TAG | baby
The look of fascination when our baby first discovered our dogs drinking from the water bowl was priceless. I could see the wheels turning as he tried to figure out what the dogs were lapping up from the shiny stainless steel bowl. As he learned to crawl, this shiny object was a favorite destination as it made neat noises when hit and there was lots of water to slosh. It quickly became a worry for me because I had heard lots of horror stories about babies drowning in less than 2-inches of water – plus, I was getting a little tired of constantly redirecting my baby’s energy.
This was quickly becoming an issue that needed a solution other than telling baby “No”, picking him up, enduring a little crying, and then redirecting energy to another toy. Picking up the water bowl was not an option because my dogs were used to free water bowl access.
What is a new mom to do? Dogs are thirsty and baby wants to go swimming… Buddy Bowl to the rescue! The Buddy Bowl is a wonderful invention that is essentially a water bowl with a cone shaped cover. The bottom of the cone has a small opening that lets limited water into the center of the cone. As the dogs drink the cone refills from the outer reservoir. The beauty of this water bowl is our baby can only splash in a limited amount of water, the opening is too small for the baby to drown, and when he tips it over only a little water spills on the floor.
What a great invention!
Buddy Bowl - No Spill Water Bowl
Have you ever looked at dog toys and baby toys side-by-side? My dogs would argue that they cannot tell them apart and therefore all toys, baby or dog, are fair game if left on the floor. Result: Baby toys find there way out the doggy door and are turned into tug toys if they are not picked-up. Consequently, I have been diligently picking up baby toys and throwing them into the play pen when they are not being used.
Tip #1: Set your dog up for success by keeping temptations away from your dogs.
In reality, it is nearly impossible to keep toys picked-up which means that some baby toys destined to become dog toys. Despite my acceptance of this reality, I about blew a gasket when I found our baby’s 1st teddy bear shredded in the backyard. First reaction was anger towards the dogs followed by a realization that I shouldn’t have left a cuddly teddy bear on the living room floor. I then remembered a tip we had learned at our Introducing Baby to Dog class…
Tip #2: Rub a small amount of baby lotion on the baby toys and then scatter a variety of baby and dog toys on the floor. Let your dog select a toy and reward when he or she selects a dog toy. If your dog selects a baby toy, replace the baby toy with a dog toy.
It didn’t take long for our youngest Golden Retriever, Rankine, to fall in love with baby. He is so gentle and kind – giving kisses liberally. He has adjusted well from the dog that was sick to his stomach a week after baby’s arrival.
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Baby makes Golden Retrievers sick to their stomachs
0 Comments | Posted by Brianna in Kids and Dogs
It has been about a week since we brought the baby home and all the sudden our two Golden Retrievers are refusing to eat. With a little TLC and some canned dog food, Rankine, our youngest Golden Retriever was convinced to eat. Unfortunately Kelvin, our 10-year old adopted Golden Retriever, was not interested in eating – odd behavior for our normal chow hound. After about a day of fasting, Kelvin starting drinking large quantities of water and promptly vomitting. We were beginning to worry that he had eaten a diaper that was blocking his intestine, so we took him to the vet.
The vet ran a battery of tests and kept him overnight on IV fluids. The next morning my husband went to pick him up and get the diagnosis. Turns out Kelvin had an upset stomach which was attributed to the stress of the new baby. Solution – special food and lots of TLC including walks and dedicated Mom/Kelvin time.
Despite the substantial vet bill, we were happy to find out that it was a relatively minor problem that could be easily resolved. We only wished that we had paid more attention to Kelvin’s history that the Dumb Friends League had provided us when we adopted him – Kelvin had a history of upset stomach’s with his previous family causing him to be given up for adoption.
Lessons Learned:
- Monitoring you dog’s behavior and food intake were critical to knowing there was a problem. If we practiced “free feeding” it might have taken a few extra days before we realized something was wrong.
- If you adopt a dog, be sure to ask for a health and behavioral history – you never know when it might come in handy.
Today we brought our beautiful baby boy home.
Before coming home, we had one of our friends take all four dogs for a walk and play fetch in the backyard to burn off a little energy. Fortunately, it is an absolutely gorgeous warm and sunny day.
When we arrived, hubby stayed in the garage with our baby and I went in to greet the dogs. I went outside and played with them for a few minutes. After they had calmed down, I closed the doggy door to keep them all outside. We brought the baby inside and I sat down at the dining room table with him in my lap. Dad brought one dog in at a time and we allowed them to sniff the baby’s feet. Reactions:
- Our Carolina Dog seemed uninterested.
- Our Cocker Spaniel sniffed, took a treat, and went about his business.
- The Golden Retrievers were very interested. They kept sniffing and wanting to jump up on the chair.
Overall, the introduction seemed to go smoothly. We shall see how the next couple weeks unfolds.
