How to Prepare a Dog for Baby | Stop Dogs From Peeing on Kids’ Stuff

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Unless you have friends who have pets, no one tells you how to prepare a dog for baby. If you notice that your dog is marking on your children’s toys or clothes shoes, you should be doing three things to help resolve that issue. 

how to prepare a dog for baby

Dog Marking or “peeing” on children’s clothing is very serious, and you have to nip it in the bud immediately. If it gets to a point where you are unsure of your dog’s interactions with your baby, it can affect your dog, your baby, or your family. You don’t want the problem to get out of control.

This post is about how to prepare a dog for baby.

How to Introduce Dogs and Babies

How to prepare a dog for baby first interaction is so important to the family structure. As a family that had our corgi 15 months before bringing our baby home, that method that we used was the best thing we could do best on our dog’s breed. You may hear other things, but this is the most neutral way of introducing your dog to a baby, and we would recommend everyone try it. 

We learned this from the local doggy daycare that my husband and I were taking our dog to. If we have additional children, we will do this method again to ensure another smooth transition between the baby and our dog.

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  1. Remove the dog from home about a day or two before the expected delivery date.
  2. Send the clothes that the baby was wearing to the place your dog is staying.
    1. This will help your dog get introduced to the scent of the new family member without the baby being a threat. 
  3. Do this for a few days. The longer, the better.
    1. If you find that the dog is marking “peeing” on the newborn’s clothes, you will know that this dog will show signs dog is jealous of the baby. 
    2. If you find that your dog is not peeing on your newborn’s clothes or other items, you are in a good place, and there is a low chance your dog will show signs of jealousy.

You will know your dog’s temperament the best. There are other ways of introducing your dog and baby that are still effective. 

After You Bring Baby Home

When you first bring your baby home, your pet may start marking your children’s items. The initial reason this happens is that your dog is jealous. They are not sure of their placement and how they fit into a family dynamic. Also, they’re trying to assert dominance over certain items or things the child could put the child in their place.

Your job is to make sure everyone can live in harmony and to do that, you have to nip the marking in the bud with your dog as soon as you notice it. If you see that your dog urinates on your baby’s clothes, my suggestion and recommendation are to reprimand the dog.

I don’t mean hitting or abusing your dog. That is ineffective, and I consider dog abuse, and I don’t condone violence against animals. There are plenty of ways of reprimanding your pet without beating the crap out of them, and most of the time, taking a firm tone (not yelling) while they are in the act is more than enough to get them to stop peeing in action. 

Dog peeing on baby stuff should be taken seriously.

Dog Potty Training Regression

You come in after your dog has already done the deed. The first thing you want to do is move items immediately from the area. If you have carpet, you need to neutralize the space. Great items to use are: baking soda, vinegar, and water base items are really good to help protect the carpet. These products also help neutralize the dog’s scent if you can wash your baby’s clothes with baking soda and vinegar.  

The best way to go is to just throw the items away and replace them. That is another excellent option because you don’t want any signs of the pet scent on your child’s things. After all, you want to clarify to the dog that this is not theirs. This is not how they assert dominance over the child. That’s a no-go.

To watch the full video on dog marking and the relationship between dogs and babies, click below. 

Interested in purchasing items you saw in the video? Click here to see where I bought the dog cleaners for our carpets.

Dogs and Children

Years have passed, and your dog and toddler are getting along. Your child is older, and your dog hasn’t been marking on your kids’ items, but you notice that they start to mark out of the blue. You want to do the same process as you did when you first were experiencing the do marking.

Sometimes marking when your child is older after your child had a good experience with the pet could be because of a change in behavior or a difference in the family dynamics between the dog and child. For example, let’s say your child has left home for a while, and it’s just the dog home. The dog might feel like, now that the child is not here, let me start to assert my dominance over their items.

If you are experiencing this again and more frequently, it might be a sign that you need to spend more time with your dog. You’ll want to make sure you’re spending more time with your pet. It could be playing with your dog for five minutes, walking with them more, or doing an activity they love like playing fetch, frisbee, or whatever your dog likes to do. Often, your dog feels like the dog is not getting paid enough attention, so the dog will start marking as a way of saying, “I need attention.”  

Reinforcing that children don’t change how you feel about your dog. Your dog doesn’t have to take it out on your child. Remember, your dog is always trying to adjust to new family dynamics, and so these are the things that you have to do to reassure the animal that it’s going to be okay.

dog peeing on baby stuff

Sick Dog Symptoms

If you think your dog’s behavior is getting more out of the normal, you’ll have to get into the mindset of monitoring your pet. Whenever your dog moves to different rooms of your home, you will have to follow them. You want to reinforce that this is not their territory, so peeing is not acceptable. 

Suppose you noticed that your dog is continually marking on your kids’ items, and you tried washing your kids’ items. If you’ve been attempting to put your dog in more favorable environments with your kids, you might want to escalate to a professional. 

Getting professional help might be the best option because it might be something beyond the initial ways you have tried to stop your dog from peeing in the home or in your child’s spaces. The dog’s health problems could be simple, like a urinary tract infection. 

It’s best to have a vet to take care of so that you can reduce the issues your dog may have with your child.

Dogs have feelings and emotions just like humans so remember. If you have siblings, think about when you were younger. You and your siblings would be fighting and not getting along. It’s really the same principles. Making sure at the end of the day to love your dogs and babies is the most essential thing to remember, and everything will work out in the end whit your dog, your baby, and the family. 

This post was about how to prepare a dog for baby.

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