The relationship between pets and crawling babies can quickly turn sour if it’s not properly introduced, here are some tips on what to do when your baby starts crawling.
Having a pet around the house has so many positive effects on human health and on your child’s development but it’s important to properly introduce your baby to your dogs at every stage in your baby’s development. This is such an exciting time for both you and your baby, but what does this mean for your pet? Here are some things to consider in order to maintain a healthy relationship between your crawling baby and your pet.
As parents, it’s important to understand and educate ourselves on our pet’s behavioral signals. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dog bites are more prevalent than cat bites or any other animal. Majority of bite related accidents where a child was bitten by a dog occur within the home environment where the family dog was involved.
We as parents often make the mistake of thinking that a dog or cat who is kid friendly should tolerate everything that your child does, but kids are unpredictable and can easily make the friendliest of dogs or cats react in “unexpected” ways.
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My baby is Crawling!
Having a crawling baby around the house is a huge change for everyone but more so for your pets. They have come to terms that this little human you brought home about 6 or 7 months ago is definitely here to stay but now they are not only adapting to the fact that they no longer get the same amount of attention from you but now they have a little human charging at them any time they are in the same room which can be a little overwhelming for your pets.
Your pets look like big animated stuffed animals to your baby and they have probably been around your little one since you brought your baby home so they are also unexplored familiar faces. Now that your little one is mobile his goal will be to explore your pet by touching it and just put any part he touches in his mouth like everything else he has touched since he started to bring those little hands to his mouth.
To avoid any unwanted behavior from both your pet and your baby, here are some tips to keep the peace between your pet and your crawling baby.
1. Never leave your baby alone with your pet
Always supervise any time your baby spends with your pet and never leave them alone. Babies are pretty unpredictable and your dog or cat could react by biting if they feel scared, threatened, or overwhelmed and they can’t escape the situation your baby is putting them in.
If you can’t monitor their interactions, take your baby to his playpen or bring out those baby gates and separate your little one and your pet.
2. Learn your pet's body language
In order to act and correct before anything “unexpected” happens between your baby and your pet, you have to understand what your pet’s body language is saying about the situation they’re experiencing with your child.
Your dog or cat will express signs of discomfort before escalating to more obvious signs like growls or quick snaps such as:
- Looking away
- Physically pulling away
- Constantly licking your baby
- lip-licking
- Yawning
- A “whale-eye” expression
- Stiff body
- Gnarling/ Exposing teeth without a growl
- Ears pinned back
- Continuously glancing at you and back at your baby with a stiff body
I have two Huskies that constantly interact with my son and this informative video with short clips that labels signs of stress dogs exhibit with children, this great blog post titled “Is my dog stressed around kids?” by Our Companions Animal Center and Sanctuary, and this guide on canine and feline body language helped me understand their body language a little bit more when they’re under stress.
I was so surprised to see how some of the body language my dogs were displaying that I thought were “cute” like the constant licking of my son’s face when he was really close for my Husky’s liking was actually a warning sign for me to intervene because my dog was not trying to be lovey-dovey, instead that action combined with other body language my dog was displaying was to get my son away from her!
If you have older kids this printable coloring book is a great activity you can do with them to educate your kid on avoiding dog bites and dog behavior. Here is the Spanish version of the printable coloring book.
3. Have a "Safe Space" for your pet
Whether your baby is “Army” crawling or crawling at full speed, he will come charging at your pet the minute he sets his eyes on them and this can be overwhelming for your pet.
Bring out the baby gates and keep a “safe space” for your pet away from your baby so they can unwind from the constant tugging and pulling your little one will probably do while they still learn how to use their “gentle” touch.
4. Create positive interactions
The best way to build a healthy relationship between your baby and your pet is by creating positive interactions for both your dog and your child such as:
- Teaching your child to use their “gentle” touch to pet the dog.
- Only allow your baby to pet your dog if they approach with open hands.
- If they close their hand and try to pull the hair, stay calm so your pet doesn’t freak out and try to quickly get up and say “Oh oh, we need to be gentle” while holding their hand in place so they don’t pull on your pet’s fur. Once they let go of your dog’s fur, turn to your pet and ask “Are you OK? I’m sorry Leo pulled on your fur” in the same tone you would ask your child if they are ok when they get hurt and demonstrate how to gently pet your dog by exaggerating the action.
- Turn a negative experience for your pet into a positive one by rewarding your dog or cat when they’re being extra tolerant while your baby is learning how to be gentle.
- Take walks together.
- Allow your baby to be part of the feeding routine by helping them scoop up the dog food into their bowl.
- Make sure to teach your little one that once the food is in the bowl and your dog or cat is eating or drinking they become “off-limits” so your baby doesn’t try to reach in their bowl.
- Separate your baby from your pets when they eat so your pet doesn’t develop food aggression behaviors.
- Include your baby when giving your pets a treat.
- If your dog or cat is gentle at taking treats from your hand, partially place a treat on your baby’s hand while you cover their hand and the rest of the treat and offer it to your pet
- If your baby is experimenting with throwing stuff, teach him to play fetch with your dog.
