Preparing the Pups

I suppose this may seem extreme, but it feels like we are transitioning from a 2 adult/2 canine family where all members are fairly independent to the unknown!  Just as our friends have tried to prepare older children for the arrival of a new baby, we wanted to prepare the dogs.  The baby doll with them was my favorite while growing up so we brought it back with us from our roadtrip in May.  We have introduced the dogs to the Baby, placed the Baby in the swing/carseat, and we've carried the Baby in the house.  Now don't think we are crazy, we haven't done this as often as it may sound, but enough for the dogs ears to perk up when we mention the word, 'Baby.'

One of my biggest concerns is the dogs barking.  I don't want the barking to wake our sleeping baby.  (We don't plan on keeping the house completely quiet when Baby Girl is napping, we know to make sure she sleeps through noise).  The dogs actually are really good when in the house, but if somebody comes to the door or they see something out the window, they bark to let us know.  Which, of course, is in their nature to protect our house.  Well, we had a dog trainer come to the house and in the course of 3 minutes, she broke the dogs of their barking and jumping at the front door visitor.  She stayed for about 90 minutes while we asked questions and practiced our new authoritative skills.  It has been about 4 weeks since she was here and I'm proud to say that the dogs really learned.  Ryan has worked with them a lot while he is home and around the house and even though the dogs still get super excited for their daily swim, no longer do we have the barking and jumping at the back door out of pure excitement to get in the water.

She brought a pop can with nails in it for us to shake in their face when they are barking and say the word 'Quiet' sternly.  Sounds so simple in theory, and we've tried the pop can/nail trick before, but the way the pet trainer got in their face, it sunk in immediately.  After that night, we don't even need the can, just the stern 'Quiet' and Moana knows the barking needs to stop.  Tex just follows her lead so problem solved!

Happy 35th Anniversary to my parents today!  We were thinking Baby Girl might arrive and share their day but no signs that she is ready to vacate her hotel for the past 9 1/2 months...