Constantly separating the dog and baby

You need to be your dogs advocate. Your dog is giving clear warnings. Train your dog to sit on the sofa with you using food reward or whatever your dog enjoys. Give a clear boundary to your dog that when your baby is on the floor the dog goes to the sofa. It's hard work but your baby doesn't understand and won't for a few years so you need to prevent anything from happening x

I would say if you're dog is showing signs it's uncomfortable then listen to these signs and separate dog and baby in a way which is practical for you. A lot of people have baby play pens or stair gates as an example. We have a crate as our dog was crate trained from a puppy and loves it, so when she needs space she gets in there and we push the door to so our little boy can crawl around and see her but not physically get to her xx

It is difficult so I feel your pain there, the constant monitoring is difficult but they will adjust to each other and your dog will find ways to get his own space xx

You are doing everything right by not allowing your baby to be like that around the dog, all just part of the process until your baby learns 💜

However the dog could help you out a bit! 😜😂 Frenchies are known for being stubborn, but he could just be waiting for you to advocate for him? You’ve been doing so well with doing that so far! So maybe he just knows you’ll step in? Which is a good thing!

We have a 4 year old collie. He loves children. We taught him the ‘away’ command which we use when an interaction gets heated by another dog. So Monty walks away when asked, to allow that dog space. This also works well with children. If he’s being too excitable around them. We send him away then also. You could try teaching that? But like you, there was a stage where our youngest nephew was pulling at Monty’s tail and fur and stuff and the look Monty gave me. Like he just stood there and tolerated it and looked at me like ‘you going do something about this mum’ and that’s good! Like I

Like the fact that he looks for direction from me and knows I will intervene and advocate for him, so he doesn’t have to! Help your dog help you though, by either teaching him like an ‘away’ command or encourage more space between them like, ask the dog on the sofa with you when baby is on the floor and reward that. Be sure to do it the other way round too! As in when baby is on the sofa, ask the dog to go on the floor! Otherwise you could end up with guarding issues x

I had similar issues with my nephew, he and my dog absolutely adored each other but sometimes he was a bit too much to deal with my girl would pop herself in to her crate as it’s her safe space, he would sometimes go and close her in & then i would go and open it and teach him not to close it so she could come in and out when she wanted to, he was a few months older than yours so maybe a little but easier to teach but letting them both have separate spaces is so important

this as well! Separate spaces is so important! I’m due in November, so having a winter baby! And obviously on the cold winter days we keep all our inside doors shut to conserve heat. However my partner and I have already agreed that we won’t be shutting the door to the dogs room from the living room, cus mindful that if the new baby cries get too much, my dog take himself away and not feel trapped in the room with all that new noise! Xx

i’m due in November too🥰 unfortunately i live in a small flat so they can’t go far but they both have beds in the bedroom & crates in the living room, thankfully they’re both very noisy themselves and have been around a whole lot of crying babies so i don’t think they’ll be too bothered about the noise but they’ve got both the bedroom and their crates to go to

Aw sorry if I didn’t make it clear that I advocate for my dog already.. I don’t allow my baby to touch the dog and I move anyone and everyone all the time - I make my dog nests on my bed and the sofa to encourage him up. I’m just finding it currently tiresome I guess and was having a moan cause it is tiresome having a newly mobile baby and a dog but lesson learnt!

I thought you made it very clear that you advocate for your dog. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s just an adjustment and learning curve for all things babies and dogs! You’ve got this and you’ll get there x

you’re doing everything right so far, it’s not en easy thing teaching babies and dogs to co exist, they’re both learning not just one of them so it’s definitely going to be tiring, if you have room for a crate i would highly recommend getting on and crate training the pup if you don’t already have one, they can honestly be so helpful with everything, my dogs go in their crates to eat their treats so feel completely safe from each other & they go in when i have kids here too, sometimes go in just for a nap etc. You’ve got this, baba is still very young and there is plenty of time to teach pup that bab is not a “threat” as such, you’re doing a great job x

yeah unfortunately we are in small flat so we are really limited with space. We tried a playpen but long story short it was a no. And a crate also will not fit either - he was originally crate trained but we as mentioned we have space issues. He has a bed in our room and In the living room and while our flat is small our garden is big so doggo has access all day and spends lots of time out on his bean bag on his own. Just often still opts to sit next to the baby! Hey ho it’s still early days we’ll figure it out. And hopefully move to a bigger place at some point 🤪

thank you that’s very kind. Not sure what I expected but it wasn’t so many comments suggesting I need to advocate for him - hit a nerve a bit! But yeah still early days, we’ll figure it out x

yeah that’s understandable, if he’s choosing to sit next to her then he knows he’s not a threat so that’s good, maybe sometimes he just doesn’t want to be bothered, same as they move away from us or can show stress signals when someone tries to touch them, mine do it to me sometimes, they love their cuddles but if i try to fuss them they’ll sometimes let out a big yawn and turn away, only difference is we know what that means and know to leave a dog alone whereas babies don’t, you will get there with both of them. The main thing is you know your dogs body language so while teaching them to interact with each other if you see his body language change you move the baby away, tell the dog to go lie down etc, it’s not an easy job but i’m sure you will smash it! Xx

And my boy was born in December! Love a winter babe but advocating for them and myself during the Christmas period for a first timer and shy person was helllllllll. If I could do it again I’d get my dickhead pants on and tell everyone to go away lol. Cosy cuddles in front of the Christmas movies and the tree are lovely though! All the best x

Some dogs have to be taught to move away from a situation that is uncomfortable. I would start to encourage your dog to move when you see these signs of discomfort. The easiest way is to throw a treat away so the dog moves to get it.
Also create a safe place that baby is never allowed, a crate or bed that the dog learns they can always go and be away from baby.

yeah I think I just need to introduce treats for up cause he knows the command he just only obeys when he fancies it lol and is massively food motivated.