SearchBaby on the way with young Doberman
Hello,
I am brand new to this network, but I have found it to be a useful site. I am hoping someone may have some experiance with the following: I am six months pregnant (due in October), and I have a seven month year old Doberman. He is still very puppy-like, hyper, etc. By the time the baby gets here he should be around 11 months old. My question is, what type of behavior should I expect from him and what training techniques should I apply? I know Dobermans tend to be protective with children, but since he is so young himself, I wonder if he will he be mature enough to understand his role? Right now he seems to think children are his playmates, even to the extent he gets a little too rough with them (knocks them down, mouthing, jumping). Thanks to all that reply!
I don't have any advice on that either. But I wanted to say congratulations on the baby and welcome to the group.
Welcome to the group! And congrats on your baby! I think Dabbles gave you some good advice. If you go through the threads in the training section you'll probably find lots of good advice. I had 2 big dogs at the time of my first child, although they were not dobermans. You can make it work wonderfully, but it will probably take some work, as Dabbles said, on training. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Ponch11,
Like Dabbles said, you need to get the basic good-dog behaviors perfected in advance of the baby. Specifically, Ponch should know that the only time he gets affection is when his little butt and all four paws are glued to the floor. So one should pet him unless he's in that polite little 5-point puppy stance.
The biggest mistake people make when bringing a baby into a home with a dog is telling the dog that the baby is their replacement. People do this by fawning over the baby as they did the puppy in the past, and at the same time losing interest in the puppy and often times locking him away or being overly aggressive with discipline for the sake of protecting the baby from accidents.
It's better to let Ponch greet the baby and know that the baby is a new precious member of the pack. It’s also important to praise Ponch for proper behavior. Likely, if Ponch is a friendly and socialized puppy, he’ll greet the baby with a sniffing nose. This is good behavior and should be praised. Sniffing means Ponch has decided the baby must be a friend. So reward this with soft words and long slow pets. Try to communicate to him that proper behavior around the baby is slow and deliberate.
Another good thing to start doing is communicating to Ponch his status in the pack. It’s around this time puppies start transitioning from puppy to status member. He needs to know he’s a “baby-sitter”. (Not a baby-sitter for your baby – obviously – but in the wild subordinate dogs are baby-sitters for the alpha pair’s young.)
Status is communicated in thousands of subtle tiny ways. But one of the easy ones is not letter Ponch be at the same or higher physical level. For example, when you have the baby on the sofa, Ponch shouldn’t be on the sofa. When ponch is out, the baby shouldn’t be on the floor, not until the baby is old enough to walk around and tell Ponch what to do anyway.
Dobermans usually do very well with young children.
Alpha I think gave the most relevant advice.
I have always worked hard with Steve to understand "gentle" and "easy". Both of which means he lays down and is not so exuberant. When meeting young children while you are training always have Ponch on a leash. This gives you the control. I make Steve sit or lay down before kids may approach him and remind him to be gentle.
Socialization, training, time and practice are key. I have a tie down station for Steve in the living room and if he cant settle down when kids or guests are present he gets tied up. This way he is in the room, but were he to jump or leave his spot he is self-corrected. Since he is used to this, when my baby is born he will already be comfortable with being lightly restrained if the baby is on the floor (away from him) for tummy time, etc.
If you think a trainer would help, and it might if you are new to training, look into it. Sometimes the one-on-one trouble shooting helps the most.
Best of luck! Welcome to the forum!
Thanks, everyone! I guess I should have been a little more clear in my illustration. We have been training him, and I'll admit, those things are getting better and better. We no longer have issues with greetings or strangers petting him at the park, including childen. Right those incidents tend to arise in the course of the antaganistic children playing with him, when both parties get too rough. Like the little boys who run from him with delicous sticks, or antaganize him on bicylcles, That's when puppy mode kicks in; albeit, the dog isn't the only who needs training in those cases.
My dog thinks it's a green light for mayhem. My ADHD stepson who'll occassionaly come to visit has to be reminded of his manners more often then the dog ("That's not how we play with the dog!!"). Sigh! But I digress...
My main concern, because he's never had exposure to babies, nobody I know has them, so I don't know how it will be recieved. This may sound silly, but I have this fear that the dog will think it's a chewtoy. Will he understand it's a baby human?
@Alpha, thank-you! Your comment was most certainly on point and you had very helpful advice. I'll start researching related topics.
If he isn't allowed to mouth you, he isnt going to mouth the baby.
Get a baby doll and treat it as a newborn. Hold it, talk to it, cuddle. When the puppy gets interested act how you would with the baby. Teach him to sit and wait to approach, whatever you'd want.
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Out of my realm, but I would suggest some major effort into training to stop that "knocks them down, mouthing, jumping". That's not acceptable whether a new baby is on the way or not.
If I were you, I'd check out training tips from Jeshykai & KevinK & lots of other members here. A 7-month old pup is right at the start of the dreaded "doberteens" so this needs to be nipped in the bud now, don't wait until that little one is here to start.
Congratulations on the baby & the puppy & everything!
Welcome to the forum