Bulldogs World

woooohooo congrats on the baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what my brother did b/c they got the dog before having the baby...

when all goes well and your wife gives birth...take something from the baby's

and introduce the scent to lola...but i'm sure as your wife will be going along

scents and feelings will be felt all along...i'm sure she'll bond w/your wife...

enjoy every minute and relax!it will be fine!!! lol

One that crys and carry it around, put it on the floor, wrap it in a blanket, just like you would a real baby.  Get her used to the stroller, a walker,  playpen, whatever the baby will be using over time.  She's not going to leave the baby alone, bulldogss typically love babies and she will be very curious.  You just want her to make the right decisions around the baby.

I would never use a shock collar.  She'll have no idea why all of the sudden she can't bark.  That's like telling you, you can't talk or your going to get punished.  If you decide on a shock collar I suggest you put it around your neck first and test it out.  Just to make sure your doig no harm to your dog.

Good luck with the baby.  I hope Lola lives up to your expectations.

I have had three kids. life will never be the same. I have had dogs with all my kids. I would tell you if you want it to be good. put them together dont stop them from being together. my dogs have all taken to the babies at time I think its the poor dog not the babies. you will find if you don't try to keep them apart he will watch the baby better than any human sitter you can have. first child always brings some many fears. just talk to your baby and let him know it's o.k and you love thm both. also both of ya please remember to spend one on one time with also. talk to him when you do everything with the baby tell him he's a big help pat that head make him feel he is still a huge part of the family. please don't shut him out and you will have that happy family. I did this with all three kids and my dogs became their bestfriend in the end. in fact i think my kids abuse those dogs and they love it

Congratulations on your wife's pregnancy!  I haven't been on the forum in a while because I just had a baby in late January.  We have two bulldogs and they have adapted really well, but I had some of the same concerns as you when I was pregnant.  I would suggest working on any training issues before the baby gets here.  Our three year old bulldog had training when he was a puppy, but we got another puppy in September, so I took her to a training class while I was still pregnant.  There are a lot of books and websites out there that are very helpful and it sounds like you've already looked at some of those.  A book that our trainer recommended was "Living with Kids and Dogs Without Losing Your Mind" by Colleen Pelar.  It is available on Amazon in Kindle and hard copy versions.

We found it helpful to keep the dogs involved in our preparations for the baby.  We did not make the nursery off limits (except during "tummy time"- see below) and we let them sniff everything that came into the house.  We let them lick the baby's hands and feet, but we are always there supervising.  They have learned that they need to be gentle around her.  Our dogs both bark a lot, but I think she got used to the sound while in the womb, because it doesn't even phase her now.  We also take turns having one on one time with the dogs.  We make sure to play with them, walk them, and give them special attention so they don't feel left out.  When I delivered our daughter, we told the nurses that we had dogs at home, so they gave us her first hat for my husband to take home for the dogs to smell.

Although my dogs are very gentle, like most bulldogs they don't know their own strength.  When we play with our daughter on the floor in her nursery, we use a see through safety gate on her door so that the dogs can still see us, but they can't come in.

We were lucky to have family nearby to help care for our dogs while I was in the hospital.  A couple of weeks before I delivered, I wrote out feeding and care instructions and taped them to their food storage container.  Although my husband stayed with them at night, this was helpful when people were stopping by to feed them and play with them.  We didn't have to worry about giving instructions because it was already taken care of.

Good luck! 

Congrats to you and your wife! Cesar Milan did an episode with a pregnant woman and showed how to introduce her dogs. He had great tips but I don't remember what they were. I bet you can google the episode or at least get some good advice from his website. If you are worried about the baby being woken up by the barking, keep a fan going in the baby's room for white noise. My kids can sleep through almost anything as long as the fan is going. You'll be surprised at how fast the baby can get used to the normal noises of a house too. It will be rough in the beginning but it'll work out.

n/m