Introducing a newbaby

A dog is a pack animal and it assumes a position in your household just as it would in a pack. In the wild, dogs don’t take to kindly to strange wolves barging in and it’s a very precarious postion for the new wolf to be in and he or she is an adult. trying to barge into the pack. For your dog at home a baby can seem like just such an interloper, and the situation is made worse when the new baby receives all the attention.

If you imagine the situation from your dog's point of view then you can see that it's quite understandable. Everything's going fine then a noisy, funny smelling baby joins the pack (your home as far as you're concerned). Obviously mum's very busy with the new baby and as a result the dog is ignored. He can clearly see that the baby is receiving attention from all the family and from visitors too, and he can become quite jealous. Especially with dominant dogs, aggression can arise which sometimes leads to a bite. However in most cases this is an uncommon event.

Sometimes, people contact us prior to the baby being born, in which case we have time to prepare the dog for such an addition to the family group. However, many people do not feel that their dog will present a problem and so seek help afterwards.