Baby

My in-laws arrived last week to help out with the baby, and only a few days later, my baby arrived! Needless to say, there are a lot of changes going on in our household and it's a bit stressful on Loki. At first, he barked quite a bit at my father-in-law, who walks with a limp, but now that has completely subsided. Dogs are really quite adaptable creatures. You just have to be patient. With Loki, I've found the best thing to do is to let him adjust at his own pace.

While I was at the hospital, Yun did bring back a baby blanket with the baby's scent on it. He reports that the dogs were curious, but Loki was a bit afraid of it. I'm not sure if the smell thing helped or not, but I don't think it hurt to try. When we brought the baby back home, I came in to greet the dogs first and took five to ten minutes with just them alone. Then Yun came in with the baby. Jujube was immediately curious and sniffed all around the baby and carrier, which we had propped up high. Loki was much more afraid and stayed back. It's been a few days now, and Loki has gotten better. He did bark at the baby a few times. Not too much. Not nearly as much as he has barked at other children and people. My approach is to basically let him adjust at his own pace. We did a little bit of positive reinforcement, but not too much, because frankly, we're just too busy with other things right now. And, I also try to make sure that I give the dogs some attention everyday. It's pretty apparent that they miss it since I'm always taking care of the baby now.