As you can imagine, lots of baby prep is happening here at 129 Acres. We’re finishing off the baby’s room, figuring out how to unfold and then collapse the stroller (seriously, I feel like I should have studied engineering), installing the car seat, freezing meals and a whole bunch of other things.
One of the most important parts of our preparation is working with Baxter to get him ready for the changes that are coming.
We have a great trainer, and she’s been very encouraging and helpful. As well, we have a great, easy-going, relaxed, lazy dog, so I think we’re starting from a very good place.
I’m going to be documenting our baby prep strategies for Baxter on ThatMutt.com. The series kicked off yesterday and new posts will be added every other week for the next several months.
I encourage you to hop over to That Mutt and check them out. I also welcome feedback, advice and more questions. I may not know the answer yet (#firsttimemom), but I’m happy to figure it out.
Baxter is a really important part of our family, so we want to make sure he’s as comfortable as possible when the new addition arrives.
I’m still going to be your baby, right?
Home on 129 Acres 
Awesome you are thinking ahead and doing this!!! So often people would call me after the baby was born and their dog was already stressed out when so many things can be practiced, learned and implemented well before baby arrives to increase chance your dog will be comfortable with the big changes that are to come. Thank you so much for being an owner who plans ahead and is doing this for your dog, your kid and your family. Kudos to you!! Ps if you don’t already know of these resources the dogs and storks program has some great info, as does the book “living with kids and dogs without loosing your mind”. Also there are loads of great dog bite prevention websites that provide resources for kids of various ages to learn how to be safe, read dog body language, and such. There is even a board game for kids on dog body language and safety.
Thanks so much for the suggestion of additional resources. We really want this transition to be as easy as possible for all of us, so I’ll take any assistance I can get!
I’m excited for you guys and for the baby articles! I think Baxter will do well but I’m sure it will be a big adjustment for him. He’s used to being the “only” child other than Ralph, haha! Get ready, Bax!
The articles have actually been a lot of fun to write, and it’s very helpful to think about what will be most helpful to Baxter–and other new parents. Thanks for giving me space on That Mutt to share so many stories about our favourite furry dude.
Awesome, just read the first post on ThatMutt and shared the heck out of it! I’m looking forward to the series.
Thanks so much for passing it along, Barbara.
We had our parents have Ralph for the first week so when he came back we had the energy to play with and walk him, was best thing we did as am sure if he was stir crazy and we were ignoring him for baby they could have had a very different relationship!
That’s a really good point that the early interactions can really influence the relationship longterm. I found that having backup right at the start was incredibly helpful too.