# Introducing your newborn to your APBTs



## MISSAPBT (May 10, 2009)

This is a question to anyone who has had a child with APBTs pretty much. Or any dog matter of fact.
I got laughed at by saying to my family I am getting Adam to bring home a blanket that smells like my son from the hospital!? I thought it was a good idea. 
I have no worries with Stage he won't even care about the baby lol. But Graces crave for attention is through the roof. Im a little unsure how she is going to take to baby first off.
I feel like I can do it without asking these questions but I just want to hear some stories 

Any advise will be great.


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## American_Pit13 (Apr 23, 2007)

With Fish I came home and laid her on the couch next to Moo and Moo at the time had never had puppies, but still cuddled up to her and rolled into a position to allow the baby to "feed" lmao.

I have never put a lot of thought into how I introduce the baby to the dogs, I have just always shown them what I brought home. My dogs have always been heavily family raised with nieces and nephews before my own children thought and I have never had any dogs that had jealousy issues or anything of the sort to have to take a more thought out approach. My dogs have always been very gentle and welcoming to babies and kids, so watching your dogs reactions and see how each one responds is how you will know what to do and how to change your approach if it needs changing.

I don't think the blanket idea is silly.  Its a neat idea.


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## angelbaby (Feb 4, 2010)

the blanket is a good idea it does help to get that scent I found with the dogs they were more curious then anything and just wanted to check the baby out. Waiting until the dog is really calm to introduce is best as Im sure you already know but it gets the dog in the habit of having to be calm and quiet around baby when they get hyper or excited teach them they need to go to a certain spot or other room or something I found mine picked up quickly that to stay around they had to be quiet and calm. I found having the crib and everything set up early helped as well since they are so curious it gave them a chance to check out that stuff before baby even got home. If you want boundarys set like not allowed in the baby room or something best to start that now { not sure if your dogs were indoor or not , mine are here so I had to set rules }. 
Iv heard of people dressing up a baby doll in the babys clothes so they could get used to the idea of a baby and seeing you walk around with it and after baby is born same idea as the blanket except they brought a babys outfit home that baby had worn and put that on the doll { i didnt try this but heard storys of some who had , works pretty much same as the blanket I would think}.
I honestly had a harder time with the cat then i did the dog lol , my cat used to try and jump in the bassinet and snuggle with my son , had to really watch that.


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## MISSAPBT (May 10, 2009)

angelbaby said:


> Iv heard of people dressing up a baby doll in the babys clothes so they could get used to the idea of a baby and seeing you walk around with it and after baby is born same idea as the blanket except they brought a babys outfit home that baby had worn and put that on the doll .


I came home one day to Grace knawring on my neices 'real life' baby doll head with ripped off arms and legs. I instantly thought about baby lol.

She has been raised with my neices and step daughter. but not from newborn. She should know that the baby is mine (ours) shouldnt she?
She gets very excited apon us arriving home so yeah AB its a good idea letting her settle down a bit before showing him to her. I have no worry she is going to harm him on purpose but shes so rip and bust and doesnt mean to be.

Aww thats a cute story AP13 and great pics


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## ThaLadyPit (Oct 12, 2008)

Liv, I've heard the blanket trick works well, but I've personally never used it. I always just brought the baby home, and at first made them keep their distance, and allowed them to be with me after baby was laying down, letting them sniff me. Then after a couple days, I allowed them to check baby out first hand, under my supervision. I believe the most important thing to consider is the dog's temperament and the amount of training you've invested in the dog. If you're confident your dogs have sound temperaments and you've put plenty of training into them (you can never do too much training), then you should have nothing to worry about. I did try something with my first pregnancy that seemed to help a bit, even though I'd socialized my dogs and had them around older children, they'd not met a newborn before. To curb any potential prey drive kicking in (I was new to the breed during my first pregnancy, and uneducated), I found a cassette tape with sounds of a baby crying and cooing and various infantile sounds, and played it for a couple hours a day for them to get used to the sound. They didn't even care really, just looked at me like I was crazy. I also kept the tv on TLC watching that show The Baby (where they follow women through pregnancy and labor) and was trying to learn everything I could about going into labor and how to handle any mishaps. When I finally had the baby and brought her home, the dogs acted like, "Eh, okay, another human." Only you know your dogs well enough to know their body language and read the signs ahead of time to know when to separate the dogs from the baby. Use your judgement and you'll be okay. Definitely take pix and be sure to post em up!


