# Newborn baby, hyper dog



## legoac (Aug 2, 2008)

Hi All-

I am hoping to get some firsthand tips on how to navigate through this situation. Currently, I live with my brother, sister-in-law, my 18-month-old niece, and my pup. My sister-in-law just had a baby and I am hoping you all have some tips on helping my very energetic and excitable dog learn to be respectful and calm around the baby. He and my niece get along well, but he still occasionally gets overexcited and it's very difficult to calm him in these situations. He was also extremely hyper the first few times they interacted. I am especially worried about him trying to jump up on anyone who is holding the baby or overwhelming the baby when she is on the ground. 

We will be going back to training in a couple weeks, so hopefully we can get some tips then and work on his energy, but in the meantime, what do you suggest? What have you found effective in teaching a dog to interact with a young baby? 

Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated, I want everyone in the house to be happy and get along well, including the pup.

(As a note, I am not worried about aggressiveness as he is very tolerant with my niece, just overexcitement.)


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## sheep (Aug 22, 2012)

1- exercise - a pup with enough exercise (but not overdoing it or forcing it) will be calmer and settle easier. 

2 - impulse control training - train your pup to be patient and listen to the command "wait". Use his meals, going out of doors and so on to ask him to sit and wait often. Gradually extend the duration of waiting.

3 - don't play with your hands or feet, this can encourage him mouthing your hands and feet. Play with toys instead.

4 - if you want a calm dog, start interact calmly by petting and encouraging gentle interactions such as kisses. Whenever he gets too crazy, don't encourage nor yell, maintain calmness and walk away. If you're calm and show him you like licks instead, he will eventually be calm. If you're often calm and not go "oh puppy puppy!" mode, your pup will eventually be calm. If you're often exciting him, he might go crazy often.

5 - if he is too crazy with the baby, simply call him to you and redirect his focus to some delicious treat. You can ask him to lay calmly next to you while you reward his calmness. Training recall with positive associations would be helpful. If pup learns that whenever you call, there are tasty stuffs, he will soon focus on you and forget about the baby.  You can do this whenever he gets too hyper.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Apparently sheep know a bit about dog training. 

I'd like to add that it's fine to keep the dog on a leash at first. That way, you can easily get the dog away from the baby.

I love to pet and love on dogs, but I only do it with a calm, or at least acting calm, dog. Most people encourage wild behavior accidentally by paying attention to their dog when he's playing or making trouble, but ignoring the dog when he's laying down and doing nothing. Encourage calm behavior by giving lots of attention when the dog is just laying or sitting calmly. (Let sleeping dogs lie, though. Some dogs do not like being touched while asleep.)

Definitely train a "go away" command. Train the dog to go to a small mat, or his kennel, or just across the room on command. That way, if he starts bothering the baby, you have a way to get him out of there.


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## legoac (Aug 2, 2008)

sheep said:


> 1- exercise - a pup with enough exercise (but not overdoing it or forcing it) will be calmer and settle easier.
> 
> 2 - impulse control training - train your pup to be patient and listen to the command "wait". Use his meals, going out of doors and so on to ask him to sit and wait often. Gradually extend the duration of waiting.
> 
> ...


Thank you, these are all great tips!


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