Author Topic: Baby and Hyper dogs?  (Read 2553 times)

Offline amberdoggoneit

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Baby and Hyper dogs?
« on: January 31, 2008, 06:01:16 pm »
It has been so long since I have been able to get on here.  But here is my question.  I am about 5 months pregnant due mid july.  What is the best way to get a somewhat hyper dog that has no idea how big she is to calm down for a newborn?  We have a weimaraner and an english springer spaniel.  Our weim is much more hyper than the springer.  She is also still really bad at jumping up so I dont know if it would be a good idea to not allow her in the babys room so she doesnt get used to jumping on things.  We are having her spaued next month and didnt know if that would help at all.  I would love everyones imput because we dont have much time until our new arrival is here and want our "fur" babies to apart of this experience as much as anyone else.
Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker" border="0
Bell 3 1/2 yr old Weimeraner
Baxter 3 yr old English Springer Spaniel
Buble 10 month old English Springer Spaniel

Offline maxsmom

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2008, 08:11:26 pm »
I agree with Stella.  Work on the obedience and I wouldn't ban them from the baby's room.  The baby is going to be a part of their pack and lives.  You don't want to create any resentment.  My springers would lay on the blanket with my newborn grandsons and lick them whenever they cried or come find me barking for me to come take care of them.  They loved babies.  My son had 2 pit mixes, 3 years old when his last son was born.  These dogs are hyper, hyper, hyper.  They never hurt his son.  They would lay quietly by him on the couch.  They have bitten my nose, jumping up to say hi and brought blood, but they were super gentle with the baby.  Good luck.  I don't think you will have a problem at all.
Kathy
Max  2 Irish Wolfhound
Jake  2 Great Pyrenees
Cody   3 Tibetan Mastiff
ChiChi 1.5 Caucasian Ovcharka
John and Nicki Maine Coon cats

Offline mynameislola

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2008, 09:33:54 pm »
Ditto the idea that you will need to do some intensive training, fast.  Let them in the baby's room and work on training them to stay off the furniture.  If you know any babies you can borrow, you could evaluate the dogs' activity level around an infant.  Some settle in well, but some go ballistic with happiness.

If your dogs are trained before the baby arrives to go lay down and stay there until called, you will have a way to remove them from any area if necessary.  The last thing a new mother needs is a large dog jumping on her while she is holding an infant.

One dog I worked with had little or no exposure to children until his owners had a baby.  It had not occurred to them that specific training could make the blessed event go smoother.  Once the dog discovered that baby bottles had something yummy inside, the bottles got taken, nipples chewed off, the contents scattered and mostly consumed. 

When they got to the point where they had a hungry baby in the middle of the night, no nipples, and a dog who could leap into the crib, they hired a trainer.

The canine kids:
     Cody Newfoundland
     Wally Italian Mastiff
     Zita Italian Mastiff
     Sparky Chihuahua

Offline pyr4me

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2008, 12:20:21 am »
Definitely start that training right away. I would also encourage you to find ways to tire out your dog and help burn off some of that energy, which is difficult to do when you're pregnant and have a newborn...what I did when I had my twin girls was to send Tipper to "doggie daycare"--he had the best time playing with all of the dogs there all day long and would come home exhausted. It was really great for him and us.  A tired dog is a good dog!!  ;)
Jennifer

Tipper (8 1/2 yrs) Golden Retriever/Sheltie mix
Jenny (4 yrs) Great Pyrenees
Gabriel (14 yrs) Sealpoint Himalayan cat
Melanie (11 yrs) Domestic medium hair cat

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us."
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Offline amberdoggoneit

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2008, 10:13:11 am »
we have our dogs trained that they have a specific "chair" to lay on which is just a red blanket on the ground in our den.  The only thing that worries me is that whenever small childern come over or anything like that they beg me to put up the "big" dog because she is rough with them. I was a dog trainer at petsmart and fortunatley got to take my pets with me everydayy so the exposure to kids was from day 1.  She is just rough with childern.  Knocks them over while going past them and jumps at thier face trying to lick them.  I am very thkful that she likes kids because I would hate if she didnt i think this process would be alot harder but she likes them so much that I am a little worried about her.  We have uped the obedience and are trying to work with her on jumping but nothing is working.  Someone has told me to use a shock collar for the jumping but I am not sure what do yall think? 
Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker" border="0
Bell 3 1/2 yr old Weimeraner
Baxter 3 yr old English Springer Spaniel
Buble 10 month old English Springer Spaniel

Offline amberdoggoneit

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2008, 12:48:03 pm »
yea I am hoping that is what it is that she knows that these childern are older and can "hang" with the big dogs.  I also think that maybe since the baby is ours she will react differently.
 Yea we got one of those jumpy things about a month ago she kept getting out of it and then my husband wasnt paying attention to her and she got it from the counter and destroyed it. 
I will try the sit stay approach and see how that goes maybe it will be that simple.  We might just be thinking to hard about it but we will definatley keep yall posted.
Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker" border="0
Bell 3 1/2 yr old Weimeraner
Baxter 3 yr old English Springer Spaniel
Buble 10 month old English Springer Spaniel

Offline mynameislola

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2008, 09:40:48 pm »
For sure you are not thinking too hard about it.  Babies are fragile.  You have a good ten years before your child can resist being squashed.

Part of what you need to work on, IMO, is your dog's place in the pack.  By jumping on you and your guests, the dog is displaying their superiority in the pack.  Dogs shouldn't be the bosses of people. 

When it happens, putting the dog instantly into a Sit Stay or a Down Stay will remind it who is boss.  If your dog is not trained to that point yet, keep it leashed inside the house at all times and attached to an adult ready to do praise and corrections.  My rule is after three attempted jumps by a dog in training, they get a time out in the crate.

The licking is more difficult to analyze since dogs lick for different reasons, both submission and dominance.  "No Lick" is a command I teach starting at day one with bite inhibition and supression. 

Hubby says to add that the real reason I don't let them lick is because I like to kiss their liddle faces without getting slobbered on.
The canine kids:
     Cody Newfoundland
     Wally Italian Mastiff
     Zita Italian Mastiff
     Sparky Chihuahua

Offline amberdoggoneit

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Re: Baby and Hyper dogs?
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2008, 11:41:47 pm »
she is very well trained she was suppose to be my husbands "hunting" dog so we did all the training with her for that. though we discovered that we fell in love with her so much I couldnt stand the fact that he was going to take her out in the cold to hunt. she is walked everyday.  so it isnt so much that she has alot of pent up energy.
 
I dont know if this will cause it because I know any new situations you need to train more but she was very good at not jumping and then about 6 months ago we bought our first home.  So we moved an it is much bigger than the last house we had the same amount of yard but the jumping got much worse.  Then a month later I found out that I was pregnant and we started training with her all over agian.
 
We started last night and are hoping that maybe the sit stay will work.  I know it wont be right away but i am trying.  Also I dont know if I should start with treats or without.  I get great results with treats but dont really want to have to wean off of them later. What do yall think?
Lilypie 1st Birthday Ticker" border="0
Bell 3 1/2 yr old Weimeraner
Baxter 3 yr old English Springer Spaniel
Buble 10 month old English Springer Spaniel