Spot Ignored Jill's Baby Until he Started Crawling. Then Everything Changed!!!
A young couple I’ll call Jack and Jill (not their real names) decided to adopt a dog from the local shelter. He was a year old, weighed 30 pounds, and had brown fur with lots of white spots, so they decided to name him Spot. (Not very original, right? But the name seemed to fit.) He was a friendly, active dog who loved people and responded happily to Jack and Jill right away.
The shelter offered free dog training classes to new adopters, and even though the couple wasn’t having any problems with Spot, they enrolled in a beginning class. Spot did well, learned some basic behaviors, and Jack and Jill decided that adopting him had been a wonderful decision. A dog rounded out their small family and gave them a new focus. They loved playing with Spot and taking him on walks and hikes.
Because Spot had a lot of energy and got restless if he wasn’t active every day, they decided to send him out with a dog walker two or three times a week; on the alternate days, Jack took Spot on extra long walks, and on weekends they all hiked together. This routine worked well, and Spot was calm and well behaved at home.
JACK JR. IS ADDED TO THE FAMILY - HOW DID SPOT REACT?
After a couple of years, Jack and Jill decided to have a baby. Even though Spot had worked out so well, they knew nothing about his life before they adopted him, so they had no idea if he had been exposed to babies as a puppy. He seemed calm around older children, but how he might react to their new baby raised some big questions for them.
Would Spot like the baby? Would he be jealous? Perhaps resent the baby? If he did feel jealous, how would he show it? And what would they do if Spot’s reaction was a negative one?
They had friends with babies, so they invited them to come over with their babies. Spot didn’t seem very interested in the babies, and Jack and Jill were reassured and decided to rely on Spot’s good temperament, and simply wait to see what happened when the baby was born.
Their baby was a boy, and they named him Jack Jr., after his father Jack. When they first brought him home, Jack and Jill watched anxiously as they showed him to Spot. They could see that Spot was curious but a little nervous at the same time. He moved slowly toward the baby, started to sniff, and then backed up. Then he tried again, and the second time managed to sniff the baby’s feet before moving away.
For the first couple of weeks, Spot got startled when baby Jackie cried, but then he seemed to get used to the new sound. And soon he adjusted to having a baby in the house, for the most part ignoring Jackie. Life continued much as before, as Spot went back to being his usual contented self.
Everything moved along smoothly for the first months. The baby, whose nickname had become JJ, moved quickly through the first few month’s developmental milestones, and by 7 months was showing clear signs that he would soon start to crawl. By 8 months JJ was crawling slowly, but definitely moving around independently, and by 9 months he was a dynamo, skittering across the floor and exploring everything around him.
HOW DID SPOT REACT TO JJ CRAWLING?
Spot’s behavior around JJ was typical of many other dogs in a home with a baby who has learned to crawl: he became very interested in JJ, whom he had largely ignored before this, and now he started watching intently whenever JJ was placed on the floor. At first Spot simply walked around with JJ, but as the baby began crawling faster and faster, Spot increased his speed so he could keep up with JJ.
Soon Spot was not only running after JJ, he was barking at him, trying to get JJ to move even faster. Life at home with this baby and dog went from calm and relaxed to chaos and pandemonium! JJ was “into” everything, quickly moving from one activity to another, and Spot was making lots of noise with his barking. Jack and Jill were worried about where this would lead; JJ was only going to get more and more active, and Spot’s behavior was already a problem. How could they support JJ’s development, while slowing Spot down?
WHAT HAPPENED HERE?
Spot’s reaction to JJ’s new movement was not uncommon; many dogs show little interest in babies as long as they’re not moving around independently. But when babies start moving, their new activity can trigger a lot of interest in dogs, who naturally respond to movement.
Think about dogs chasing balls or sticks. Their interest is engaged as soon as the ball or stick is thrown; that same ball or stick lying on the ground just doesn’t generate the same response in the dog. For many dogs, anything that moves is interesting, whether it’s a ball or stick, a skateboard, another dog running past them, or anything else that provides an opportunity for a chase. In addition, when a dog is not used to seeing the baby moving on his own, that new behavior means an adjustment for the dog.
