Baby due December, worried about dog

Hi, haven't posted for a while.

My OH and I are expecting our first baby in December and we have a very hyper puppy. Well she's 1 year old now but she'll always be a puppy to me! I'm worried about how she will be as she is contantly jumping up, being nosey if you have something in your hands, licking especially faces. However we had a housewarming party on Sunday and my niece was eating on the floor and Nala (dog) was very good and didn't try to pinch anything! I was shocked!

I'm starting to train her more in not jumping up at me at the moment as I don't want her 'punching' bump. She's getting there with me but with everyone else she still jumps up. I have told people that they need to be firm with her and tell her not to as she only listens to the person that she is jumping up on but they just get excited about seeing her and it all goes out of the window and we're left with a major hyper dog!

Obviously at the moment all our attention goes on her, she even gets a bit funny if me and my OH hug while standing up (she's fine to snuggle up with us hugging on the sofa).

What I'm asking really is there anything we can do to get her trained for when baby arrives? I don't want to leave her out at all when it arrives.

start getting her used to the idea now, bring in and set up all the baby stuff as soon as possible and teach her the boundaries around it. Get a baby doll and teach her to leave it. Don't despair if she knocks everything over and snatches the doll... It's part of the training and doesn't mean she'd do it to the baby. Dogs are more clever than we give them credit for and know the difference between dolls and babies.

Start distancing her a bit more though. She can't be allowed to get jealous. Get a crate, if you haven't already got one and start giving her some alone time. Get her used to sleeping away from you in the crate. (You don't want to have to get up for baby, then dog, then baby all night). Feed her in the crate and get her used to sleeping in it when you're all relaxing, in the living room or in the bedroom. I have the soft collapsible type of crate for Kismet and she loves it...

The crate will be your best friend when you need times for you and the baby without puppy butting in, but don't want to completely exclude her from the room.

Good luck, persevere and remember dogs and children mix all the time. It will be lovely for little ones to grow up together... babies and doggies have a language and a world you are just not part of, it's adorable to watch. Just be sensible, don't leave them alone together, remember the puppy, but remember your baba first... and all will be well in the household.

Hi Amy congratulations on the baby
There is a lovely Dogsey article here by Shadowboxer about Dogs/young children/babies which you might care to read....

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=10261

If you do get a crate as Magpye suggest I would do so soon and get Nala habituated to it long before the baby arrives so that the two things are not associated with each other in the dogs mind.

Regarding the jumping up, no one should pay attention to Nala if she jumps up, only when her four feet and bottom are on the ground in a 'sit', to achieve this I would return to puppy training. If Nala jumps up fold your arms and turn your back no word no eye contact, wait until her four feet are on the ground and she is calm, then request a sit and give lots of praise.

Get Nala into the habit of sitting quickly on request, ask her to sit throughout the day before feeding/play/walk and give her a treat randomly so that sitting becomes reinforced in her mind and second nature.
Good luck

Congrats on the good news!
I'd say take her to obediance classes as soon as possible...get her out of the jumping habbit as soons as.
My boy can still try his luck with jumping when he is very excited hes 14 months but we are working hard at stopping it because of his size mainly but really because I think dogs shouldnt be allowed to jump all over people.
Your dogs only 12 months old...young like mine it shouldnt really be any big problem stopping it.
So I'd say while you have the time...find a good obediance course and get you and your pup booked straight in.
Remeber be consistant with your dog and EVERYONE has to keep up training when at home or on walks, were ever...from now on no more jumping up fullstop.
Your dog will get confused if your telling or doing one thing and then say your OH or the neighbour calls the dog up and praise it when its jumping.
Be constistant and make sure everyone who comes in contact with the dog does the same as you.
Also I would slowly have more kids around to pet the dog and have a little play with your pup...always supervised.. and fun, but also try and make it as calm and relaxed as you can.
Just to get your dog used to being around small people for when its new "pack member" your baby will be here in december.
After what you said your pup sounds good with kids anyway...BUT if it were me I would really get the young dog used to more kids so they feel at total ease around them!
All the best with your pup...training and your new baby!!!

Congratulations on your new arrival.....

No advice really, we have kids here all the time, but I find that the dogs behave differently around them anyway. Alot more better mannered....almost as if they know it's a baby

Congratulations! Bet you can't wait... You have some great advice here, and putting those into place, you'll be able to enjoy both your baby and your dog.

I would look at her food - if she`s on something with additives and colourings, switch to one that doesn`t.
Also - a dog will pick up on the prevailing atmosphere - if you`re hyper and excited, she will be. Resist the temptation to speak to her in high pitched voice or leap around (fairly impossible ATM anyway?). Reward her when she`s calm, not when she`s jumpy.
I`ve never used a crate - my dogs would lie beside us when feeding. It`s very comforting in the small hours to know some other creature on the planet is awake!

This is my nephew.... the dogs had never met a baby before he came to our house. They seemed to know he was a "little" person, and changed their behaviour accordingly. We had to do work with "leave it" to make sure they didn't steal his food/bottle etc. and had to stay calm, so as to not excite the dogs too much.

My worst habit, when Jake was here, was talking to him like he was a dog! He has spent the first year of his life being told he is a "good puppy!

'Scuse the scrattiness of me on the picture!

lovely dog and children pictures

i think the advice has been really sound. getting her used to everything baby related well in advance is something very worthwhile. even so far as getting her used to walking nicely with the buggy without a baby first...take it a step at a time and stay relaxed so she can be

A top tip someone gave me is that when the new baby is born - put a new (clean!) dog toy in her crib or amongst her things so it picks up on her smell - petplanet do a great little dog with fabric especially desgined to pick up on human smells (huggie hound) and when your other half or other family member goes back home they can take the toy and give it to the dog so that they get used to the babies smell and associate it with a nice reward.