here’s another: dog walker three times a week = much calmer dog in house.

If you have dog-friendly friends, develop a contract with them, something like “If you’ll take my dog for an afternoon or a day when my hair is standing on end and I need one less thing on my plate, I will…” and figure out a barter that would make it worth their while.

Knowing there are safety valves like crate time, your dog walker and a friend or two (or three) who will rescue you on those days when you feel overwhelmed can make a huge difference. It’s not good for anybody – you, the dog or the baby – for you to be overextended, especially chronically.

Finally, if your time is stretched but your budget allows for it, I suggest you find a dog groomer and have your dog done every month or two. A common concern among parents is the inevitable dirt, hair and dander that comes with owning a dog. While it can’t be eliminated (and research shows, in terms of your baby’s likelihood of developing allergies, it’s advantageous to be raised with a dog, so you wouldn’t want to eliminate it anyway), it can be mitigated with regular grooming. Trainers are fond of saying “A trained dog is an included dog.” Let’s add “A clean dog is an included dog.”

By Jean Donaldson

Canadian Jean Donaldson is the founder of the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers. Her books include The Culture Clash, Dogs Are From Neptune and MINE! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs.

(Originally appeared in our November 2008 issue)