One thing to address with Shadow before Baby Bear gets here...

ShaShaBear

So, we're roughly 118 days from meeting Baby Bear and we've been taking great care to ensure Shadow is ready to meet her as well. Luckily he is very good with kids - knows not to jump up, will happily let them pet him and will always move away if it gets too much for him (obviously people that know me on here will also know I don't let kids torment him and I do watch him carefully - so I know all his signs of discomfort!). We've set up the cot and pram in their permanent locations and he's finally realised that the cot is not an animal cage with some mesmerising secret in it that he can't see (boy, glad I set it up now ) and the pram, even when being wheeled about, doesn't bother him in the slightest. I've been playing sounds of babies from whimpers to wails while holding a toy doll. He showed minor interest the first few times, but he doesn't care at all now We've started getting Daddy to do the same with the doll (as he loves his daddy waaay more than me! :eek: ) and he didn't really give a hoot except that he thought daddy was hiding something he wanted, only to realise it was the doll - "Oh, it's YOU again...".

So, we have everything prepared that we possibly can. He is allowed full reign in the house, so doors are left open and he knows where he can go if he is uncomfortable and we've not changed his sleeping or eating habits. One thing is left that we are struggling with, although I'm not sure that it is even an issue.
Barking. Shadow is very quiet normally. AKA he will not make a single sound if we are both in the house from morning until bedtime except if he is out the back playing or when the post comes in the letterbox. So on a lazy day, no noise. However, he does suffer separation anxiety which we have managed to whittle down to JUST barking before we leave the house (no chewing, no peeing or pooping), so obviously every time we go to leave he barks loudly. He also barks in the morning when Mr. Bear leaves for work. Usually we keep him in the bedroom as my partner leaves for work around 5.30 most mornings and Shadow will go back to sleep as soon as the bedroom door is closed again. I've been considering letting him downstairs with my partner so at least the barking will be further away.

Basically, there's only two instances when he barks loudly enough to be disturbing or frightening to a baby - when my partner leaves the bedroom in the morning, and when we both leave the house. I'm worried that it could lead to a lot of screaming on the baby's behalf, which might in turn stress Shadow out more so we want to avoid it. But then she is hearing the barking in the womb every day, so maybe she won't find it that odd at all? Is there anything I can do? He is absolutely not food-driven when it comes to us leaving. After ten years of living with me, and two with my partner, he knows every single combination of "getting ready" to leave, and aside from going outside in jammies and getting dressed in the car there's nothing more we can do. He was never crate-trained and is terrified of it so we're not really willing to go down that route right now either. We called a local behaviourist and she is responsible for getting him to the stage where he simply barks. She had us doing a thing called "reward conditioning" to have him expecting a treat when we say "Shh", which would stop him barking. This works like a charm in the house, but it is forgotten 9/10 times when we are leaving.

Any ideas?

él statutorio

I think you'll be fine, I also think you'll be surprised by your dog.

As an example, when we took our little one down to my parents place for the 1st time we were a little apprehensive. My sister has a GS cross and he's a big excitable dog (she treats him like a child but that's an argument for a different day). Anyway apart from a lot of sniffing and the occasional lick of the baby he was superb. Every time she'd have a little cry he was over to the pram whimpering himself. When she went to bed and had a cry up there he'd hear it (which was great as we'd forgotten the baby monitors).
As she got bigger and began to crawl, he'd "herd" her round the living room (and away from the stove) we didn't have any issues (apart from the odd time when he'd step on her accidentally).

Once she began to walk she'd swing out of him and share food with him (when our back was turned), pull his tongue when nobody was looking, in short, they're best mates. She's two now and while I'd never leave her alone with him (nor should anyone ever leave any child alone with any dog) I do trust him not to harm her. The only time we ever have tears if he knocks her over (he's clumsy) but sh'es getting wise to that too.

tk123

I think you'll be fine too. My Nana always said it was better to have a noisy house so the baby would be a heavy sleeper

él statutorio

tk123 wrote: »

I think you'll be fine too. My Nana always said it was better to have a noisy house so the baby would be a heavy sleeper

I couldn't agree more. She sleeps through his barks now as well!

toadfly

My sister had her first baby a few months ago and he will sleep through anything, Hoover, dogs barking, doorbell. He doesn't flinch! You're best to just go about your day as normal and the baby will learn to sleep through it.

Congrats by the way!

ShaShaBear

I was hoping she'd learn to sleep through it! Hate the thoughts of having to change Shadow to suit the baby - he's my first baby after all
He's zoned out on the couch at the minute, hasn't moved in 4 hours except to follow me to the kitchen when he heard me at the biscuits, so I'm hoping his ultra-lazy couldn't-give-a-fudge attitude continues after the missus arrives

TooManyDogs

ShaShaBear wrote: »

But then she is hearing the barking in the womb every day, so maybe she won't find it that odd at all?

It's amazing how babies do become accustomed to things they hear in the womb, I was bringing my baby to the sanctuary I volunteer at from when she was 3 weeks old and people were astonished at her sleeping through 60 dog barking, but she had heard if from the moment she was conceived. My dogs at home barked and I can honestly say it never disturbed her.

ShaShaBear

TooManyDogs wrote: »

It's amazing how babies do become accustomed to things they hear in the womb, I was bringing my baby to the sanctuary I volunteer at from when she was 3 weeks old and people were astonished at her sleeping through 60 dog barking, but she had heard if from the moment she was conceived. My dogs at home barked and I can honestly say it never disturbed her.

That'll be a relief. If she's anything like her mother it'll take an apocalypse to stir her :P

DBB

Does Shadow carry anything around with him at all? You could turn "dad" leaving into a game of "get your ball"... when ball is in gob, dog can't bark
Actually, that's not quite true. I have a barky little spaniel x here who holds her ball and barks at the same time, which is really funny, but a LOT quieter than her full-on bark.
I'd also echo what others have said about the baby getting used to the barking: my sister-in-law was only commenting the other day how my eldest niece is a really light sleeper, and she puts it down to the fact that everyone tip-toed around the house for the first few years in the life of this precious first child... the following children were not afforded the same luxury and now sleep like hibernating bears!
Similarly, I was born and raised right beside the railway line in Dublin's suburbs. To this day, despite not having lived there for many years, I still don't hear the trains coming, although any visiting friends think there's an earthquake happening

Shiraz 4.99

Remember the child in the womb is already becoing acustomed to noises in it's environment. They won't be upset by dog barks as they'll be well used to the sound.

Millem

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Remember the child in the womb is already becoing acustomed to noises in it's environment. They won't be upset by dog barks as they'll be well used to the sound.

Couldn't agree more my baby is 8 weeks old, he never flinched when any of my 3 dogs bark and we got out of hospital when he was only a few hours old. If I dropped something on the ground or a door slammed he would jumped! At first the old blind dog didn't like when the baby cried at night so we put her bed on the landing but now she is grand (and he sleeps through the night!) so her bed is back in our room. The other two didn't bat an eyelid! In fact I would go as far and say their behaviour has improved, they don't mind staying in kitchen if visitors come whereas before they would bark!