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## k8nkane (Jul 9, 2010)

Dogs can tell the difference between a real baby and a doll baby, though. I wouldn't worry about that--she's probably thinking of that doll baby as strictly a toy.


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## BlueBabies (Jul 15, 2011)

when i brought my daughter home i put both dogs into a seperate room. then while i held the baby on the couch my boyfriend led the dogs in one at a time on the leash. they know they have to be calm and stay by his side while on a leash. i let them sniff her and get used to her. they were already used to all the stuff around the house and knew that baby items like the basinett and swing were off limits. we kept tyson on a leash the first few days while he was around the baby. he's so energetic we were more afraid he'd knock something over more than anything. but now they are best friends and he's amazing with her


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## angelbaby (Feb 4, 2010)

lol ya she should know its a baby and not a doll to chew on lol , i think most of them the biggest problem is they just get so excited and dont know there strength . even Loki we have to watch with the boys not cause he would hurt them but he is soo big and so goofy at times and clumsy he would knock them over easily. teaching her that calm behaviour gets her farther will deff help you lol.


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## k8nkane (Jul 9, 2010)

angelbaby said:


> i think most of them the biggest problem is they just get so excited and dont know there strength . even Loki we have to watch with the boys not cause he would hurt them but he is soo big and so goofy at times and clumsy he would knock them over easily. teaching her that calm behaviour gets her farther will deff help you lol.


That's a really good idea. You could create a "zone" around your baby where you teach Grace that she has to be super-careful and gentle or something.


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## MISSAPBT (May 10, 2009)

k8nkane said:


> That's a really good idea. You could create a "zone" around your baby where you teach Grace that she has to be super-careful and gentle or something.


It is a good idea. She has to learn to stop licking too, shes obssessed with licking faces.


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## angelbaby (Feb 4, 2010)

LOL just remember dog saliva never killed anyone lol , I used to put kira down in her baby seat while i did dishes or whatever it was like a lil rocker that was really low sat onthe ground lol , I remember so many times I would turn my back for 2 seconds only to look over my shoulder and my boston terrier Okie would be washing her face and cleaning her gums lol , he was sooooo sneaky. There were times I thought he was outside or sleeping only to have him sneak up and get those kisses to her before i noticed lol I used to freak thought was sooo nasty but she survived LOL.


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## circlemkennels (Aug 29, 2010)

i never had any issues with my 3 kids.. i just brought them home.. tyson never paid much attention to them till they started crawling and chasin him.. then he wanted to play.. pheonix on the other hand would lay at the front of Cheyenne and Dakota's swing and bouncy seat.. i never really thought anything about it but the blanket thing its a kool idea  Teardrop stays outside but if i was out in the yard feedin or workin dogs and Dakota would cry (while he was inside asleep) Teardrop would hear him before i did and would raise cain.. everyone always knew if Dakota woke up from his nap..lol


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## ThaLadyPit (Oct 12, 2008)

angelbaby said:


> LOL just remember dog saliva never killed anyone lol , I used to put kira down in her baby seat while i did dishes or whatever it was like a lil rocker that was really low sat onthe ground lol , I remember so many times I would turn my back for 2 seconds only to look over my shoulder and my boston terrier Okie would be washing her face and cleaning her gums lol , he was sooooo sneaky. There were times I thought he was outside or sleeping only to have him sneak up and get those kisses to her before i noticed lol I used to freak thought was sooo nasty but she survived LOL.


Lol.. this might seem kinda gross, but Alyia, my APBT/Chow/ACD mix was really helpful when Chenoa was down for tummy time and would spit up. Alyia used to be the baby spit cleaner upper lol.


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## MISSAPBT (May 10, 2009)

LOL @ licking babys gums! thanks for the replys. Ooooh Grace would be good at spit up duty she eats ANYTHING


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## Gimbler (Jan 29, 2010)

My son and DIL did the blanket thing with their own dogs and I don't know if it helps, but it can't hurt so why not give them an "advance warning"?

We didn't do anything special to introduce the new grand baby to our own dogs but they definitely recognized right away that this was a tiny, vulnerable and very "high value" human and have acted accordingly from infant-hood through toddler-hood. I couldn't be more pleased or proud of the way she behaves with the dogs and the way they behave with her.

