Our staffy is 7 yrs old this yr, but still acts like a pup.  Anyway me & my hubby are expecting a baby within the next 2 wks. We was just wondering if anybody has got any tips.  Had the baby stuff  out for him to get used to etc but is there anything else.  We have said when baby comes home just to put the car seat in middle of living room floor for him to sniff and see whats there is this a good idea????

no experience with this but just wanted to say good luck with everything! hopefully your staff will be breed typical and adore the baba and be the nanny dog staffs are known to be :)

Congratulations :)

> when baby comes home just to put the car seat in middle of living room floor for him to sniff

I wouldn't personnaly do this with any dog, the dog only has to get exited and jump on the baby and damage can be caused without intent. I had an adult dog when I had my first baby, I can't really remember what we did, the first baby is 10 years old next week!!!!! I think I just held the baby while the dog sniffed him.

I'm sure somebody else can give some better advice than me :)

Take a blanket into the hospital with you to get babies scent on then bring it home for  the dog  to smell before baby comes home. When you fetch him home do allow him to sniff and see your baby and also make sure you can give him some attention yourself. 

As satincollie has suggested, take a blanket back from hospital with babies scent on it and get your dog used to all the new baby things.  I can imagine your staffy will be over the moon.  Mine love children, it's like a treat for them to have children over.

Our Dobe was 3.5 when our son was born, and as yet no problems, in fact they are inseperable.

We would put baby toys in the living room in the weeks up to Charlie being born, as Harvey (dog) has a tendency to run off with stuff!

Also, as the other post says, put the baby seat in the middle of the lounge for the dog to sniff and discover.

I think the key is not to push the dog out, we made sure, in fact perhaps over compensated for this.

Every day, we'd take them both out together.

Charlie will be 2 in June and does nothing but bully the dog - pulls his ears, feet etc and the dog, although he has plenty of bad points is truly amazing with him.

When we go out for walks now, charlie insists on holding the lead, I of course have my hand on the halti, in full control, but the dog is so gentle with him.

lol,
Doh!!!! I'm slow on the up-take today - I thought when you said to put the baby car seat on the floor that it would have the baby in!!! Of course putting it on the floor once the baby is out of it is fine *rolly eyes* . Please excuse my earlier dumbness :(

Of course it goes without saying, and I am sure the above post referencing pulling about by toddler is tongue in cheek, but no dog and child should be left unsupervised.  They can inadvertently hurt each other and a chikld will not understand when the dog has had enough or when it is warned to leave them alone.

Certainly isn't tongue in cheek, my son is always pulling the dog about, but they are never ever left alone.

The dog adores him and allows him to take liberties.

Hmm, I would start trying to teach the son that he shouldn't really pull the dog around - even if you are sitting right next to them, if the dog ever did decide he'd had enough of being mauled, he could do serious damage in return before you could blink. Even if it never happens, it's not very nice for the dog - I hope at least if he does get up and walk away you stop your son following him and continuing to pull on him!

we did this with my nephews carry cot. our girl kiz was a pup at the time and decided she wanted to be the baby and climbed in! apparetly very comfy

Well thanks for the advice on how to bring my son up, greatly appreciated!

Hey, this isnt about how you bring your son up, but how to stop him being bitten. Or your dog being hurt. No animal should be pulled around, it's simply not fair to it, end of story. Children need to learn respect to other things, and a family pet is an ideal way to teach them to show kindness and consideration to other living things. You, as a parent, have to teach them this, just like you teach them manners. As the child gets older he becomes stronger, more dextrus, so what happens next, the dog becomes hauled, eyes are poked, the dog is hurt and this can happen in a split second. The dog should never ever have to put up with being mauled. One day your child may try to do the same to another dog, after all unless taught not to the child knows no different, and the consequences could be dire.

As you probably be in hospital for a couple of days your dog is more than likely to miss you. When you and baby first arrive home, leave hubby in the car with bubs so you can greet the dog and give him lots of hugs and fuss. Once he's calm and returned to normal thats when you can walk in with the baby and let him have a good sniff.

