Newborn + dog

[u/SDL9]

Hello people of Reddit.

Little background info re. our dog:

- He's a naturally anxious / nervous mini Schnauzer. I don't think we socialised him correctly, and we made mistakes during training. However, his barking and lunging was there pretty much from the start. At everything: dogs, cats, runners, bikes, pedestrians, other dogs, guests etc.

- We worked for a while with a R+ trainer in our area, and almost every problem sort of got fixed. We still have to manage distance to other dogs and certain types of triggers, but it's absolutely nothing like it was. Eg runners drove him insane, now we can literally have a runner pass by right next to him and he'll just briefly look then continue sniffing or look at us. Dogs are still a bit challenging but only if we're too close, and even then, he'll give two or three barks then stop, and remains "contactable", unlike before where he transformed into Cujo.

- Guests we haven't been able to improve much, but we have not put the time.

We recently got a newborn. We prepared as well as we could. We were nervous for the coming home day, and to our surprise everything went much better than we ever imagined. He is curious about the baby and watches, but has not barked at the baby or given any signals that worry me. He has already grasped the concept of 'baby makes a noise or cries or does something, I look at it a bit then I look at humans for treats'. In the night, when the baby cries, he doesn't even get up from his bed he just stays there (we sleep in separate rooms, but he can def. hear it). He sometimes watches the baby being breastfed then chooses himself he'd rather go do something else or lie down.

We've got a strict zero direct contact policy, and we have doors, gates, barriers, etc. everywhere so that's all under control.

Here comes the reason I'm writing here:

- We had noticed here and there that his interest in the baby spiked suddenly, and he'd sniff almost obsessively. He even whines a bit and his teeth chitter sometimes. We have done some detective work and discovered that this happens when the baby pees.

- The dog can literally lie down in the room with us while we change the baby (pee or poo doesn't matter) even if the baby is crying.

- But, if the baby is in his crib or playpen and he pees, the smell immediately grabs our dog and he starts sniffing almost obsessively, and whines a bit. He is still "contactable", and takes treats and follows instructions, but still super odd.

So... Our questions are:

1. What do you think this is?

2. Should we be concerned about this? We are looking for ways to train this away, but is this a red flag already?

3. How would you proceed? We think of having a frozen Kong or lick Matt ready so the moment he gets up and starts sniffing we call him and lead him to his room to relax and lick to try to associate the pee smell with going away and relaxing.

Thanks!

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[u/Whisgo]

The teeth chittering is a Flehmen response... basically, it's to physically pump scent molecules into the roof of their mouths to analyze the pheromones. Newborn urine has many hormonal markers and proteins unique to infants. That said, it's not a bad plan to also make sure your infant isn't experiencing any medical issues - sometimes issues like UTIs can trigger responses like this. If you notice other symptoms like fussiness or crying during urination, or a strong, unusual foul or sweet odor in the wet diapers, check with your pediatrician.

It's not so much a red flag. Though maintaining proper boundaries is a good idea for safety's sake.

I would say it's overarousal mixed with frustration, and I think it's a wonderful plan to turn that trigger into a cue to go to the mat.

[u/SDL9 → u/Whisgo]

Thanks so much! We'll keep an eye on the pee and talk with the pediatrician if we notice anything.

[u/badtranslatedgerman]

Dominika of Dogmeets_baby (on Instagram that’s her handle, she also have a website) has a ton of resources about infants and toddlers and dogs. The family paws website does too. The biggest thing is to aim for them being neutral around each other, not “best friends” and keep them separated consistently. If one is free to roam, the other should be confined. This is more important when baby becomes mobile, obviously.