Why Bringing a Baby Blanket from the Hospital to Your Dog is Bogus!

When it comes time to grow your family, you may be wondering how to ensure a smooth integration for your new baby - with the family dog. You want to ensure the safety of your baby around an animal, and you care deeply about your dog, so naturally you want to put some effort into helping your dog understand and accept what is happening!

Some things in life are inevitable, and one of those things are the fact that if you’re having a baby, someone will tell you “just bring a baby blanket home from the hospital for your dog to smell” as a way of preparing your dog. Did you know this ubiquitous baby blanket tradition is TOTALLY BOGUS?

Your baby isn’t news to your dog. Dogs innately understand pregnancy and sometimes have been known to act differently even before the parents themselves realize there is a baby on the way. Your pooch can smell and hear the baby inside the womb! Letting them smell a blanket will not actually make any changes to their behavior when they meet the baby.

So what to do instead?

🐶 Ensure that your dog has mastered basic manners and obedience prior to the baby’s birth. Work with a dog trainer if you aren’t sure how to do this! Your dog should not jump on people and should immediately obey “sit, stay, lie down, kennel”. The dog should have a separate, private area where he can go lie down if he is nervous or overstimulated.

🐶 Start during pregnancy reducing the amount of one on one attention you give your dog. Also, stop allowing them to sleep in your bed. You don’t want your dog to associate a sudden lack of routine/attention with the baby. Give your dog a gradual reduction of special attention so that by the time the baby arrives, they’re already used to no longer being the center of your universe.

🐶 Keep your dog separate from the baby in the home for the first couple days, before quietly introducing them under close supervision. Never leave baby unsupervised around a dog, even one you trust.