Reactive dog baby on the way
Would really love advice from anyone who has been through this.
I’m 10 weeks pregnant and have a reactive 1 year old dog. He’s a Chow Chow/German Shepherd/Catahoula mix. He has never bitten anyone, but he has nipped before and is definitely more wary of men.
The confusing part is once he knows people, he becomes obsessed with them. A lot of our friends that he was initially nervous around are now people he hugs, kisses, and gets so excited to see. He LOVES other dogs too.
He can resource guard me at times, which is my biggest concern with having a baby. Example: our trainer is male and during the first session my dog nipped when the trainer got close to me. By session 3, he was crying with excitement every time he saw him and covering him in kisses.
We currently work with a trainer weekly and have seen improvement, but I’m honestly terrified about how this works once the baby comes. Especially with things like a night nurse, nanny, visitors, etc.
I’m not necessarily scared of him hurting the baby directly. I’m more scared of him becoming overly protective of the baby or stressed by all the new people around.
Has anyone successfully managed a reactive/protective dog with a newborn? Did training help long term? Did things get worse or better after the baby came? I have this constant fear we’ll eventually have to rehome him and it breaks my heart.