Your Dog and Your Baby: A Practical Guide

Excellent book. We have two Rhodesian Ridgebacks that were the focus of our universe for five years until our son was born. They are well trained but we had no idea how they would react to a new addition. We wanted to respect their feelings and not have any problems because of things we did wrong. This book was really helpful. We took a lot of advice from this book and we have not had any problems. Our son is two and he loves the dogs. The dogs are very tolerant of his antics and seem to love him too. I think dogs and kids can be great friends if their owners facilitate this process.

This book had the best advice. She really understands the importance of positive interactions between parents, babies and dogs. She gives specific answers to specific problems that are doable. I highly recommend this book. It's an easy read, and packed with useful information. She takes the positive approach to working with your dog and your kids too. It has helped me and our 7 y.o. "baby" poodle, who was the big baby before my son came along. This book was essential in helping to make a smoother transition. I couldn't find even close to the amount of information in this book in other sources. The vet gave us a one-page flyer, and Dr. Sears recommends finding another home for your dog! I use it as a reference, and highly recommend it to every parent with a dog, wether you have a "problem" dog or not, it helps you to know what to do to teach your dog how to handle the big changes and not make mistakes even with the best of intentions (like giving your dog extra attention when the baby isn't around- gives the dog the message that when the baby isn't there, she gets attention, so the baby is a bad thing).

This is essential reading for all Mums-to-be and new Mums. It prepares the dog owning family for the arrival of the new baby, teaches how to avoid problems when baby does arrive and how to have a happy baby/dog relationship from day one. It teaches how to solve the problems before they happen by preparing your dog for the birth of your baby.I am a dog behaviour counsellor and I recommend this book very strongly to all pregnant women with a dog in the family.ROWNA WYATT.