For those of you that had the boxer before the baby...

[Trinitysmom]

How old was your boxer when you brought the new baby home? And how did the boxer react? Did you do anything to prepare the dog for the baby's arrival? We have a 17 week old boxer and will be trying for a baby come September and was just wondering how we could get Trinity used to a baby in "her" house?
Thanks! :D

 

[BXR MOM]

Mine were 16 months and 7 years when I had my baby girl. When I came home from the hospital I came in to the house alone so that I could have a few moments alone with them. Remember, I had been gone for 3 days without them. Then we brought the baby in and set her in her car seat at their level and showed her to each one of the dogs seperately. We let them gently smell her and give her a kiss. We never had any problems getting them acclamated to her. The only issue I had was one of them was as tired as I was for the first few months because everytime I got up with the baby she was so nosy that she got up and sat with us too!

If you are at all concerned I would start taking your boxer to parks and soccer games where there is lots of kids and noise to prepare her for a child. My two boxers lover their skin sister and vice versa. My daughter has even learned to say their names now and her favorite expressions are "Where's Lucy, Where's Linus and Come Lucy, Come Linus." They are all best buddies.

 

[Trinitysmom]

BXR MOM Thanks! She has been really great with the kids she's been around so far, but I will start to bring her around kids more so she could get used to them!

 

[RoxyRockets]

New Baby and Boxer

I would definitely agree with the other poster, when you return home have some time alone with your boxer before bringing the baby into the house.

Roxy was 18 months when I brought my son home and was very concerned with me. She was actually very gentle with me and seemed afraid of approaching me. She must have smelled my injuries from the delivery.

After giving her some love, we took Roxy out to our car and let her find the baby. She was very excited, but we told her to be gentle. At first, we would not let her touch or lick the baby's face. Then after she got used to being around the baby, we relaxed a bit more. We know she would not do anything, but we needed to set the boundaries. Now, my son is 8 months old and climbs, tugs, chases, and gives kisses to Roxy. Roxy licks him and is so very tolerant---we have to tell our son to be gentle.

Roxy gets one on one attention even now, but its not nearly as much as she used to get from me. On the other hand, she gets more attention in other ways...from baby....and now since I have a sitter who comes to the house while I work, Roxy gets to be kennel free all day and every day.

We are also very specific when we say NO. We always say the dog or baby's name before we say NO or any other phrase that gets shared between the two kids. As for toys, Roxy has never gotten into the baby's toys....Each toy we bring for Roxy is given to her with such a show, that she knows which ones are hers.

One thing: Its very hard to find time to visit boxerworld with an infant and a furkid!

Rachel and
Roxy the Rocket, 2 year old Brindle of Joy

 

[jaimie]

Britnee (my old Boxer) was 6 months old when I had the baby. I walked into the house and my husband carried the baby in. Brit was so excited of course she had to taste the baby. But, she was wonderful with her, I never did anything to prepare her for the baby. I have lots of nieces and nephews so I just made sure I always made her a part of our family gatherings and brought her with us. That way she was around kids a lot before the baby came. When Kelsey started crawling her & Brit would share a rawhide, Brit on one side and Kelsey on the other.

Good Luck,

Jaimie

 

[xenaprincess]

Xena came after my 2 boys, but when I was pregnant with my daughter she was 4 at the time. She was like having a mid-wife!:D Xena followed me around daily, especially at the end of my pregnancy! She loved to lay her head on my tummy and when the baby moved or kicked, she would give my tummy that look with her head tilted sideways and she would whine! I was staying at my Moms when I went into labor. DH went to work that morning and Xena and her sister Sheba would not leave me alone. I have never seen anything like it. They knew before I did that I was having the baby that day! They constantly stared at me like they knew something I didn't. Then the backache started and I went to lay down. These 2 dogs NEVER go on the beds (least not that we know of :rolleyes: ), but they insisted on being on that bed beside me and they both whined and cried and pawed at me and licked me. DH arrived home and he wanted to change in the room but the dogs would not leave. They both growled at him, literally! I already had a doctors appt. for later that day and when I got there I was told I was 5cm dialated. I had my daughter 2 hrs later! When we came home with her, you would think the 2 Boxers gave birth to her! They fussed over her so much and today she is 3 and they are her bestest friends!:D
Trinitysmom...I think your furbaby will go through the pregnancy with you like mine did and will be very excited when the new *littermate* arrives! Good Luck with your future pregnancy and I am sure Trinity will be just as excited as you guys! Not sure about the males, but I find female Boxers to be soooo maternal!

