I know this has been done before but my comp won't let me search. I really just trying to confirm my return with a new baby to our house with my 2 ckcs (the apples of my eyes). So here goes.

On return i should go in on my own and leave baby and OH in the car.
Greet the dogs as usual.
OH to bring in baby in car seat and to let the girls sniff the baby (I'm assuming the feet will do although the midwife said aslong as they don't lick in the mouth she wouldn't worry about it!).

Is this enough??

My other concern is how the younger dog will react to a crying baby. When our friends baby cried it freaked her out a bit and i won't to make this as easy for them as possible. I do have some dap spray, would it be worth using it everyday from now on or is  it too late?

Sorry for all the questions but at 8 days overdue and not sleeping well all these things just pop into my head.

For what it's worth, with all my babies (3) I carried them in myself each time, sat down on the couch and let the dogs sniff, then just basically dismissed the dogs and turned my attention to the baby. That's it. No fuss. Never had a problem and I always had several dogs each time. They all quickly accepted the baby as something that clearly was very important to me.

A couple of nice memories. When I had my last baby, he was born 8 and 5 years later than his sisters. My Golden Dandy had therefore not been around a newborn baby before, my second youngest was one when I got him. Now Dandy was, for some reason we could never work out, terrified of a friend of ours. It made no sense as she is a dog person and had never scared him, but he would never go near her. When my new baby was 10 days old she came to visit. Normally Dandy would run into another room and stay away whilst she was there. Not this time. He was so scared of her he was shaking, but he stayed next to the baby ALL the time. Would not leave him. Checking the baby was okay mattered more than anything else. After just 10 days.

When the same baby was a few months old and had to have a hearing test, the health visitor eventually had to ask me to please remove Dandy from the room. As usual, Dandy was as close to the baby as he could as there was a stranger in the house, and no matter what noises the HV produced, the baby would ONLY look at Dandy and totally ignored anything else. :D (He was of course MEANT to turn his head toward the sounds.)

They're still good friends now, only the baby is now 7 and Dandy is 11. :) My son reckons no other breed than Golden really matters, he wants a world full of Goldens. :)

Marianne that's so lovely, got tears in my eyes :D :D

My oldest Bedlie Bitch was 2 or 3 when we had a newborn baby in the house (My friend came to visit ;) )  and we just let her sniff the bub's feet, madam nearly wagged her tail off! and would have given her a good clean all over if allowed LOL - at Nappy time we had to put her out of the room as she really thought she could do a better job :D :D :D

When I was born my parents had a 9 month old Pembroke (yes I know!! ;) ;) ) who appointed himself my guardian.  Heaven help anyone who approached my pram if my parents weren't with them LOL  And yes, we were inseperable as I grew up too :)

Ive recently had a baby and have also got two dogs (staffies).  Before I had the little one I used a doll and would pretend it was crying to try and prepare them.  Whilst I was in hospital my hubby would bring home all the babies dirty washing and let the dogs sniff it getting them used to his smell.  When we came home we all entered together, hubby held baby whilst I made a big fuss of girls then passed me baby so I could show them.  They were really interested in him and did try jumping up but after a few ssshhhh and nice commands they were really gentle.  We also got his things out before I went into labour so they could get used to them.  Came down one day to find youngest dog curled up in moses basket We made her get out and told her no, luckily she didnt do it again when he was here.  I found my dogs to be quite receptive and gentle towards baby, very curious but also a little protective of him.  Both would sleep at bottom of moses basket and if he cried look at us to see what we would do. Now hes older and more mobile they have an excellent relationship, he shouts 'eyyy' and they come running then he touches them but turns his head before they lick him :)
I hope all goes well for you and your dogs.  Im sure they will be very welcoming!
Good luck with the birth,
Paula x

My granddaughter lived with me for the first 6 months of her life and she is 3 now and Dicksy a cocker at the time was only 7 months old but he was and still is brilliant with Beth, when she came home he had a sniff and used to lie beside her moses basket all the time. To this day they are the best of friends and he follows her everywhere in the garden and sits for hours by her sand pit.  They have a special bond and never jumps up her never does anything that would scare her, however I wish the same could be said for her and I watch them closely as she can sometimes be rough although not intentioally and he's often got an article of her clothing on!  Biscuit on the other hand ignores her totally.

Awwwwww - it's been lovely reading all of these stories.

I'm expecting my second baby at the end of September; Earl will be 19 months old then and I had been wondering quite what to do about bringing our son home.  Sounds like as long as I'm careful and watch for any negative signs then all should be OK.

Earl has definitely become more and more attached and protective of me as the pregnancy has progressed.  He was extremely concerned yesterday when I assisted our 3yo daughter up the steps of a helter skelter at the beach whilst he waited at the bottom with my husband.  Poor Earl, he was desperate to come up the stairs with me to make sure I was OK :-)

Helen