Jealous dog. Pregnant.
I adore my dog. She has what most people would call a difficult personality, but I knew this was a risk with this breed and was totally fine with that. I like the challenge.
Anyway, she doesn't care than I am pregnant, but she is an EXTREMELY jealous dog. She reacts very badly if we pet other dogs. There is no way she will not be jealous of a baby.
I don't want a horror story, separating baby and dog perfectly is unreasonable - a mistake will be made, but I adore my dog and put a tonne of work into her. She brings me joy.
What do I do here? People have told me things like 'bring home the babies blanket early for her from hospital' but that will not solve this problem. She does bite if threatened and I imagine me loving another small living thing will bring about a problem. I've also heard you keep giving treats whenever dog and baby are near so the dog thinks the baby is good. But, life IS going to suck for the dog... the baby will come and she isn't stupid enough to not realise her life is worse. I don't think treats will be enough.
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Have you considered a behaviourist? Maybe there's some on here who can advise
I’d recommend getting a dog trainer in for a couple of sessions. I have a 5 y/o bulldog who is reactive to children and I’ve learned how to train and manage this now, to the point where he was off lead with my nephews (2.5yrs and 6mos) last week! So much progress honestly.
If a dog trainer is out of budget feel free to message me and I’ll see if I can give you any tips from what I have learned, but bare in mind I am not a professional
My dog is the same way we recently got another puppy and when I try to pick him sometimes she will bark at him until I put him down she’s really sweet any other time but I think treats may help I use treats for her and it’s helped her get used to the new puppy being here or if someone gives her attention as well she will stop
I’m a dog trainer by profession who specializes in new home adjustments! (And general reactivity too!) always more than happy to help out my fellow moms of peanut for free whenever I’ve got the hands! From the info I’ve gotten off this post I already have a few suggestions but the more info on what you’ve already tried & anything else you think is relevant id definitely be able to give better suited suggestions ya haven’t heard already!
Do be warned I am a cookie pusher! Positive reinforcement works! Toys can also be the reward if that’s what you & your dog are more comfortable with!
AND I LOOOOOVE PHYSICAL MANAGEMENT! 🫶🏼🫡
I would recommend a trainer.
My dog gets really jealous whenever I give any attention to anyone or anything. It mostly just makes him more clingy. I'll be giving medicine to injured rabbit and my dog will crawl onto my lap because I'm not allowed to give anyone else attention 😂 I try to just ignore him, but he's not exactly the size of a lap dog.
I was going to suggest reaching out to you!
I’d definitely hire a dog trainer and start implementing leadership strategies and making her work for things. Sounds like she may resource guard you and your affection. Therefore, I’d say stop giving it to her so freely if you do. And start making her earn it. 10/10 recommend hiring a trainer near you.
hahahaha a cookie pusher.
I would LOVE your help thank you!!
never considered I am freely giving her my attention. I always want to cuddle her so I guess I always think she's freely giving me her attention hahahaha. I may have created a monster.
not a monster lol just a very demanding attention sloot 😂 at least that’s what I called my first dog 😂
So I guess I have more questions about how the ‘jealousy’ manifests! Cause like cait said it sounds a lot like a resource guarding issue but my fix for that wouldn’t be restricting affection!
Generally however I would start introducing a mock schedule of what baby living might look like for your family/household! (Playing baby cries, giggles, toddler noises etc) (you walking to and from the changing area/nursery, general nursery practice to start laying the foundations of how we behave in the baby’s room)
I just played 'baby crying to desensitize dogs' sound from YouTube and my dog ran away with her tail down 😬. She growled and wagged her tail at 'baby laughing'.
alright alright, not the best reaction to have but also not uncommon especially with dogs we already know struggle with some big feelings!
Biggest suggestion within that is to try playing the sounds some more whenever you’ve got the time, to help start desensitizing & counter conditioning!
you can start with the volume lower & asking for a simple behavior your dog already knows like sit or lay down & rewarding for said behavior & any calm behaviors we see after that!
Another alternative could be using the sounds as cues themselves basically so like if your dog really doesn’t like crying or laughing baby noises we could try to train it so that hearing such a noise means to go ‘place’ or to a different room etc etc. I definitely have so many more suggestions too hahahah
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