Hi Guys

I'm just looking for some Doberman specific advice please. 

I am having my first baby in October and I really want to make sure my fur babies are well prepared.  My Chow and my 2 pugs I 'trust' although of course will not be left unsupervised, my Doberman however will need more preparation.  She is 7 and a half but I have only had her 2 and a half years after a family member was unable to look after her properly due to having health problems

A rundown of her personality traits are as follows:
Good:
Loving, affectionate, loyal, good with people who aren't nervous of her( will jump up at the fence to get a pat from strangers), good barky guard, loves the vet, etc.

Not so good:
Attention seeking, clingy (this has always been discouraged), jealous, sulky, resentful, can't be allowed near my cats.

Examples being:
If I call any other of the dogs she comes running and trys to edge them out of the way, she gets sent away.
If she's had a cuddle and I move on to someone else, she demands more so she gets sent away.
If she has a cuddle she sometimes takes it too far and trys to get in my lap, she is not allowed on the furniture so gets sent away
She is fine with the other dogs (loves playing chase with my male Pug) although plays very competitively with my Chow until he just gives up but she continues in a bullying way so I have to end it.

Don't get me wrong, she doesn't display this behaviour all the time so she isn't constantly being sent away but when she is she always hunches her shoulders and throws a resentful look back at me, plonks heself down and whines like she is so hard done by.

Ideas I have to help her:
I have ordered a book on introducing dogs and babies, not yet arrived.
I have a pram already so was thinking of walking her with it now so she gets used to it.
When baby comes I was going to have him in a sling as much as possible so his smell mingles with mine.
Let her smell clothes he has worn.
I have seen a CD on amazon which has sounds of crying babies on it, will this acclimatize her? (or just drive me crazy, lol)

The dogs have never been allowed upstaires so that won't be a problem.

Don't get me wrong I don't think she's going to lunge at the baby, the only time she has ever grumbled with jealousy was the very first day we had her, she was told a stern no and has never done it since, she just trys to push in front.

Any advice very gratefully received, it's very important to me that we get this right and have her fully prepared, as any Dobe person knows they are very emotionally sensitive.

Mant thanks in advance, and sorry for the long ramble!

Mel

I think the baby noises is excellent idea.  as you say baby noises can drive you crazy-so definatly best if she has idea that they nothing to worry about before arrives!
how about getting hold of a life size doll so you can start doing baby things now in front of all the animals?

Snap!

We had exactly the same 'issue' nearly 4 years back.

Our Dobe, who is by no means perfect, in fact a total nightmare sometimes (that's a different story) was just over 3 when our son was born.

He was my dog who I had on my own iniatially, but he accepted my now wife and they became inseserable whilst she was pregnant - in fact I couldn't get near either of them!

He displayed all the traits you describe and we did the things you list - left teddies lying about, pushchairs etc and allowed him to go near and have a look etc. We did this sometime before Charlie was born, as he had never really had any contact with children up to this point.

Long and short of it is my son and Harvey are now inseperable, we have another baby on the way in November, so I think my message would be to have some faith in the dog and rest assured that she will be adaptable to the situation - our's was and whilst he is by no means perfect, he is great with Charlie and they are great mates.

Saying that, they are of course never ever left alone, and as Harvey doesn't walk anywhere - it's all a 200 mph sprint, the concern of him knocking Charlie over is always there, but thankfully this has never happened and Charlie has learned to respesct the dog, and to get out of the way when he comes hurling past!

Good luck

Thanks for the feedback :)

Bez I suspected some of her behavior was breed related but as I didn't raise her or even know her as a youngster I wasn't sure. She too can be a 'total nightmare at times' and the best dog in the world at others. It's like she has some kind of dog bi-polar, either on top of the world or down in the dumps and very little inbetween. We will do everything we can to make this easier for her so I guess I will have to get that annoying CD, lol.

Mel