moving dogs from house to garden

depadz

have two dogs who currently live/sleep in the kitchen. baby on way so have to come up with a solution to move them outdoors. want to keep shock to their system to a minimum.
was thinking of putting a shed (barna type) down the end of the garden and putting up some fencing to give them a run (garden is a good size, ~100ft long).
anyone have to move dogs outside have any advice?
tia.

Keyzer

depadz wrote:

have two dogs who currently live/sleep in the kitchen. baby on way so have to come up with a solution to move them outdoors. want to keep shock to their system to a minimum.
was thinking of putting a shed (barna type) down the end of the garden and putting up some fencing to give them a run (garden is a good size, ~100ft long).
anyone have to move dogs outside have any advice?
tia.

Might be hard cos they are used to the easy life so much.
You just gotta throw them out and leave them out no matter how much whining they do. They'll get used to it over time.

The Sweeper

Mate of mine has precisely the same issue. She's due at the end of May, so starting now, she's going to begin to increase the amount of time the dogs spend outside. They do have outdoor kennels, so they'll be spending more time in those. Her two have the run of the house, so she's also going to put a gate at the top of the stairs now, and make upstairs off limits.

When the time comes and baby arrives, she's got plans to send the husband home with some baby blankets from Holles Street before she and child get back, so dogs can get used to the scent.

I think it's a bad idea to just turf your dogs outside and ignore them. Your focus is going to shift from your dogs to your child automatically, and it can be a bad experience for the dogs. They're used to being the apple of your eye, and now someone smaller and weaker than them is being introduced into the pack, and placed above them in importance. The whole thing can make normally happy, well-adjusted dogs into nervous and paranoid animals. What you don't want is a problem where the child is in danger from the dogs, and it's up to you to keep the status quo to avoid that happening.

Sigma Force

Just because there is a baby on the way doesn't mean the dogs have to be turfed out of the house, in fact you might make matters worse. If the dogs are left outside they won't get to know the baby as well as they would if they were indoors. If worried about germs etc then make sure your dogs are clean, and regularly wormed and de-flead other than that there should be no problems having a baby and dogs living together.
They need to know from day one that the baby comes first but the only way they will is if they are in the house. Putting them outside will just confuse them esp. if they are used to being indoor pets.

However it is a good idea to mabey give a tiny bit less attention to them just so that they get used to having to share their time..but not ignoring them or anything.
Bringing blankets home is a great idea, also before you go into hospital set up all the baby items that are needed so they get used to all the new furniture etc. New babies do take up an awful lot of time but you might be glad to give the baby over to someone else to mind and take some time with just you and the dogs...needing to take the dogs for a walk is a great excuse for getting some time to yourself

Have dealt with a new baby and dogs before and as long as the dogs were fed and got their walks etc they hardly even noticed the baby and just got used to the new routine.

How are your dogs in general around other babies and kids?

roundcrisis

i recomend to let the dogs in and also put the house outside so they have their own private space.
The dogs are part of your family and you should let the dogs where they are, they will realise of the change and they will feel like the "protectors of the baby" naturally. they know by nature what s happening, so dont under estimate them...
at least that happened when my then baby sister came into the world, the dog had a very tolerant attitude (ie: didnt give too much problem) and if somone he didnt know went near the baby he will start growling very slow and increasing like saying: hey you, get out of there, until someone will pet him or touch the instruder, and then it was ok.

hope it helps