Ok – so Hubby was right - I did feel abit odd pushing a stroller around the neighborhood 7 months pregnant.  I was thinking to myself that either people couldn’t see in the stroller and thought I was crazy for having two babies so close together or they could see in the stroller and thought I was crazy for pushing an empty stroller.  I will say there was an advantage with pushing a stroller just from a support standpoint when you are waddling around. 

Enough about me… on to the dogs.  I started stroller training with my Cocker Spaniel, TJ, who is generally the easiest to walk.   He seemed a bit perplexed by the stroller as it put a kink in his normal sweeping pattern.  By this I mean that TJ likes to zig-zag in front of me when I walk to check out all the yards and smells.   He tried to cross in front of the stroller, but then the leash would get caught and he would get tapped on the bottom by the stroller.  With the help of a few treats and the command “With Me”, TJ quickly figured out that he needed to stay at my side and any zig-zagging needed to be done behind me. 

TJ was able to adapt to the stroller with just one loop around the neighboorhood – here’s hoping it will be just as easy with my bigger dogs.

babies, dog, Dog Training Tips, stroller, walking Hide

After 8-years of marriage, my husband and I have finally decided to take the plunge and start a family –  that’s not exactly the truth as we have always had four-legged children (Grandma begs to differ!).   The new addition will be here in January 2009. 

While we are very excited, I am also a little nervous about making sure the transition is smooth for our 4 dogs.    I don’t want to be the family that shuns the dogs to the backyard only to be interacted with at mealtime.  Fortuately, our local hospital has a class just for introducing dogs to babies – we are signed up for a class in early November.  More to come…

babies, Dog Training Tips, dogs Hide