Teaching Nursery Room Boundaries

 1 min 13 sec

This section is extremely important because in my research of dog attacks with babies, attacks while the baby is asleep whether it be in a crib, bassinet, baby swing and even cases of next to the parent is one of the top reasons for deaths among infants. Here are the statistics that support my reasons of why a dog should not be allowed in the nursery or sleep area of a newborn:

*According to fatal dog attacks statistics, the age group with the highest number of fatalities are children under the age of one year old and account for 19% of the deaths due to dog attacks. 
*Of these, 72% of deaths were newborns less than 90 days old.

That fact is unsettling to a new parent, so managing the sleep environment of your newborn is critical.  

You should shut the door to the nursery when your baby is sleeping and/or make sure the dog is away from the baby in a crate or behind a baby gate.  Dogs are predatory animals and can react off instincts.  There are warning signals that your dog has high predatory drives that we discuss in the "Know your Dog" section.  

Even if your baby is not asleep, you should not allow your dog to enter the nursery room.  There will be plenty of times you will have your baby on the floor of the nursery, whether it is changing the baby or doing tummy time and you don’t want your dog to accidentally step on your baby. Do not shut your dog out of your nursery (unless the baby is sleeping), instead create an invisible boundary at the door way.  An invisible boundary is a restriction you create at the doorway that your dog respects and is not allowed to cross. You eventually want your dog to see you interacting with the baby, but they should still not be allowed to enter the room. By using body gestures, you can easily show your dog they are not allowed to cross the invisible boundary line of the doorway.  

You create this by practicing walking into a room when your dog is following you.  When the dog crosses the doorway turn towards the dog and say “No.” Then, gently body block and guide them back out of the room.  After many repetitions your dog will learn to stop and wait at the door way.