Babies and dogs toys
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
-
Fools Gold
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:17 am
Babies and dogs toys
Freinds of mine are having a baby soon and wanted tips on how to deal the with their dog which is very possessive over his toys, and how to stop their dog chewing the babies toys when the time comes
Obviously, never leave baby and dog unsupervised goes without saying.
The dog needs to learn to "trade" toys for really yummy treats. Google "resource guarding", there are lots of good articles on this. You might add "Ian Dunbar" to your search terms.
This really solves two problems, if they can train the dog to willingly trade toys, then they can also swap baby toys for dog toys. If they are consistent, their dog may learn the difference between baby and dog toys.
Our first baby is due in 3-4 weeks, so I might eat my words shortly <g>
The dog needs to learn to "trade" toys for really yummy treats. Google "resource guarding", there are lots of good articles on this. You might add "Ian Dunbar" to your search terms.
This really solves two problems, if they can train the dog to willingly trade toys, then they can also swap baby toys for dog toys. If they are consistent, their dog may learn the difference between baby and dog toys.
Our first baby is due in 3-4 weeks, so I might eat my words shortly <g>
Regards,
Aidan
http://www.PositivePetzine.com
Aidan
http://www.PositivePetzine.com
-
Fools Gold
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:17 am
Congratulations Aidan, are you excited, scared or a bit of both? 
Fools Gold, I think a good 'leave' is important. In my classes I train leave the way Victoria does, so I definitely approve of her methods
Start off with a treat in your hand and let the dog sniff, lick, chew, paw whatever to get the treat out. Say 'leave it' or whatever command you want to use, and wait. After a while, your dog will move his nose away just for a mili second while he works out what to do. The second that happens say 'good boy!' and reward. It's better if the reward comes from the other hand. If you repeat that, the dog will start to realise it's taking his nosse away that gets him the treat, and he'll start doing it as soon as you give the cue. Once he's doing it readily you can start to generalise.
Also making sure that the dog is prepared for less attention before the baby arrives, getting him used to the smells of babies and all the stuff that comes wiith them.
When the baby does arrive, your friend will need to make sure that she doesn't ignore the dog when she's with the baby, and then talk to dog when baby is asleep. Dogs can cotton on quickly that when the pink thing is around they get ignored, and they don't like that much!
Just talking to the dog when the baby is being fed, bathed and changed can make him feel included and not ignored.
I'm a bit of an acitivy toy fetishist (that doesn't sound normal does it?) which are toys you can stuff with food to keep dogs entertained when you don't have time.
Fools Gold, I think a good 'leave' is important. In my classes I train leave the way Victoria does, so I definitely approve of her methods
Start off with a treat in your hand and let the dog sniff, lick, chew, paw whatever to get the treat out. Say 'leave it' or whatever command you want to use, and wait. After a while, your dog will move his nose away just for a mili second while he works out what to do. The second that happens say 'good boy!' and reward. It's better if the reward comes from the other hand. If you repeat that, the dog will start to realise it's taking his nosse away that gets him the treat, and he'll start doing it as soon as you give the cue. Once he's doing it readily you can start to generalise.
Also making sure that the dog is prepared for less attention before the baby arrives, getting him used to the smells of babies and all the stuff that comes wiith them.
When the baby does arrive, your friend will need to make sure that she doesn't ignore the dog when she's with the baby, and then talk to dog when baby is asleep. Dogs can cotton on quickly that when the pink thing is around they get ignored, and they don't like that much!
Just talking to the dog when the baby is being fed, bathed and changed can make him feel included and not ignored.
I'm a bit of an acitivy toy fetishist (that doesn't sound normal does it?) which are toys you can stuff with food to keep dogs entertained when you don't have time.