WHAT DID JACK AND JILL TRY?
It didn’t take long before these parents were overwhelmed, exhausted and discouraged. Everything had gone so smoothly up to now, and suddenly they were in the middle of a chaotic home. What to do?
First, they tried simply telling Spot NO! when he chased JJ, but that didn’t work; Spot was too excited to change his behavior.
Then they tried putting him on his bed and telling him to stay there. That didn’t work either, because Spot wouldn’t stay put. Besides, that didn’t really seem like a good idea to them; if Spot had stayed on his bed, JJ could have crawled up to him, and Spot might not have liked the baby approaching him when he was on his bed.
Toys didn’t distract Spot either when JJ was crawling. It seemed that chasing the baby was more interesting than any other kind of play.
HOW JACK AND JILL SOLVED THE PROBLEM
After trying everything in the previous section, these parents realized they would have to find a way to make sure that Spot couldn’t get to JJ when he was crawling, and in the future, when JJ started to walk. Spot was just too attracted by JJ’s movement to ignore it, and trying to distract Spot just didn’t work when JJ was crawling around.
They called me and we talked about how they could manage Spot’s contact with JJ, so that the baby could have his time on the floor, Spot could be somewhere else, engaged in a calmer activity, and Jack and Jill could relax.
I talked to them about the difference between dog training and management: training is teaching the dog to perform a behavior in response to a cue or signal; management involves setting up the environment so that unwanted behaviors don’t happen in the first place. In homes with dogs and babies, management is often the best way to handle problems between the dog and baby.
Tips for using Management are included in two other blog articles:
Flying Solo - Managing Your Dog and Baby When You’re Alone with Them
Supervision: The Absolute, #1 Best Way to Keep your Dog and Baby Home Calm and Safe.
Check out those two articles for more suggestions about how to use management, and look for another blog article that explains specifically what Management is and how to use it to keep your dog and baby home calm and safe.
Here are some general suggestions I made to Jack and Jill.
Baby gates. They can be a great help in keeping dogs and babies separated when needed. (If you have a dog that sometimes needs to be separated from your baby and you don’t already have your own baby gates, get them ASAP - you’ll need them for your baby soon anyway.)
Crates or kennels. If a dog has a crate and likes being in it, putting him in the crate with a nice chew toy can keep him occupied.
A separate room. If the dog is willing to be in another room with the door closed, again with a chew toy, that can be a good way to keep him separated from the baby.
Fenced yard. Many dogs enjoy being outside, and that can be a nice way to keep dog and baby separated for short periods of time.
A separate outing for the dog. If a dog walker is a possibility for you, that can provide some quiet time at home for the baby, and give the dog some extra exercise.
WHAT WORKED
Jack and Jill had already bought baby gates, so they started putting them up to create spaces for Spot where he wouldn’t see JJ. A chew toy or frozen food toy kept Spot busy, and JJ was free to crawl to his heart’s content!
Spot had never been trained to stay in a crate or kennel, and Jack and Jill didn’t want to add that training to their already-busy schedule, so they decided to pass on that option.
However, they found that if Spot had a food toy or chew to keep him occupied, he was happy to stay in a room by himself; that gave them another way to keep him safely and happily separated when JJ was moving around.
Jack and Jill had a fenced yard, and Spot liked being outside. That became another good way to get some short periods of separate time between him and JJ.
We also talked about the times when Spot was out, either with a dog walker or on a walk with Jack. They decided to plan Spot’s times out of the house so they would match up with times that JJ was awake and most active.
These changes turned out to be easy for this family to implement. When kept away from JJ when the baby was crawling, Spot was calmer and quieter. He continued getting the exercise he needed, and Jack and Jill were able to breathe a sign of relief, as their home went from chaos to calm again.
Not only did the new plan work well for everyone, it also set the family up for maintaining a calm, safe home as JJ grew and became more and more active.
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