Yes, indeed, from time to time all living creatures have conflicts. The ancient alliance of a man and a dog is no exception. One of the crucial moments in relations of these two is when a baby appears in a family, which has never had children before. From this very moment many problems arise, sometimes real, sometimes imaginary, but they both are taken hard. Often some of the kin and friends intimidate the young family, telling dreadful stories about babies bit to death, infections and so on, persuading to get rid of the dog. But a mere thought that they themselves may do more harm to the child because a human is more infectious to another human than a dog, doesn't creep into their minds. One is to remember several cases of bad, cruel and sadistic treatment of children by some people to see dogs are angels on Earth. But nevertheless all this doesn't mean that with the advent of baby in the house you won't have problems with the dog. Neglecting and hoping the problem to disappear on its own is to the same extent wrong as getting into panic. No doubt, a baby in the family needs to stick to strict hygiene. This concerns the entire household, including a four-footed member. And the owner must help his dog to do this.
First, you must do is to conduct worming of tapeworms and roundworms beforehand. And persist through the first two years each three to four months. Later on worming on a twice-a-year basis would be alright. Beside this it would be necessary to carry out a regular flea control (fleas may infect the dog with another parasite, a flat worm, called Dipilidium caninum). Don't give the dog uncooked meat, that wasn't exposed to a veterinary control.
Keep the dog's coat clean. During the baby's first year of life brush and comb the dog's coat daily and wipe with a wet sponge or a bath towel. But I wouldn't recommend washing it more often than usually. This will not make the dog's hair very much cleaner. After the child is six months, wash the dog's coat each two or three days. After a year, groom the dog according to the needs of the breed.
Restrict your dog's outdoor contacts with stray animals, forbid investigating of rubbish heaps, etc. Humans have few infectious diseases common with dogs. The most dreadful danger for a man is rabies. But fortunately, this disease is very rare. Nonetheless one should be aware of preventives and make an annual vaccination (regardless of whether you have a kid or not). The same deal is with another disorder, leptospirosis. There is also a preventive vaccination. Don't allow the dog to drink from dirty puddles and ponds, chase rats and mice. Some other diseases common with humans, e.g. coccidiosis, can be prevented by keeping to a simple hygiene.
Quite another matter is "ethic conflicts", so to speak. This question is rather difficult and the solution depends on the dog's mentality, training as well as the owner's ability to understand his pet. As a rule, if the dog is in a healthy mind and doesn't consider itself to be the hub of the universe for the owners, the relations with a baby develop quite smoothly.
The best case is when the dog accepts the baby entirely and shows sincere sympathies. I know many dogs with such tender affection towards a baby. A huge and aggressive Grand, who was a guard dog, was so attached to his owners' child from the first moment he saw him, that stayed beside the cradle day and night, guarded the child during the walks, put his head near the baby when he cried to calm him down and so on.
Poodle Nancy from the very first days the newborn got into the house appointed herself a nurse on her own accord: she watched the baby beside the bed and when the child was crying she jumped up on the bed and laid down to make the baby quiet. Due to Nancy the baby grew surprisingly calm, never cried for boredom, and in fact, he never felt bored because an excellent nurse was always near.
Jane, the Airedale, was near to adopt the owners' child: she turned the baby on the back and licked her like she would lick a puppy. She also tried to feed up the baby, laying on her side and moving the teats closer (she even started to lactate).
Nevertheless, note that this tender affection is more typical for females. Perhaps, the reason is that the baby's smell and cry resembles these of the puppy. This may also explain the phenomenon when dogs fed up and fostered (on their own fashion) little kids.
Of course parents themselves must maintain the development of good relationship between the child and the dog. The time and efforts spent on washing clothes and cleaning carpets, brushing the dog are to be repaid a hundredfold, because the reward is happiness and peace that only a faithful friend may give to your child.
But what if the connection between a child and a dog is to be opposite? Often a dog is absolutely indifferent to a child, just doesn't notice him. It is not aggressive, but stays aside. Here one should be aware of a mistake that may turn the attitude from the indifferent to the hostile. Never try to impose the child's company to a dog. This is the straight track to ruin even what you already have. Your cohesion with the four-footed family member may suffer too.
I remember how the young parents attempted to make their Black Terrier love their child, putting the latter on the dog's back and making the dog lay when the baby crawled over it and so on. Finally came the day when the dog began to dash away from the child with a menacing growl. And in such a way it went till the end of the dog's life. As the little boy was trying to approach, the dog warned him growling and jumped aside with disgust.
However some dogs that are primarily indifferent to a child later become a good friend to him. As the child grows bigger the dog considers him as a self-dependent personality, a more or less full member of the "pack". If with the time the child participated in feeding and grooming, he of course, gains more sympathy. This is a so to say, policy of non-intervention.
But, nonetheless sometimes even this method doesn't work. This happens when the dog is spoilt and is used to feeling itself in the centre of attention, or when it has a very delicate and vulnerable mentality. The latter may be an inborn feature or the result of incorrect raising. The dog may also possess an extremely independent temper and feels like an obvious dominant in the "pack" and so has its own notion of the baby raising.
