Mommies, your baby with pets....Poll!?

I agree with BYB that what you let your son do now is irresponsible.The dog is going to older and will want to be left alone due to age and maybe pain..Your son has'nt been taught to leave a dog alone and not not harm them.I would start now retraining your child to not pull ears and run over them with walkers no matter what the breed.\

My girls were raised with a GSD and a collie and have had dogs in their lives growing up and now as adults..They were taught to PET the dog and that was that.If I was in the room then they would hand a treat or play ball.I never ever left a small child alone with a dog unsupervised..till they are taught to not hurt the dog

We have a black lab who was a year and a half old when my son was born. During my pregnancy we would talk to my belly and say our son's name. We did a lot of research on how to introduce our baby to the dog. We brought home a hat and a blanket that our son wore in the hospital and put it in the kennel with our dog; so she could smell him before he came home. When we did come home from the hospital, we took the dog outside before bringing our baby inside. We put the baby in the living room and then brought the dog inside (on a leash). If we had done the reverse, the dog may have felt that the baby was intruding on her territory. We let her smell him and we praised her lots for being such a good girl. We have absolutely no problems with her and our son. He is 4 months old now. I think she is anxiously waiting for him to grow up so he can play ball with her.

And I hear you about the pit bull. His daycare provider has a pit bull who is the sweetest thing. And like with any animal; never leave the baby alone with it, no matter how gentle you think your pet is.

Thanks for the question.

my dog is 1 1/2 year old weimerainer. we actually got him after my daughter was born. im home alone often and i have hearing loss. we wanted a dog to alert me if i need it. he generally leaves my daughter alone. he sniffs her once in a while, and he licked her foot once. shes not old enough to play with him yet. he does get her toys now and then, which for some reason i take really personal. he does get concerned when she cries and im not right there with in a split second. (like if she starts crying when im peeing or something). i would get rid of our dog if he shows any aggression towards her or if she shows sings of allergies (i think we are in the clear with that though).

sometimes i think pitbulls get a bad rap. they are capable of bad things but so is every other dog. unfortunately the breed has been used in an aggressive manor and a lot of people think that the trait is inherient in every pitbull when it really isnt. however i couldnt say that i would get statistically more aggressive breeds if i had kids before getting the dog. i wouldnt get rid of my dog if i had it before the kids. you know that dog and its general temperment.

I'm really worried to be honest... My baby isn't born yet, her due date is April 8th..

I have two dogs, Lhasa Apsos. We've had them for 3 and a half years, but they haven't had kids around often, since we don't have them yet, and we don't have too many friends with kids that live nearby. One of them hates kids, runs away and if she's cornered, she'll growl and bark. The other is just scared of them, I can't imagine him biting though. I'm especially worried about how the female will handle it. I've heard people say that dogs will get used to a baby as it grows, and realize it's importance and not mess with it once it's old enough to upset the dog. I hope that's true.

Even if Jilly did snap or bite at the baby (not that I plan on giving her the opportunity) , I don't think she could do much damage. But I'm afraid that if anything ever happened, my husband would kill her. Maybe I should just preemptively give her away.. I'm hoping all goes well though. Anxious to read the other stories!

I have two cats and three dogs.

My three dogs are very protective of my daughter, to the point where my female dog will growl and stop the other two dogs going near her, lol. They're border collies. They generally steer clear of her (she's 12 mos and walking). At first they were a bit weary as they didn't know what she was, but once they realised she was "one of the pack", it was fine.

My two cats love her. They let her stroke them and cuddle them, and she chases them around the living room.

My daughter is never left alone with any animal though, i'd just like to point out.

Edit; I have to agree with BYB. Your son is gonna grow up thinking it's okay to mistreat your dog. You say that if your dog snapped or growled at your baby, he would go..... but what would you do if it was because your son had pulled your dog's ears and just one day he had enough and retaliated? You, the dog owner, would be at fault here, not the dog. Think about it in the long run.

I was nervous about this topic during my pregnancy, I have a 20lb rescued mutt who I love to pieces. But, she's skittish around small children, just due to inexperience with the twitchy little buggers. Their sudden moves freak her out.

I wouldn't have gotten rid of her just because I was nervous though, we decided to see how she does with the baby. It's still the wait and see mode really, baby's 2 months old today, but so far so good! The dog will sniff at the baby and give her kisses when she's allowed, and so far we've taught the dog to be careful around baby. Our dog seems to like the baby and be a bit concerned about her when she cries, it's so sweet. I think my dog and daughter will continue to get along, but like you, poor pup would have to go if she ever got aggressive with my baby girl.

I have 4 children and multiple pets and up until 6 weeks ago i had a dog i have 4 gunieapigs 20 breeding pairs of angel fish an oscar and a mixed tropical tank for the children plus a cat

My eldest 2 children have known since day 1 the fish are off limits they can look at the tank but they don't touch

My eldest 2 also know they can handle the Guinea pigs when i am present other wise they don't go near the cage

I had all my Animal whilst pregnant and have been to see a puppy which we pick up on Tuesday

One thing i am going to point out which actually disturbs me greatly is what you allow your baby to do to the pit bull your comment about the reputation of them because of irresponsible owners made me laugh and yes i know a pit bull very sweet

What your son is doing to your dog is what an irresponsible owner is the baby pulls his ears and runs him over in his walker how are you responsible it is your responsibility to make sure your baby does not do that to your dog

My children knew that they never touched the dog with out my permission and they certainly never tormented him like your baby is

Please get some common sense and quick if the dog was to snap at your baby that would be your fault because you have allowed the baby to pull his ears and you would get rid of the dog because of this

i am starring this for my contacts in the dog section so they can read this i am actually horrified by what i have read.

When Alex was born we had two dogs (one little one very big!) and four cats.

Only one of those animals has been an issue and realistically, that's because the disease ridden bag of bones needs euthanizing. (can you tell I DON'T like this cat?) It WON'T use a dirtbox and sneaks inside and hides it's messes in any cupboard that is left open, under the couch, beds and wherever the horrid creature can get.

The only reason that animal is still alive is because it is my husbands cat and he is a soft touch.

We now have three cats (catsitting two of the original four, and mum has finally let me have my cat back) and all the animals are running scared of Alex who is now 9 months as he is teething and keeps trying to bite them! Before the biting stage they were all very gentle with him, now it's a case of they can't get away fast enough!

I have never herd of a site like that, that says mommy after. Just go to a site and look at the names and think mommy or say mommy after it and see how it sounds.. good luck.. choosing names is sooo difficult, but fun!! :)

Sounds like a keeper, my mother could tell you so many stories of our past dogs looking after us when we were little. Think of it this way, if another dog picks on you and/or your baby would you want your dog there?

Also, learn to difference between bites and warning bites. The baby may push the dog too much IE: tail pulling etc and the dog will do like a gentle play-bite just as a warning which may frighten the baby but won't hurt him and he won't do it again.