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.