Doggy

We have a pair of dogs that, before baby was born, had me worried. Not only had there been a recent tragedy with a newborn killed by a trusted family dog not far from where we live, but it seemed to me that a baby might not feel safe with hulking, big-toothed characters padding around the house. That one of our dogs was a 33-pound beagle and the other a generally gentle boxer mix who weighs all of 48 pounds didn’t allay my fears all that much. We’ve been blessed, meanwhile, to have a dog trainer who walks and feeds our dogs when we go on trips, and she did some training to prepare Boo and Charlie for baby’s arrival. She also gave us exercises to work on with them that would promote appropriate behaviors, and we did the exercises. One was playing recorded sounds of a baby crying and rewarding the dogs when they licked their lips, which, we learned, was something called “self-calming” and one of the desired behaviors.

The first thing I did when we brought baby home from the hospital (though I was so exhausted I could barely stand), was to take the larger and more energetic Boo for a run. (Charlie isn’t a big fan of jogging.) Well, the first day home after that run went OK, and the first several weeks of baby’s life went OK, in terms of multi-species cohabitation and all. Boo was initially more aware than Charlie that baby existed and had spatial requirements, but both of them have shown signs of understanding that we are a five-creature family – leaving dad pretty relieved.

What I did not anticipate was seeing baby smile at the dogs without prompting, interacting with them in a manner that suggests mutual understanding and appreciation. Put it this way, she’d been sitting in a corner of the couch near Boo today when I picked her up to be closer to her dad, and it didn’t go over all that well. Baby scrunched up her face and began making incipient sounds of discontent. Mildly humbled, I put her back near Boo, and they both seemed very pleased.