Getting Your Pet Ready for Bringing Your Baby Home

By Michaela Tallant, ZimmVet Professional Pet Groomer

Bringing a new baby home may be exciting for you and your spouse but this transition can be confusing and startling for your pet. If you think about it, this new baby seems “human” to your pet, but smells, makes sounds, and moves nothing like your pet has ever experienced before. Plus, suddenly this strange and noisy creature is taking up all of their owner’s time and attention.

By planning ahead and taking simple steps before your baby arrives and in the first couple of weeks of your baby’s arrival, you can help your pet and new baby create a special bond!

Getting your pet ready before the arrival

• Start by having your pet take basic obedience classes.  This will help make sure they know not to jump, understand sit and stay, and have a strong recall.
• Make slow changes to your pet’s routine. If you’re going to be changing where your pet sleeps when the baby arrives or when they are fed and walked, then you will want to change that slowly over the next couple of months.
• Play baby noises. This will help your pets get used to all the different noises your baby is going to make. Desensitizing them to this will help keep their anxiety and stress levels down when the time comes.
• Teaching your pet to go to their kennel, bed, mat or “safe space” will be highly rewarding for you and your pet. This will allow for you to send your pet to a designated area and out of the way when you’re feeding or having snuggle time with your baby and need space. This will also allow for your pet to have a quiet, calm place to retreat to if they become overwhelmed.
• Getting a baby doll and teaching your pet the new boundaries with it ahead of time will also help them adjust more quickly once the baby arrives. You can use the baby doll to teach your pet the new seating order on furniture (pet, human, then baby) and get them used to not jumping on or cuddling with you while you’re holding the baby.

After your baby’s arrival

• Upon arrival go inside to greet your pets first. They most likely have not seen you in a couple of days and will be very excited. This will prevent the baby from being jumped on or scratched once your pet has a chance to release all of their pent-up energy before the first meeting.
• Give your pet time. For the first couple of days let your pet slowly adjust to the sight, smell, and sound of the baby. Each day, slowly introduce them in closer proximity.
• Once you have given your pet a couple of days to adjust, allow them to greet the baby on leash. Give them lots of praise and attention while they sniff. Most pets adjust and adapt very well, but it is good to take caution. When your pet is ready and you have control of the situation, always allow your pet to approach the baby.  If you punish your pet for getting too close, they may begin to associate your baby with negative feelings from you and problems may arise.  
• Make sure not to “forget” about your pet. Giving them lots of attention when the baby is around will be good, this will help lessen any jealousy and confusion that they may be experiencing. This will prevent your pet from associating good things happening only when the baby is NOT around. You want to make sure that your pet is receiving the same attention both when the baby is and is not around.
• Don’t scold your pet for taking your baby’s toys. Again, the main priority is to have them not associate anything negative with the baby. Teach a leave it or drop it command ideally prior to the baby’s arrival.
• Keep in mind its ok to use a gate to keep your pet out of the baby’s room or certain areas that you want to keep baby only.

Taking time to implement some of these basic strategies will help the adjustment of bringing a new baby home less stressful for you and your pet and will give everyone involved the opportunity to build a positive and long-lasting bond.