Babies and Dogs

I often think about getting a dog. That is until I think about having to clean up all the messes in the yard and having to board the dog when we leave town (which we do often). Then I am thankful that I have my 3 cats. Don't get me wrong, they can be a pain in the neck as well, but at least we can leave town and not worry about them as much.

When Zoe came along we didn't worry about the cats all that much. The only baby/cat proofing we did was to keep the cats out of her room by always keeping her door shut. They are still not allowed in her room. We had no jealousy issues either. In fact our youngest cat is absolutely in love with Zoe. They play together all the time.

Now dogs, as I understand it, take a bit more prep work. Some of the tips I have come across are:

• NEVER leave the baby alone with your pet (ok that is a no-brainer for me).
• If the dog is attached to the Mother, have other members of the family show the dog more attention to lessen the jealousy.
• Play recordings of baby's crying to get the dog use to the new sounds.
• Wear baby oil or baby powder to get the dog use to the new smells
• Bring home an article of clothing that the baby wore in the hospital so that the dog gets use to the baby's scent before the baby comes home.
• Replace the nursery door with a screen door so that the dog can't get into the room but can still see what is happening (not sure about that one...but I don't have a dog...lol).

I have often thought that people were being over cautious when it came from pets and babies. After all if you are just paying attention, what could happen? Well I thought that until earlier today when I saw this video about a 65lb. dog dragging a newborn from his crib. These poor parents already had to deal with the baby being 3 weeks premature. Then the day after they brought him home, this happened. *Warning: If you are a crier like I am...have Kleenex ready*

Now before all the dog lovers out there start telling me that this is a very rare occurrence and that dogs and kids are great together, I agree. My BIL and SIL have a HUMONGOUS dog named Toby. He is a total cream puff. My SIL Jody (Iowa Geek) had him before she got married so they had him around when both of their daughters were born. He is GREAT with kids but Jody and Doug still took precautions. I know that they brought home the hats that their daughters wore after they were born for Toby to sniff, so I am sure they did even more. Here is a link to one of Jody's posts with a picture of Toby in it to prove how big he is.

So I guess the moral to this story is that if you have dogs, cats, birds...etc. make sure you do your homework on how to keep your new little one safe!!