how to introduce baby to my dog?

Question
Hi there,

Hope you're doing great :)

I'm hoping that you would be able to advise me on how to introduce my 4 month old baby to my rotweiler mix.
I've tried to do it, but she reacts a bit 'too interested' than my other dog which wil sniff the air and give me space and respect me bringing in our new addition. Bascha (rot mix) on the other hand will REALLY focus just on the baby. When he'll make a sound her ears goes up, she lick her mouth and her tail stiffens a bit. Then she'll try jump on me to get near him and smell him. I'll ask her to back up, but she won't listen. When I walk ouside with the baby she's constantly behind me trying to snif his feet.

I'm really not sure what to do. I have to admit I trust her 100% when its me and her, but with my own child I'm not that trusting.

She's acting strange when the baby is in his stroler (inside the house). She can see him through the glass door. When he'll kick and the stroler moves she'll jump back and make a growling sound. I'll tell her 'no!', but she looks at me and go ahead focusing on the stroler. The other day I took her on a walk with baby in his stroler and she walked quietly next to me without any problems. As we got home and I bend to take her leash off she charged the stroler when the baby cried. I told her to back away, but she walked in circles around it, trying to get to the baby. I told her to sit next to him and told her 'its okay' and made her sniff his blanket but she pushed and stuck her face inside the stroler. Could it just be that she's so curios and its just something rotweilers do???

If you need any more information on Bascha (rot mix) I'll be happy to give it to you. Really hope you have some advice!anything would be welcome!!!!

Have a great day!

Answer
Greetings and thank you for contacting All Experts!
All is fine from my neck of the woods, congratulations for the new baby! You do not mention if you have done anything to make the introduction easier on Bascha by doing some ''prenatal work''. That is exposing your dog to recorded sounds of babies crying, introducing a stroller, and then bringing the baby's blanket home a few days before the actual introduction takes place. In any case, consider that a new baby in a dog's eyes is like a new odd looking, odd sounding and odd smelling member added into the pack. Some dogs may not have a hard time accepting a new baby, whereas others are known to have more difficulties.

If she is not backing up when you ask her to, she is too aroused to listen to your commands. You will need therefore to get her to display calmer behaviors before allowing her near the baby and trusting her a little bit more. Please remember, -but I am sure you know this already- never leave a baby and dog unsupervised not even for a second even with the most trusting dog!

It is hard to say without seeing Bascha what may be triggering the behaviors you are seeing, she may be anxious by this new little being she has never seen before, she may be definitely curious, she may be herding the stroller (rotties have a history of herding), and sometimes dogs may see babies as prey, a quite dangerous situation!

A great exercise is training Basha to focus on you. Here is a step by step guide:

1) Start by investing in the tastiest treats your dog knows. These are 100 dollar treats, treats your dog would die for, examples are slices of hot dogs, freeze dried liver, steak, boneless, skin less chicken,oven cooked chicken livers..Keep small bits of these treats handy by putting them in a fanny pack or treat pouch that goes around your waist.

2) Now work on this exercise: make a sound with your mouth, anything, a whistle, a smacking noise, just not words. Place a treat at your eye level and as soon as Bacha looks at you, give the treat. Repeat-repeat-repeat. The sequel is as such: you make sound with your mouth with treat at eye level/dog makes eye contact/you give treat. Do it 10-15 times until your dog gets a hang of it. Timing is of the essence: the second Bascha looks at you the treat is delivered.

3) At some point something wonderful will happen: Bascha will look up at you in the eyes automatically when you make the noise in anticipation of the treat. By doing this you have taught your dog to focus on you using classical conditioning. Now you can apply this exercise successfully to change a bit her attitude and calm her down and this is how:

4)My first advice would be to keep Katie tethered to you in the house for the moment. This will give you the ability to instantly redirect any behaviors that you don't like (i.e. the jumping) or have immediate control on her if you see signs of problems brewing.

5) Now, work under the threshold, and that is, work on putting Bascha up for success by preventing her from escalating to behaviors you do not like (focusing on the baby too much, circling, etc.) So let's say you are walking in the room where the baby is inside the stroller, from a distance, before she becomes focused and too aroused, make the noise with your mouth, and give the treat as soon as she makes eye contact. Continue working on this to prevent her from engaging in the behaviors you do not like. Like you hear the baby make a noise you know Basha will respond to? Immediately, make the noise with your mouth and work on the focus and give a treat right upon making eye contact.

You can also work on the stroller problem in the same way. Keep the stroller (without the baby in it) and place a few treats in it for Bascha to eat. Then move the stroller back and forth and do the focus exercise BEFORE she tries to lunge at it. Repeat, repeat, repeat until she is de-sensitized to the stroller and understands it means no harm. If she is too aroused to make eye contact or listen to the noise with your mouth, simply move the stroller and drop a treat in front of her and repeat. Stroller means good things! You know you have a good level of control if you push the stroller with your foot across the room and make the noise with your mouth and she decides to come to you instead of following the stroller.

Then upgrade with the baby in it. Now that is quite different to a dog, it can be quite odd looking for a baby to be on wheels! Look at it from a dog's perspective! Do the same exercise with the baby in it but with Bascha tethered to you and from a safe distance. Have a volunteer move the stroller back and forth. Use extreme caution and do it only when you feel her to be more reliable and you have full control. If you are unsure of her at any time during an exercise play it safe and keep her muzzled.

By doing these exercises (keep them brief at first) you will be accomplishing the following things:
1) she will focus on you rather than the baby preventing her from getting too aroused
2) she will be rewarded for being calm near the baby since you are rewarding calm states of mind
3) she will associate the baby with positive things, (notice if you are diligent enough when the baby makes a sound, Bascha may look up at you for a treat).
4) she will learn more self control

Once she is more reliable, you can remove the ''umbilical cord'' that is being tethered to you, and you can try off leash, but go very slowly and do this only after a week or two of being more under control. The great thing is that you can make the noise with your mouth even from a distance and she should stop whatever she was doing and come running to you for the treat. This is a great way to get control on your dog before a behavior escalates from a distance without dragging the collar or scolding. It works on stopping a dog from doing potential negative behavior and giving an alternate more preferable behavior (the focus). After some time, you can start adding praise and a nice pat instead of giving always treats to wean her off them a bit. But you must always give them once in a while to give her motivated to comply.

If you want to kick the training up the notch and bring some operational conditioning to the show, once she is doing better, make the sound with your mouth and then when she looks at you ask her for a sit and then give the treat.

Installing some baby gates may be a wonderful way to give baby and dogs their own space to chill and observe each other and get used to each other, with a nice comfortable distance. You need to expose Basha gradually to the baby but you want both baby and dog to have their quiet times.

Despite the baby, you must continue to give Bascha attention but in a structured way. Implement the Nothing in Life is Free training program. Let her work for food, attention and play. More structure will increase her confidence and a good routine is a must with all the changes going on when a new baby arrives in a home. Make sure she gets walked and has a good level of exercise. Here is the nothing in life is free program:
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/training_nothing_in_life_is_free....

This may take a while to take effect, but if you are consistent, you may notice some changes in her attitude towards the baby. I hope this has helped, my very best wishes!


Disclaimer: Please consult with a dog behaviorist if your dog is displaying aggressive behaviors. Only a dog behaviorist may see and assess behaviors and offer the most appropriate behavior modification program tailored for your dog. Use extreme caution and make safety your top priority. By reading this answer you accept this disclaimer and assume full responsibility for any of your actions.