Whippets And Babies

[hopkirk]

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Hello, I was hoping you could help me. I have just found out that I am pregnant and I know whippets are excellent with children. We are very experienced dog owners but how will our whippet, Hopkirk (quite spoilt! sleeps in bed has lots of cuddles you know the sort of thing....) handle going from being the baby to his new position? Anyone been in the same boat before?

Picture of existing baby below

Thanks in advance

 

[FeeFee]

I reckon most dogs will adapt just fine to a baby in the house, but it helps to do some preparation well in advance.

For instance you could start thinking ahead about any changes there might be to his routine and start these now so he's not faced with the sudden shock of a new arrival and lots of other changes all at the same time.

Obviously you need to think through how things are going to work in your household, but if you are going to prevent him going upstairs or into certain rooms when the baby arrives, put baby gates in place now so he gets used to being restricted. If you want to be able to settle him in a crate for short periods (very useful when you have a crawler/toddler and you are doing something where you can't supervise for a few minutes) start getting him used to that as soon as possible.

The best preparation I made when I was pregnant was to work really hard getting my dog walking well on lead - he'd been a bit of a puller up to then - but putting that work in meant I could easily take him out with the pushchair so he and baby got lots of walks in the park. In those busy first weeks with a new baby it would have been really difficult to fit in separate dog walks some days so at least we were all able to get out together with no stress

Good luck - and congratulations!

 

[hopkirk]

Hello, I was hoping you could help me. I have just found out that I am pregnant and I know whippets are excellent with children. We are very experienced dog owners but how will our whippet, Hopkirk (quite spoilt! sleeps in bed has lots of cuddles you know the sort of thing....) handle going from being the baby to his new position? Anyone been in the same boat before?
Picture of existing baby below

Thanks in advance

Hello

Thank you very much for your tips. They are really helpfull. Luckily he is great on the lead already but the baby gate is something we will start to do soon.

Thanks again

 

[Janetta]

Hi Congratulation on your forth coming birth.

I have always told my friends that are having babies, when the baby is born, for their partner to take home

clothing the baby has wore and put it next to their dog, so that it get use to the new smell before the baby returns

and they had said it has been very helpful.

I hope this is of some use to you.

Janetta

 

[hopkirk]

Hi Congratulation on your forth coming birth.
I have always told my friends that are having babies, when the baby is born, for their partner to take home

clothing the baby has wore and put it next to their dog, so that it get use to the new smell before the baby returns

and they had said it has been very helpful.

I hope this is of some use to you.

Janetta

Hi

That is really good advice. Thank you very much we will do that.