Introducing a new baby to our dog?

[Shalene]

My husband and I have a 8 month old lab mix, he is very laid back in the house, rather lazy and doesn't play with people unless he's playing fetch. He handles large groups of people very well, is fine with strangers as long as they are let in the house, if a stranger approaches us or walks into our house without us letting them in he will bark a couple times and watch the person closely but has no signs of aggression toward anyone or thing; he's fine with dogs, big and small as well as cats. He has been around older children and is great with them, he doesn'tt jump on them, is very careful and interested in them. We have trained him so that he is very obedient and we canliterallyy reach our hand in his food bowl when hes eating, get into his face, jump near him when he's sleeping and he just looks at us and gives kisses.

In a couple months we will be having our first child and I would like some advice on introducing our dog to our new born. Obviously, wearen'tt going to leave them together unsupervised, and we have arranged it so that he is not allowed in the baby's room unless we are in there. We need advice to make this transaction as smooth as possible because we are not going to find a new home for our dog without good reason, he's part of the family.

 

[a_hunters_wife]

Make him feel included and don't hold off do it immediately. If you have the baby make sure your husband gives the dog attention and the opposite. Labs are great family dogs so you should not have any trouble. He will probably just want to kiss her!