Jealousy

We have three dogs, the most recent is my avatar. She is what I think is a crossbreed between a schnauzer and a cocker spaniel. When my fiancee was diagnosed with cancer the dog, Bella, stayed in the home with her when I was away on business. This carried on for about a year, my fiancee is in remission now and we just had a baby daughter.

Bella has always been jealous of any attention the other dogs get. Since she is no out of the house and the baby is a new arrival I am scared that she might get aggressive with the baby.

How do I prevent this from happening?

 

Don't worry, just don't press the dog too much, like pushing the baby on her face. She just needs some time to adjust to the new baby, if she shows any sign of aggression be very firm and clear with the dog when you correct that.

 

I have not let the dogs anywhere close to the baby except when I am holding her against my chest when in the backyard. They seems to be friendly enough around her but I just don't know. Should I wait until the baby is at least walking first?

 

I think the sooner they are (both baby and dog) acquainted, the better. What you're doing is what I would have done, introducing them to each other slowly to establish the trusting relationship. If you are worried about Bella being aggressive, then just give that issue a closer eye. I think they need time to get used to each other.

 

The best thing to do is to separate the baby from the jealous dog until it gets strong enough to survive harassment. However, house it in an area where it will live in close proximity with the other dogs so that it can be socialized and acquainted with the other dogs so that reunion would not be troublesome. They should be separated from the others with a wide net wire mesh.

 

It's ironic that our smallest and youngest dog is the boss around here. Barbie, our 3-year old female pekingese, bullies our 2 other dogs who are both male. At first, the bullying was not evident but now it is loud and clear that Barbie is the boss that the 2 other dogs are submissive. Whenever we would pet one dog, Barbie would be coming to box out that dog - Tisoy the spitz or Pipoy the pug - and she would take the place. Maybe I have to take a video of that funny scene that happens all the time.

 

I'd slowly introduce them to each other. My Yorkshire Terrier is extremely jealous too, and can be quite aggressive, but he has never attacked people that I touch or talk to. He just barks at them or tries to get my attention by bringing me toys.