Beagles and a New Baby

New baby? A common sense approach

Welcoming a new baby into the home can present challenges for your beagle, as disruptions to routine, shifts in attention, and new sights, sounds and smells may all cause stress or anxiety in your dog.

It’s important for owners to be mindful of these challenges and take proactive steps to help their dog adjust to the new addition to the family. This may include providing plenty of positive reinforcement, maintaining consistent routines, supervising interactions between the dog and baby, and seeking guidance from an accredited dog trainer if needed.

With patience, understanding, and proper management, many dogs can successfully adapt to life with a new baby in the home.

Before your baby arrives

There is so much you can do before the arrival of your baby to ensure a smoother transition for your dog:

Problem behaviours

Probably the most important thing to do before your new baby arrives is to deal with any behaviour problems your hound currently has. Even if your dog is well-behaved in general, issues like lead pulling can be much more challenging when you are walking with a pram. Contact an accredited trainer for help with this.

Confinement and separation

It’s important that you set up “safe zones” for your dog where they can take themselves away from the baby and get ample rest. Dividing your living areas with fencing or introducing baby gates between rooms can be a helpful way of doing this, BUT it’s important to get your dog used to the new setup as early as possible and avoid springing too many changes on them at once!

Settle Training

Teaching your dog to go to a place and settle can be invaluable for when you need to change a nappy, feed, or dress the baby. This exercise can be a fantastic tool, as, when trained correctly, your dog can be very motivated to go to their “place” and relax.

Noises

Lots of dogs find baby noises alarming, especially if they haven’t heard them before. So, it is important that you help them get used to these before the arrival of the baby. You can find lots of baby noise soundtracks on Spotify or YouTube. Starting at the lowest volume, play these to your dog daily whilst they are occupied with something that they enjoy (such as when they are eating dinner, have a chew, or during play). Over the days, you can slowly increase the volume until they are at a real-life noise level. The aim is to see NO reaction from your dog, so if they are worried or responding by barking, go back to a quieter noise level.

Equipment

It can be really helpful to get your dog used to prams, highchairs, toys, playpens, and any other baby equipment, well before the arrival of your baby. Gradually introduce these items around the house in the months leading up to the birth.

Train your dog to settle on a bed

Consistency is key with this training, and we suggest practising the below for a couple of minutes, twice per day:

  1. Sprinkle treats on their bed generously and allow your dog to eat them. Once they have finished, repeat this once.
  2. Place a treat in front of your dog’s nose and roll it away from the bed, allowing them to chase it.
  3. Without giving any kind of instruction or cue, wait and see if your dog returns to their bed where they were last fed plenty of treats.
  4. If they place even one paw on the surface of their bed, then say their marker word (yes, good, nice) and drop a few treats to the bed.
  5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 until your dog starts to realise that they must return to the bed in order to get the food.
  6. Once your dog is returning to their bed every time, you can ask them for a “sit” or a “down” before rewarding. When they are sitting or lying down, keep a steady stream of treats arriving on their bed.
  7. After you have repeated this at least 5 times, wait and see if your dog offers you a sit without you asking them to.
  8. You can also introduce your cue “bed” when your dog is able to walk over to their bed and settle.
  9. Over time you can start to gradually increase the distance between you and the bed so that you can send your dog away to their bed without having to go with them.
  10. Finally, increase the duration between feeds and start to add in distractions before rewarding, such as pretending to change a nappy.

First meetings

It can be helpful to plan the first few meetings of dog and baby in advance:

  • Make sure that your dog has had a walk prior to the first meeting and introduce them at a time of day when your dog is generally calmer.
  • Greet your dog separately (especially if you have been away for a few days) as they will be excited to see you and possibly want to jump up.
  • Prep enrichment activities such as stuffed Kongs, Lickimats, or snuffle mats so that your dog can easily be diverted to a calming activity.
  • Keep your dog on a lead for all early interactions but wherever possible, keep the lead loose, so that your dog feels relaxed during the interaction.
  • Set boundaries from the start and do not let your dog jump, lick, or sniff near the baby’s face. You should not tell them off but gently distract them away. Praise and reward them for calm interactions.
beagles and a new baby

Routines

Routine changes can have a big impact on your dog, especially if they struggle with anxiety.

  • Employing a dog walker can be a helpful way to ensure your dog’s outdoor time and exercise remain consistent, especially if you won’t have the time to take your dog for longer walks in the first few months.
  • Try and set aside short 5-minute breaks to spend playing or interacting with your dog throughout the day.

Body Language

Taking time to learn some basic body language can be hugely helpful for preventing any escalation in behaviours from your dog. It’s rare for dogs to engage in aggression simply for the sake of it, but many dogs will resort to growling or snapping if their early warning signals have been missed.

Signs of stress:

  • Panting and pacing.
  • The tail may be held under the body, or stiff and upright with a rigid wagging motion when stressed or worried.
  • Changes in facial expression: turning their head away to show the whites of the eye, fast blinking, lip and nose licking.
  • The ears may be pulled back to the head when fearful.
  • Avoidance such as hiding behind the owner or under chairs; and attempting to retreat from the child.
  • Behaviours seen out of context, such as scratching, sniffing the ground, yawning, and shaking off.
  • Aggressive postures such as lunging, growling, snapping, and even biting can all be overt signs of fear, and these are more often displayed when lower signals have been ignored.

It is essential to contact a qualified professional if your dog is showing any signals of discomfort around your baby.

Active Supervision

You should never leave a small child alone with a dog, however friendly the dog may have been to a child in the past. When dogs and children are present in the same space, it is essential that you are actively supervising them. This means watching them without the distractions of phones or other devices.

Once your child starts moving around, things can become more challenging as toddlers’ movements are sporadic and unpredictable.

  • It’s important that a toddler is never allowed to chase your dog because the dog may be forced to warn the child off by growling or snapping if they feel confined.
  • Young children are unable to read body language and back off themselves, so it is essential that you are present to interrupt any behaviours that your dog will not be happy with.
  • Children can also be bitten by falling on sleeping dogs, poking fingers in the dog’s eyes and ears, or by shouting or moving suddenly in the dog’s face.

When you are unable to supervise, the best way to prevent accidents is to keep everyone separated by using a child gate.

  • Intervene and separate them calmly if one or the other starts to get silly or over-excited.
  • Children and dogs learn best when they’re rewarded for the right behaviour. Give treats and praise the dog for behaving gently with the child and do the same for the child behaving gently with the dog.

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