Having a baby? Then plan ahead and keep your pet

Dogs Trust, Ireland’s largest dog welfare charity, gets about two ‘surrender’ calls a day — a woman is expecting a baby and she or her partner believes they should give up the family pet, is one of the most common reasons given.

“We’re seeing an increase in such calls. It can be a knee-jerk reaction. They’ve just heard news of the pregnancy and they’re nervous about the prospect of having a dog near a child. Sometimes there may be family pressure to give up the dog. They’ll say, ‘We don’t want to give up our dog — we adore him, but we have a baby’,” says Kathrina Bentley, head of marketing at Dogs Trust.

The good news is your dog doesn’t have to go because baby’s on the way. “You should be able to enjoy your child growing up with a dog. Animals teach children about responsibility, about empathy and caring,” says Bentley, who urges expectant parents to begin preparing the way for successful cohabitation of dog and baby as soon as you know you’re pregnant.

“Don’t wait until the week before baby comes. If the expectant mum has been the one mostly interacting with the dog, it helps the dog adjust to having less attention from her in the future if her partner now starts taking over most of the duties of walking and feeding.”

Bentley encourages bringing new items such as playpens, cots and highchairs into the house so the dog gets used to them. If you’re planning to keep your pet out of certain areas of the house after baby’s arrival, start doing this now, setting up baby gates if necessary.

Ideally, an animal shouldn’t be allowed in baby’s bedroom.

Well before baby’s arrival is also the time to bring the buggy out while taking your dog for walks. As you push the pram, teach him to walk gently alongside without pulling. It’s a good idea too to get a CD recording of baby noises and play it in areas where the baby’s going to be most often — this gets the dog used to the ‘strange’ sounds. And get your dog used to being alone in a safe area with his bed and a tasty chew toy for short periods every day. “If your dog has had any behavioural issues — aggression, separation anxiety, fear — get these addressed by an animal behaviourist before baby arrives,” recommends Bentley.

* Visit www.dogstrust.ie