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Pregnancy and Border Collie


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My husband and I are expecting our first child in 10 weeks! I noticed that our border collie seems to have become very clingy to me lately. I always wonder, do you think she can tell I am pregnant? (maybe I smell different to her, or even just her own maternal instincts can tell)?

 

I am confident she will be great with the new baby (so long as we introduce them correctly, continue to give Madison lots of attention, exercise, etc.).

 

I am curious to hear about other's experiences with their border collie and new babies!

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Although the baby doesn't live with us anymore, a cousin had a baby when living with us. It was suggested to a friend of mine that when she had her baby, to bring home a receiving blanket that the baby had been wrapped in before the baby came home and give the blanket to the dog. She did that with her Lasso Apso and we did it with Tiga (BC X). That helped a lot. Also, like you said, lots of attention to the dog, and let her be curious (while highly supervised of course). She will want to smell the baby and see what's going on. The only thing Tiga did when the baby was here was want to lick him and gentle pushes on the baby's toes with his nose. He was also very sulky when the baby was here, wanted lots of attention, and he got attention and lots of praise for being good.

 

Now when they come visit, he's perfect. Loves it when the baby is rolling around on the floor with him.

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I think that the dog may not know exactly what's up, but knows that something is different. When I had my son (many moons ago)we brought home a blanket that had been in my son's isolette (he spent a few months in the hospital before we actually brought him home). We put it in our GSD/Rough Collie's bed. When Jr. came home, the dog was happy and excited and we had no jealousy problems. We also tried to include the dog in our little family scenes and gave our dog a lot of love and attention and his own time, as well.

 

There was a loving and long lasting bond between my son and our dog.

 

I'm sure you already are very aware of this, but I'll still add this caveat -- I would NEVER leave a young child alone with ANY dog (no matter how gentle or loving the dog might be). A dog is still an animal and it is better to err on the side of caution than have a tragedy.

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Giving the dog the baby's blanket sounds like a good idea. Let me add to that and say, you should rub a separate blanket (receiving blankets would be perfect) all over your dog and then rub it onto your baby just before the babe comes home. That way your baby already smells like you and the dog. This is just to head of any problems that could occur.

 

My theory is this:

My 9 month BC pup LOVES people. Has to meet everyone she sees. She never growls. I've had friends over before - but people River's met outside our home first (ie. their houses, etc). My inlaws and bro-in-law came to visit last month and River started growling at them from under table next to my legs. My bro-in-law Matthew is NOT dog savy (he's 23, but socially challenged) and River kept growling at him and didn't want to be near him. So we had him pet my other dog Jaida and get her scent all over his hand. Then we had him approach River, who did cautiously sniff his hand and then was fine when he petted her head. She was fine ever since.

 

So just in case Madison gets like River did, having the baby have both yours and her smell on it, definitely couldn't hurt :rolleyes: Just remember, the baby is part of the pack and is alpha to Madison - even if the babe can't defend itself yet. Give Madison the job of being gentle to and guardian of the baby - that way she doesn't loose her place in the pack :D

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First off, Congratulations! Yes, I'm sure the Madison can tell that something is a bit different. Dogs pick up on changes, even slight ones. Just keep her routine as much as possible.

 

Missy has been around the 4 m/o baby I nanny for since he was 5 days old. She was extremely curious about Anthony at first, then decided it was her job to follow him around. I found her in his room laying next to his crib more than once. Now she lays near him on the floor during "tummy time".

 

She is also very patient with Michael who is 16 m/o. He likes to lay against her. But I do have stop him from climbing on her! He also loves to throw the ball for her. She does have a "kid free" space she can go to, and they are always supervised when together.

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I ahve to say that I do believe they can tell you are pregnant. The farther along I got the more clingy Kirby became. He was never a klingy dog before but, he would fret me, go to the bathroom with me, go slowly upstairs with me. I was like he felt it his job to protect me while I was unwell.

 

It happened with both pregnancies so it wasnt a fluke.

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I was watching the dog whisperer the other day and they had a great episode about bringing home baby. As others just said, they gave a piece of baby's clothes/blanket to the dog, but the dog was not allowed to pick it up. Just smell. Then when momma brought the baby in, she was to show that the baby was now part of the pack, and above the dogs. They did this by making the dogs stay back. She would step towards them and tell them back. They caught on. The dogs were NOT allowed in the baby room either. When they went for walks the dog was to walk BEHIND them. Eventually the dog was permitted closer. It was a great imformative episode.

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Congratulations! I was just talking with a pregnant (3rd child) friend the other day, and she commented on how clingy her Border Collie bitch was. She had discussed it with a vet friend, who believed that the dogs are aware of hormonal changes.

 

She has had really good experiences with the two Border Collies and the first two children - but as others have mentioned, has been very careful. Her bitch really enjoys being part of story-reading time in the evening - very cute.

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