Sharon

 

[Knye2001]

It seems to me that everyone that has replied has a Girl Boxer. I have a boy that was almost 2 when we brought our daughter Harley home. There haven't been too many problems, but from listening to my friend Subi Ru's Mom and Trudy (on BW) talk about their girl Boxers and their babies, we have some differences.

Apollo doesn't care if Harley cries, laughs, or anything. He kisses her to death when we all first get home, but he does this to DH and myself!! He will and HAS stepped on her because he forgets to watch where he walks. He just isn't as caring about her as I thought, but I know that will change with time. We brought home a blanket and such for him to smell before we brought Harley home, but honestly, he sniffed it a few times and then walked away. My MIL's dog was more interested in it and actually snuggled with it!! He was pretty close to our 2 year old niece and I have a feeling so will Apollo and Harley, but that will take time (and will help when Harley can move out of his way!!)

It's an adjustment for both parties no matter what and if you are willing to work together to make everyone happy, it WILL work. It may not be perfect, but it will work!! Good luck in trying to conceive!!

 

[Sube Ru's mom]

I have 2 females and i have never seen such a contrast before. Subi is my dog and Bailey is Pat's dog, When i brought Alex home i had Pat hold the baby so i could greet the dogs, then I showed Alex to the girls.
Bailey was hyper and i wont lie- FREAKED ME OUT! she was uncontrollable! i mean she was jumping, barking just CRAZY!! Subi on the other hand was curious, calmer and very happy. So what I did was i had Pat put Bailey in the crate-with a treat so she would know she wasnt in trouble, while i introduced Alex and Subi first.
Subi took to Alex IMMEDIATELY, i told her to sit and she plopped right down and just looked at him with curiosity.
I then had Pat get Bailey out of the crate- Subi was still in the room with Alex, and Pat and Subi kind of stood guard while Bailey was introduced to Alex.,
Bailey is a wild child- no matter the training she is just a very exuberant boxer, anyways Bailey finally calmed down and we have had a great household, Bailey had a harder time adjusting then Subi, but i think it is because Bailey thought of Alex as a toy or a play friend and she wanted to play with him, Neither dog has ever shown an aggression towards Alex.
I will say, Subi is SUPER protective of Alex, if Bailey seems to hyper or whatever and she comes over to see Alex, Subi will get in between Alex and Bailey and just kind of do a low growl at Bailey (to tell her to back off) and Bailey will go lay down.
And i think this is because Subi is my dog and she knows Alex is an extension of me and so she is VERY protective over him.

Dont get me wrong though- Bailey loves Alex, i think Alex gets more baths from Bailey then from me

Good luck and believe me it will be okay- just get her used to kids, introduce them properly when the time comes and just remember boxers are AWESOME with kids!

 

[hrb]

We are in the same boat as you. We are expecting our first baby in May/04 (very early in right now) and we have a 2 1/2 yr old boxer named Jackson. Jackson is a very hyper boy but has shown that he is a great protector around kids. Our neices come over and hang on him and he is fine with that. If he has too much he will get up and walk away but he never barks or bites at them. We went and bought a doll that cries about a month ago because Jackson is a big jumper and I don't want him to get in trouble for something he doesn't understand. We bring the baby out and hold it in our arms and make it cry. The first couple of times he jumped and tried to grab it out of our arms but now he sits on the ground and stares at it because he knows he gets a treat for it. If you ask him where his baby is he goes into the spare room and sits down and looks at where the baby is. It is pretty cute. There is also a CD that you can buy called preparing fido that has sounds of a baby crying, laughing, etc. to get them used to the sounds. It is on www.preparingfido.com.

I think that as long as you prepare them for what is going to happen it will be fine. You want them to understand what is changing.

Good luck TTC and training your dog.

Heather

 

[scrapple24]

Thanks Everyone....

Wonderful to hear of all the new and soon so be parents.
My wife Nicole and I ( she is doing the hard work ) are also having a baby in May, 04.
Halley is 2 years old and loves everyone she meets. The things that worry me are her jumping and her stepping all over everyone. I have been training her to sit and wait till "I" am ready to say hello. It is working with me, but everyone else is fair game.
After reading all the posts. I wanted to thank everyone. I really feel like we did pick the best dog.
Thanks from Halley's Dad and Mom,
Michael and Nicole