Emma's Doggies

Anyone have dogs? Anyone who has dogs with children get judged by others? I have heard some concerns from others who have seen my dogs and worry about my daughter, and I want to clear the air. If you're not a dog owner, you probably don't understand dogs. Now, I am not going to sit here and say that things don't happen. I have seen some unforeseen incidents with dogs and children and yes, that's scary, but I trust my dogs with everything in me and so does Emma.

We got our dogs as puppies. Hera was the first to join the family, she will be four years old in June. Zeus followed the year after and will be three years old in May. And then Emma came along last year and of course I thought about how the dogs would react when I brought a tiny human home. They had never really been around babies, and rarely around children. I knew they would be curious but hoped they would be trustworthy, and guess what...they're amazing with her.

A few steps I followed to make sure my dogs were safe around my baby:

1. Introduce the baby smell before you bring them home - My parents were here and taking care of the dogs during my time in the hospital, so I had them bring home things with the smell of the baby on it for them to smell and investigate so they would be familiar with the smell. Dogs have a keen sense of smell and smell is a big way they recognize and familiarize themselves with people and things.

2. Don't forget your dogs - It's really easy to lose sight of your first born fur babies when your new baby comes along, especially when its your first child. I was guilty of this in the first couple days. Hera is especially jealous and will show it when she needs attention. When we first brought Zeus home, she tore up a pillow out of jealousy. That's why I make sure I give her and Zeus both extra one on one attention when Emma falls asleep or is occupied on her activity gym mat. They need it. Remember, they were your first babies and they still need love.

3. Engage your baby with the dogs - I make sure the dogs know that Emma is here to stay, and that she is part of our family now. I take Emma's hand and have her pet them, and I let the dogs get close to her and sniff and lick her gently so that they don't feel like they are prohibited from a relationship with her. They have been trained to be gentle with her and we started that from day one. Hera will kiss me with her entire tongue and slobber my face. She will then go up to Emma and give her tiny little kisses with the tip of her tongue. She knows the difference and she knows how to be gentle. Zeus sniffs with his nose gently, doesn't crowd her, and protects the crap outta her.

These dogs love this little girl. Zeus will bark at any noise he hears. If Emma is napping in her rocker in the living room, Zeus will lay on the section of the couch that is closest to where she is. If she cries, he comes over to me to make sure I am aware. I don't think for a second that my dogs would ever hurt my little girl because they know we are all a family, and they love her and protect her just like they have done for me since they were puppies.