Agree with calmstorm-its not fair to allow anyone(children or not) to "bully" any animal. I remember not holding my cat when i was little but my sister was because she was older. When i was deemed old enough to pick up the cat i was shown the correct way to do so. This also applied with playing with my grandparents dog as a child. I was "taught" how to do it properly and shown the signs of when to leave the dog alone.

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying - my son, 2 in june, beats the dog sensless!

They play together in very very very very supervised circumstances.

Hi
When  I had my baby I was away from my dog for 4 days so I made sure Dad had the babe and I gave a big greeting & lots of attention to my dog Kye first. Then after an hour or so once all the excitement had died down I sat on settee with baby in my arms and called Kye to come over and say hello and she sniffed him and she waged her tail- a lovely moment for me.
The problem for me was when my son was 18 months old and they think they can crawl over the dog and use it as some sort of cushion/furry blanket.
Your dog will see your baby as an extension of you and love the new addition so longs as you trust your dog and not become over protective. Please don't leave your baby inthe same room alone together for the first 3 months as sometimes a dog can become upset if the baby starts to cry and will want to comfort the baby and accidentally knock the moses basket.
Once your baby is in a high chair eating food your dog will soon realise baby = food and love them for it !!

Charlie will be 2 in June and does nothing but bully the dog - pulls his ears, feet etc and the dog, although he has plenty of bad points is truly amazing with him.

es, that's exactly what I was saying - my son, 2 in june, beats the dog sensless!

Is any of this tounge in cheek, or is this what really happens?
This really is not the sort of advice to hand out to someone reading this thread who may well think that what your kind natured (at the moment) and patient dog allows is any way how children (or anyone) should be treating the dog. or any animal.
Animals are not playthings.
And I thought breeders were being picky not letting their puppies go to homes with small children....experience certainly counts when finding homes :(
I have grown up with animals of all sorts, they were not kept away from me, but maul them...god help you if you did and quite right too. I have children which have grown up with my dogs, so I have first hand experience of what tots are like. But pull ears, paws etc...not allowed, stopped at the first sign (coz they will try) but it was discouraged. Not watched in supervised play or circumstances whilst they pull ears, toes and whatever, which only teaches that this treatment is normal.

My teens are fantastic with animals, have a love for and healthy respect for them.

A pet hate for me is to see any animal teased, pulled aound, mauled, or treated without respect.

Good points calmstorm - children need to be taught to respect animals, for everyone's safety :( 

I've often been asked by parents out with their children if my dogs are good with kids - I always say yes, are your kids good with dogs?  Mine as it happens don't have a lot of interaction on a daily or weekly basis with young children and yet tolerate them very well but I put an immediate stop to children being rough, over excited or any pulling and squealing with/around them.  It's not on.

Thank you for everyone's concern, really appreciated.

He is also being taught, that he can't approach other dogs, something we are very very mindful of, because with our dog, we know what he does and that the dog is brilliant with kids.

When out and about, we always make a point of asking other owners if he can stroke them etc.

I remember my Dad telling me the story that a 7 year old family pet attacked a family member a boy of 6 yrs- so the family demanded the dog was put down after the dog was dead the vet checked the dog over and noticed something in its nose the child had put a small pencil right up into its nose.
sadly no body noticed this until the dog was killed through no fault of his own.
Its great your boy has been told by you to respect other peoples pets, its just such a shame your own family dog does not get this same treatment. 

Oh magica thats brought tears to my eyes. How awful

Bez

I don't think it's just about a healthy respect on how to approach dogs whilst out and about.
Your 2 year old and dog whilst playing might well be supervised, but I'd have to say IMO the dog probably sees your 2 year old as an equal, a litter mate even.
Even my 16 year old, almost 6 ft and 2 year old male Stafford have to be given boundaries and limitations.
I'm glad to hear that you also do that with your child and dog :-)

Charlie will be 2 in June and does nothing but bully the dog - pulls his ears, feet etc and the dog, although he has plenty of bad points is truly amazing with him.

es, that's exactly what I was saying - my son, 2 in june, beats the dog sensless!

