Preparing Your Dog for the New Baby

You’re expecting your first baby – how wonderful! There are so many things to start thinking about and planning for, including preparing your dog for all the changes that will occur when you bring the baby home. The best time to start training your pet for this new lifestyle is today. Using the positive reinforcement clicker training method will reinforce the strong positive bond between you and your dog and make the transition much happier for you and your dog.

Obedience Training
This is the time to make sure your dog has been obedience trained to respond to your commands: sit, stay, come, down. Clicker training is one of the most successful methods for obedience training, and once you’ve mastered the simple clicker technique, you’ll be able to teach your dog to do these basic commands. Once you’ve fine-tuned these skills, you can clicker train your dog to walk with a leash.

Crate Training
Make sure your dog has a safe place to go, a place just for him when he needs to get away from all the baby activity or for you to put him when he needs to be out of the activity for a few hours. Clicker train your dog to go to the crate, where his bed, food, water, and toys are kept, and he’ll be much happier when you need him to stay there for a while.

Behavior Training
With all the attention shifted to the new baby and all the new smells and noises, your dog may feel threatened or overwhelmed. As early as possible, start clicker training to address issues such as barking, growling, and other aggressive behaviors; and chewing, jumping up on people or furniture, and other destructive behaviors.

Environment Training
All the noise and commotion may make your dog skittish, aggressive, or withdrawn. You can help him learn to stay calm by introducing him to similar environments. Clicker train your dog to lie down and be calm when children approach her. Take your dog to visit friends with young children and clicker train him to learn to stay calm with all the strange noises and smells. Introduce these for short periods and increase the time as he becomes more comfortable.

You’ll find a number of blog posts on this site with information about clicker training techniques and tips. Clicker train your dog early, reinforce the training often, and make him feel loved and important. You’ll be able to enjoy this exciting time of your life with your new baby and your happy, well behaved dog.

Involve the Kids! Clicker Training Fun for the Whole Family

Clicker training is fun and easy to learn for the every member of the family, including kids. Clicker training doesn't require physical force or control, so kids can train even a big dog. By the time children reach the age of 6 or 7 and have developed good hand/eye coordination and a sense of timing, they can master the command-click-reward timing. Younger children can help deliver the treats and rewards.

 

Parents, you should do the initial clicker training with the dog. Wait until your dog has learned that a click means a reward is coming before allowing your child to use the clicker. Spend a few minutes several days a week working with your child and dog to teach your child how to use the clicker properly. Help your child start with simple commands such as “Come,” “Sit,” and “Lie Down.”

 

 

When your child and dog have mastered these, let your child try training your dog to do some fun tricks like shake a paw and chase his tail.

 

Clicker training helps kids become more confident in handling dogs and teaches kids to not tug or yell at dogs, which could cause a dangerous reaction from the dog. It’s important that kids learn to give only positive reinforcement; the dog is to be rewarded for doing the right thing, not to be punished for making a mistake.

 

When your whole family is involved in clicker training, your dog will take commands from anyone in the family. Teaching your kids how to clicker train your dog will help to build a loving relationship and bond of trust between your child and your dog.