It the first two cases the dog tends to resort to various tricks in order to attract the owners' attention. For example, one very smart Collie started to suffer lameness as soon as her owners got the baby. Her lameness appeared only when her Mistress' attention switched onto the child and was miraculously healed as the owner took the Collie's favorite stick or the ball as if she was going to play with the dog.
Sometimes a dog may be so upset that falls sick. I knew a silver Poodle who took very hard the change in his owners' attitude that resulted in neuralgic pain in the loin. To cure the dog the therapeutic procedures - the massage and sedatives - were applied. In such cases only the veterinarian is able to determine if it is a real disease or just a simulation. If it is a simulation it would be better to take no notice of the dog during the "attacks of disease", otherwise, if you will show you feel sorry for the martyr, the "pain" will never cease. But as soon as the dog stops pretending you should make at least several minutes to devote them to your companion.
It is much more serious if a dog with a strong character, which is at the same time spoilt by its owners, gets jealous. This is the story of the male Airedale, a perfect guard dog, the winner of many shows and competitions, who was the apple of his Mistress eye. Until she got married the owner spent almost all her spare time with the dog. When she got in, the dog took his new status good, since all the attention of the young family was focused on his person as before. But after the child was born the focus shifted. The dog couldn't bear with such inattention and really came to hate the baby. Though the dog fairly discharged his duty - guarded the baby barring strangers to come to the bed or the carriage, however at the moment when the child was trying to touch the dog, he heard a very bad growl. When the child was one year old and could walk, every time when he tried to approach, the dog felt very oversensitive. Once the kid dropped a toy near the dog. When he tried to pick it up, the dog grabbed his hand quite badly. Right at that time the owner lost her contact with the animal: the dog became sullen, hard to control, and permitted himself things nobody could have imagined about him before, e.g., made his business inside the house.
In such cases one should try the stick and the carrot policy. For each display of cruelty towards a little child the dog should be punished. However pure punishment will make the animal more aggressive, because it has no reason to behave well. Therefore one should praise it if it does right. Encourage the animal by giving a dainty or just a kind word, and do so as often as possible. Once again, it would be good to find extra time for your dog personally. For example, you may take it with you when walking with the baby, and when the baby sleeps, play with the dog or train it. Of course, the idea of such additional load in this power-consuming period of life can hardly attract you. It's quite another matter to drowse on a bench or chat with other mummies. But you know it is worth it to strain yourself a little. I don't think you'll be happy to see an embittered creature at your house that has no contacts with you.
Keep to the rule I've mentioned above: if the dog feels no sympathies to a child, don't press on it. The only result you can achieve by this is animosity. In a while everything will settle if, of course, you will treat the dog right. Soon it will understand that it is still beloved, that a walk with your child is a pleasure, that if the dog is good with the child then the owner is good with the dog (e.g. the dog gets a tidbits if approaches to you when you stand with the baby in your arms and displays tolerance to your child).
The most complicated is the situation when a dog considers it possesses the higher hierarchy status than all or some of the family members. Such relationship itself creates tension, but with the arrival of the newborn the conflict comes very close to break out. Aina, the Rottweiler regarded her owner's wife as a subordinate member of the "pack". When the child was born, Aina was very tender with him, but when the owner was out of the room, she didn't let the mother to touch the baby. Aina is a very mighty dog with an independent temper. She thought only she or the husband could raise the little man, not the woman, whom she "put on her place" with ease. Finally, the husband, who was an indisputable authority for the dog, had to take strong measures to impress a strict ban on growling at the baby's mother. Only after that Aina allowed the mother to feed and to nurse the kid. However she acted as if she hired the woman to take care of her own offspring. When the boy grew older only the man could punish him, while the woman could not even raise her voice on the kid. Perhaps some touchier matron would insist to get rid of the dog, yet Aina's Mistress (or rather, the owner's wife) didn't do that. And the decision wasn't in vain. Once she was on her walk with the child and Aina when a tipsy biker dashed from the corner. He was too fast to stop. The tragedy seemed inevitable. Aina in a moment got the situation, jumped forward and knocked the driver from the bike just in the meter from the child.
No doubt, "dominant complex" can be accepted only if the dog admits at least one of the owners as a leader, plus, necessarily, doesn't fall into jealousy or dislike when a child appears in the house.
It is clear that conflicts are like diseases: they are easier to be prevented than to be cured. Therefore one should think about how the dog may take the newcomer long before the baby is born, not afterwards. If you have a strong wish to keep peace with your four-footed friend there will be nothing impossible. To have less problems (regardless of whether you have children or not) the dog should be trained well. If in addition to this, you will gradually make changes in its daily routine in the desirable way some months before the child is born, the dog will not associate the discomfort with the baby, and thus the probability of the conflict distinctly reduces.
by M. Dobrovolskaya, Translated by Tatiana Karpova (Moscow)
(MSU, Biology faculture, Dep. zoology and ecology).