Funny thing about her toys - they don't bother them. Ever. Even if she's not in the room and they're strewn to hell and back. But, if I give my granddaughter a toy that we normally keep here and don't remember to pick it up before we leave the room odds are pretty good it's going to be chewed up when we come back. I didn't train them to leave her toys alone, somehow they just know to and anything she brings with her is off limits. So are her little puffy snack thingys that she spreads out all over the coffee table. The dogs don't touch them unless she offers one. But, unlike the toys, if she leaves the room all bets are off and they eat her puffies!

Dogs and babies go together like peanut butter and jelly. P and J that always has to be supervised! LOL


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

MISSAPBT said:


> This is a question to anyone who has had a child with APBTs pretty much. Or any dog matter of fact.
> I got laughed at by saying to my family I am getting Adam to bring home a blanket that smells like my son from the hospital!? I thought it was a good idea.
> I have no worries with Stage he won't even care about the baby lol. But Graces crave for attention is through the roof. Im a little unsure how she is going to take to baby first off.
> I feel like I can do it without asking these questions but I just want to hear some stories
> ...


I didn't read the other responses so sorry if I repeat anything. This is what I did with my son (who is almost 1 now!) and what I teach my clients when they have babies.

Most dogs will get very gentle around a little one but when you come home from the hospital I let the dog see the baby at a distance and make them stay back. You never know how a dog is going to react if the baby cries so Let them observe at a distance and not get too close. After a few days of the dog seeing and hearing the baby (who smells like you, no need for a blanket from the hospital) and the dog should be settling in to the noise. I would let the dog come up and your BF could hold the collar and let them come closer to sniff and gently investigate the baby. Most dogs will be interested but still keep a little distance, it is amazing how they can change to be very gentle even if they are normally hyper.

Some rules to remember and NEVER forget. Never, every leave a baby alone with a dog, until they are about 3 and know how to treat dogs but even then you have to really watch them. You never know what a baby can do to provoke a bite and you may never see it coming but is it worth putting your baby at risk? no it's never worth it.... ever! If I leave the room and the baby in at ground level like a bouncer I call the dogs with me your put them outside.
I'll tell you what happened to us.... Justin was in his bouncer on the floor and I was cooking and he was right there with me but I was chopping food and Tempest and Weitzen were lose in the house. I heard a noise and looked down and Tempest was licking his face and he could not breath. Poor baby if I had left his like to go to the bathroom it could have turned out different he was really little like 4 months old and could not get her off him. So things to think about just keep and eye on kids and dogs and you will have no worries.


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## APBT4LYFE (Jun 19, 2011)

Its been 3 months since I introduced my newborn Roxy. For us it was more like introducing the baby stuff and the baby to Roxy since it was all new to her. One of the things I did to prepare the dog for the new baby was the following. I randomly put new baby objects( strollers, car chair, crib) where they belonged so Roxy could get use to it. This was helpful because the first time she saw the baby chair on the floor, she had obviously never seen this awkward object in the living room before, so she barked at it, and slowly came closer and when she did and realized it was nothing bad we praised her for it. Once use to it we kept the chair out some where in the house so she saw it as something normal. Slowly one by one we started to introduce the stroller and everything else in the same way as the car chair until she was use to it. Everything was quite easy and all the new objects and furniture became normal to her. Now something you want to make sure is that your dog has the basic obedience commands to avoid accidents. Roxy loves to jump on me and my wife when we come home. To our guests she sits and greats them well, but now with the newborn we dont allow the jumping we put her on a sit or down position so that she doesnt jump on us while we are holding the baby, after we have put the bay down she could do all the jumping and licking she wants....I was worried she would jump while we were carrying the baby around the house, so every now and then my wife and I would carry a doll as if it were a baby so she could get use to that and not jump ,and if so we could correct her. When the baby was born I brought a little blanket home and a llittle towel for the dog to smell and get use to to the new scent. When the baby first came home we allowed her to sniff around and she obviously recognized the smells, and it was awesome when she met our newborn. Now she is perfectly use to everything but the first week was a learning week for all of us. She wasnt use to the crying and the getting up every 2-3 hours and diper poop smell, but she is now, and im glad Roxy has been apart of it because she has only become closer to us and the baby.


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