Hello everyone. I'm expecting my first child in February and I was was wondering if any of you guys had some advice on how to make things happy and safe for all of my family members, including the ones with four legs. For those of you who may not be too familiar with me my household contains 3 dogs - two siberian huskies and a great dane, and 3 cats.

Until this point my fur babies dominated most of my life. Most of my days revolved around them and when the baby comes that is going to have to change. They aren't going to be able to be the center of attention anymore and I want to know how to make this easier on them.

They have all been around babies before and are relatively fine with them, especially the great dane who take extra care and caution and is very dilgent around them and one of my two huskies is also very gentle but my older husky Shiva is a little nervous around them. She goes to the other side of the room and sulks with suspicous glances. I believe this was caused by her first encounter with a baby that, when she gently came up and sniffed it, grabbed her face and screamed.

How can I help her understand that babies aren't going to eat her?

Never leave your child alone with pets -- for the child's sake as well as the pets'. Babies/toddlers/children do weird, unexpected things, and a pet will react according to its nature and temperament. Even my most calm and peace-loving cat could lost patience with a persistent toddler. And the most benign movement or vocalization of the child can set off a pet into unwarranted or even displaced aggression.

CONGRATULATIONS! :D

My dogs (large and small) have been around babies on and off all their lives. I have never experienced any problems and they seemed to adjust very well to the baby. Most of them in the protective mode. IE. Watching baby sleep, following baby around etc.

On the other hand, one instance my Grand daughter smacked my dog on the face for no reason. The pup didn't understand and ran away (he had never been hit before) You need to teach and protect both from each other. They are both are unpredictable.:)

Eventually it is a wonderful sight to see them all interact, even if it's just the pup following unsure at a distance.:D

Sorry, I really didn't answer your question.
I feel that your fur babies have an instinct that tells them that this baby is part of the one they love and will adjust accordingly. Even if they are a little scared at first they will adjust.
Your time with your fur babies will go down at little at first (which I'm sure you can make up with quality) but then everything will even out. :)

Congratulations :)

From experience the best thing you can possibly do is teach your child from a very early age about how to behave around animals.

I have a 6 year old brother who has been around dogs his whole life with no problems other than the occasional "play bite" that was a little too hard.

I agree with not letting a child be alone around a dog until they are older. My brother has only recently been allowed to go play in the backyard with the dogs without supervision.

Other than that it is just a case of introducing the dogs to the new bub. Mum and dad did it on a leash and they say down with the baby so the dogs could be restricted with how close or pushy they could be.

From now until the baby is born... distance yourself a little. Just enough so they are able to survive without your constant attention. Before you come home bring a baby blanket with the baby's scent on it. Let them have it. When you arrive home enter the home 1st without the baby. They will have mssed you. Spend a few moments with them. Without a big fuss have hubby bring baby in. the pets will warm up to the baby. Keep baby out of dogs & cats reach.

When I had my son 6 months ago it took the dogs to get use to him. They didn't like when he cried--they would immediately leave the room but now they are used to him but I always watch them. I never leave my son in the room with them alone. And yes they got a little jealous when my fiancé or I would hold him. Just give them time to adjust and let them know they are loved too.

P.S. Congratulations!

When I had my son 10 years ago Indy (our lab) was our only fur baby. I was worried how he'd react. He'd had sole ownership of us for almost 4 years, I thought it would be really tough.

When we brought Jared home I placed his car seat (with him in it) on the floor so Indy could have a sniff. I kept my hand on the seat so I could pull it away in case something went wrong.

Indy came over, sniffed, licked, then laid down next to the car seat. He stayed there for two hours.

For the first few months Indy slept under the crib. Whenever Jared cried he'd run to my room, nudge me awake as if to say "Mommy, that little bald person you brought home is mad again".

Jared learned to walk by pulling himself up on Indy. One of my favorite memories of the two of them was Jared at around 6 months of age sitting next to the dog dish and both he and Indy sharing the food. Yes I put a stop to it right away, but first I took pictures. ;)

They grew up together. Indy has never bitten either one of my kids. Actually, none of my dogs have.

The kids have always been great with the pets because they don't know any different. When they go to a friends house and they don't have dogs my kids think it's strange. They grew up around their fur friends, and they love them.

Wow, another book by Alty.

I didn't answer your question, did I? Ooops. :(