Reading the above, I fail to se any set boundaries and limitations with the owned dog. if the dog sees the 2 yr old as an equal, does he pull the child round by its ears and toes? I hope not. if he sees the child as an equal, what does that hold for the future?

Well the front door is always open so anyone is very welcome to come and see how we are bringing our child up.

Mind you, we only have a regular sized door way, so some your inflated egos may not fit!!

>Charlie will be 2 in June and does nothing but bully the dog - pulls his ears, feet etc and the dog, although he has plenty of bad points is truly amazing with him.

You're very lucky - one day the poor dog might decide it's had enough (when it has toothache or something) and really teach him a lesson. And guess who'll get the blame?

I'm sorry, but it's terribly important not to let children bully dogs - it's people like me at the vet who have to hold the dogs when they're put to sleep for retailiating, and we get fed up with it.

i'm not sure how everyones concern for your dog and childs safty gives them inflated egos...

with the number of attacks by dogs against children on the increase i should have thought that parents would be showing more concern for their child and dogs behaviour together. my nephew has never been allowed to be rough with our dogs, the worst trouble he's ever been in was the one and only time he hit one of them when he was smaller. he has never done it again!

at the end of the day your child and your pet are your responsibility. can you justify letting this behaviour continue? is it of benefit to anyone? i suspect that your reaction here is because you cannot justify allowing this and you are embarrased that you have let such risk develop in your home.

When we go out for walks now, charlie insists on holding the lead, I of course have my hand on the halti, in full control, but the dog is so gentle with him.

Walking a large, strong dog with a nearly 2yr old holding the lead and your hand on the halti...how can you possibly be in control? Of either the child or the dog?

This has nothing to do with ego, its simply down to earth common sense advice to help both your child and dog to avoid harm or other dire consequences.

There is no shame in taking advice, no harm in learning, no shame to realising you could be wrong. I hope that, especially as the warmer summer months come, your dog retains its kind nature. But, how many times has it been said...'he has always played with the dog, now the bl@@@y thing has bitten him.' As if its the dogs fault. It dies, the child has a faceful of scares for the rest of its life...just because it was allowed to maul. :(

> It dies, the child has a faceful of scares for the rest of its life

if your lucky :(

Hi bez,

please try to take the suggestions and criticisms in the manner they were given - not given to belittle or bully you but wholly out of concern for your child, dog and family life in general.

It's very easy for any of us to become complacent about our dogs in so many day to day situations but the simple fact is even the best behaved and trained dog around the most responsible people - including kids - can have an off day.  If your dog has a pain, nausea, panic attack that is not obvious to you it could well trigger a response that otherwise would be totally out of character.  The outcome of that seemingly outside chance could be devastating :(

Dogs need to be taught how best to behave around everyone and every situation but so do our children and I'm sure nobody is meaning to make you feel like a bad parent but merely to highlight the very true risks of the situation as described by you.   I've often heard parents say "the kids can do anything to the dog" and I cringe because while sometimes they mean the child(ren) can play all sorts of games with the dog and basically "buddy around" with it, other times they mean the child can poke, prod, smack, tease and/or dress the dog and it hasn't occurred to them that that situation is extremely dangerous and irresponsible :(

best wishes, Teri

Bez, nobody here is trying to put you down, far from it. Would hate for your family, child or dog to become another statistic.
Did you serious think you could admit to letting your child "bully" your dog and "pull his ears& feet" with no consequence.
I remember watching as a youngster my friend pinch or hit her cat (cant remember which) immediately followed by her mum who did the same to her. My friend started crying and her mum said "it serves you right. im only doing to you what you just did to the cat.Thats how much you hurt the cat". Some wouldnt agree to that but i see it as fair, and believe me a child would soon learn their lesson. However, that would only apply when a child is old enough to know right from wrong. As a youngster they should be educated and taught to handle animals correctly.
Hopefully the dog wont turn but one day when its had enough it quite possible could. And who could blame it?

Well put Teri. Couldn't agree more. :)

> My friend started crying and her mum said "it serves you right. im only doing to you what you just did to the cat.Thats how much you hurt the cat". Some wouldnt agree to that but i see it as fair, and believe me a child would soon learn their lesson

empathy and sympathy in action :)