Introducing Your Dog

I recently wrote an article about introducing your cat to a new baby. If you haven't had a chance to read it, you can read it right here.

That being said, you may also have a dog in your life that you will have to introduce to your new baby. His or her life is going to change as completely as yours is.

Here are some tips to introduce your dog to your new baby.

Make sure routines are still a part of your dog's life. Routines are very important for dogs. Even if you don't realize that you have a routine when it comes to your dog, you probably do. You probably feed him or her at a certain time. You may play with him or her at certain times and go for walks. Your dog knows what to expect. 

Since things are going to be changing, it may be time to change the routine that you and your dog are used to. You may change when you are going to be feeding the dog or taking him or her for walks. You may want to start going to bed earlier or getting up earlier, if your dog is going to need to adjust his or her schedule too! 

You may also want to think about giving your dog less attention in the few months prior to giving birth. Though you may want to shower your dog with all of your attention since you know that your attention will be on the baby when you come home, the truth is that you should start getting him or her used to it now. If your dog associates the baby with getting less attention, you could have some trouble on your hands when you finally bring your new baby home.

Get your dog used to all of the new stuff that will be coming home with the baby. When you come home with a new baby, you are also going to be coming home with plenty of other things. Let your dog go into the nursery and see what is going on. Let him or her sniff the car seat, stroller, and even the high chair. You may even want to play with some of the loud toys so that your dog can get used to them.

When you do have the baby, make sure that someone brings home his or her smell before you show up with the baby. You can bring home a blanket or something else that has your baby's new scent in it. This can really help him or her get used to the smell before the baby comes home.

This may be a good time to reevaluate the rules that you have in place for your dog. You may not want your dog to get in bed with you at night, especially if you are going to be breastfeeding and bringing the baby to bed with you. You may also want to rethink whether or not you want your dog to get onto the furniture. If you decide to change the rules, you should do it as soon as possible, so your dog has a few months to get used to the new rules.

When you first bring the baby home, it is a good idea to make sure that this meeting goes as smoothly as possible. You are going to want to make sure that your dog has plenty of exercise. One parent should come in and greet the dog, while the other one stays in the car with the baby. Then, you should switch places. The other parent should come in and greet the dog.

It is a good idea to keep your dog on the leash when you have the first meeting. This allows you to have control of your dog, just in case. Allow your dog to sniff the baby from a distance. You may want to do this for several days before you allow your dog to get too close. Other dogs are fine, and you can let him or her sniff your baby's feet. Just make sure that you take this step as slowly as needed to make sure that everyone is fine.

Make sure that you make it a priority to spend time every day with your dog. It is really easy to get caught up with taking care of a newborn. However, you can't let this get in the way of your relationship with your dog. Make sure that you still find time to take your dog for a walk and play with him or her. If you aren't able to do that, you should just make sure that you spend time cuddling with the dog.

Bringing home a baby into a home with a dog can be quite scary. However, if you prepare your dog for the change, it shouldn't be a big deal. That means that you need to give your dog time to adjust by changing the routine before you bring the baby home. It also helps to give him or her time to adjust to the various things that will come home with you and the baby, like car seats, cribs, and other things. You should also bring home the smell of the baby once you have him or her. Then, take the first introduction slowly. It will be the start of a brand-new friendship.

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Previously published on Medium and/or Newsbreak.