All members of the family and extended family have waited months for the arrival of the newborn. As the day has come to bring the new baby home, there may be concerns as to how the four-legged member of the family will take to the new arrival. This member of the family has not been indifferent to the changes going on around them. The excitement and tension in the family will have long been felt by the pet, because pets are especially sensitive to all emotional vibrations around them.
Suddenly, the spare room smells like baby powder and has strange new furniture inside. Their favorite lap has long been unavailable to them, as it seems to have been taken on by a little creature, hidden under their master’s shirt. No, the four-legged member of the family knows something is amiss, and they understand a big change is about to happen in the family household.
The preparations of readying your pet for the new baby should be done months in advance. This may be able to be done in the form of proactive training for the new pet. The furniture can no longer be a place for them to lounge upon. This is in case they decide to jump in the lap of a family member that is holding the new baby. Pet beds should be situated in certain areas of the house, and the pet made to understand that they can only relax in the pet beds, or on the floor beside the furniture, not on the furniture.
Baby gates are to be placed in the doorway of the new nursery, to indicate that this room is not to be visited for the canine member of the family. For the feline member of the family, the door should always be closed. Gradually as the family pet loses interest in the room, the door can be opened and the gate taken down. Actually, after a quick survey of the room by physical roaming, the pet may decide it really does not appeal to them after all.
If children have had free range of the household in the past, the family pet should be well accustomed to the presence of children. As for the presence of babies, that may pose a problem. Family or friends may help out in that respect. Ask a friend or family member to record the sound of their own baby crying.
Occasionally playing the recording during the day will accustom the family pet to the sounds of a baby crying. Treat the pet to praise when they no longer hide, whine or bark at the sound of the recorded baby. This may take awhile, but pretty soon the recording will no longer have any affect on them and they will ignore it, as they do the television.
As the new baby arrives, the pet will have a piqued interest in the new arrival. The pet should be allowed to see the new baby and satisfy their curiosity, if not but briefly. Parents should take this time to really lavish praise on the pet, as the pet gets the chance to cautiously sniff the blanket the baby is wrapped in, or the baby carrier the baby was brought into the house with
As soon as the pet has satisfied its curiosity, it will most certainly move away and attend to its daily routines. As long as the parents are ever watchful of their pet’s attitude with the new baby, and make instant corrections to unwanted behaviors, there should be no problems.