- Make sure you have two toys available so your child is not tempted to take away they toy your pet has on their mouth.
- Have your baby toss the first toy and when your dog bring it back, give your child the second toy and have them toss that one instead of having them reach into your dog’s mouth to take the first toy away.
5. Monkey see, Monkey do!
Your baby has been observing you interact with your pet and chances are they will try to mimic how you interact with your pet so make sure to exaggerate being gentle.
Things to avoid
Safety is the priority to maintaining a healthy relationship between your baby and your pets and these are some things to avoid to help nurture that relationship.
- Don’t allow your baby to rush to your pet when they’re laying down, your pet will feel threaten and might react negatively towards your little one.
- Never allow your baby to reach into your pet’s food bowl when they’re about to eat or while they’re eating to avoid food aggression in your dog.
- Don’t allow your baby to put their face close to your pet’s face or hug them. Your pet can snap and bite or scratch your baby in the face.
- Don’t allow your little one to approach your dog from behind as this can startle your pet.
- Avoid letting your baby grab your pet’s paws, snout, tail, or rear as this can make your pet uncomfortable and will “correct” your baby by biting or scratching them.
- Avoid punishment if possible, this will only allow your pet to build up resentment towards your baby and associate your little one with the negative experience.
Our Experience with our Huskies
We have two adorable Huskies that are total opposites in every way possible. Our male Husky, Ghost, is the older more mature and reserved dog and our female Husky, Foxy, is the young, wild, and crazy dog.
- He hates water and getting wet while she loves the water and will get soaked any chance she gets.
- He exhibits more dominant behavior while she is extremely submissive.
- He is more calm and collected while she is neurotic and constantly in your face.
- He keeps to himself most of the time and pops in for quick pets and cuddles while she has no idea what personal space means.
- He is the reason we got a second Husky and she is the reason we have decided no more Huskies or any other pet…for now.
The list could go on and on but you get an idea. I’ve always been very in tune with my dogs’ body language so right off the bat I noticed that they had different levels of tolerance for Leo too.
When we brought Leo home from the hospital both of our dogs wanted to meet Leo and sniff and lick away. After being introduced to Leo Foxy was more involved with Leo than Ghost was. The minute Leo would cry Ghost would just leave the house and chill in the backyard until the house was quiet again while Foxy remained in the trenches with me.
Leo slept in a bassinet next to our bed and Foxy would lay at the end of the bassinet. She would never leave his side. When Leo decided the bassinet was no longer cutting it for him and started to sleep better in his crib, he slept in his room and from time to time Ghost was the one sleeping in Leo’s room instead of our room like he always did but the minute he’d wake up crying Ghost would leave his room and Foxy would wake up with me and stay in his room while I breastfed him and put him back to bed.
Ghost was around Leo a lot too but he was less curious than Foxy was.
Once Leo started crawling I made sure to demonstrate how to gently pet our dogs with our palm and to not pull the fur.
At first, Leo was not as fast when he started “Army crawling” and our dogs were able to hear him when he was coming and they had plenty of time to move to another location if they didn’t want to interact with him but as soon as he was able to put his crawling skills into “turbo mode” and became faster, I saw a need to intervene more.
Any time Leo would let out a scream and crawl as fast as he could to touch one of our dogs I would get in between Leo and which ever dog he was going after and I would make sure he didn’t startled them and made sure he approached them slowly.
If I ever saw any signs of distress in my dogs such as their body tense, low growl, any type of whimpering, or even them turning away from Leo before Leo could reach them or while he was petting them I would quickly get in between them to stop the interaction and explained to Leo why we had to stop.
- I would say “Foxy is looking tense and that’s her way of saying ‘No, thank you’ so we have to respect that and leave her alone”
- Or “Ghost is turning away from our gentle pets, that’s his way of saying ‘No, thank you. I need my space’ so we have to respect that and give him some space.”
Foxy would approach and invite Leo to play or to pet her but Ghost kept to himself a little more and looked a little more tense than Foxy did when Leo would approach them so I knew I had to create more positive interactions between Leo and Ghost.
- I started including Leo into their morning feeding routine.
- I would let Leo open the food container and pour their kibble into their bowls. This not only helped Leo practice his fine motor skills but the dogs would see that he was providing food for them.
- I allowed Leo to give our dogs treats after he interacted with the dogs so our dogs would associate Leo with a positive interaction.
- I used to ask our dogs if THEY wanted to go on a walk but when Leo arrived I started asking Leo if HE wanted to take our dogs on a walk so our dogs would get excited and think the walks were “coming from Leo.”
These actions were the key to building and nurturing their relationship and now Ghost gives Leo good morning licks when he approaches him and is more relaxed around Leo.
Thanks to Foxy’s tolerance, patience, and her constant need to be pet I’ve been able to teach Leo how to use our “gentle touch” to pet our dogs and what body parts should be left alone when petting them but I still don’t allow Leo and my dogs to interact without me being in the same room.