by Martha Norwalk

This month I am going to talk about preparing the dog for the baby's arrival. Like I said last month, cats are so much easier than dogs in this department.

What I have already covered in my last two columns (read them in the back issues at newspiritjournal.com) is usually all that is necessary with them. Dogs are a different story. Not that all the prep talk is not needed with them. It is. It's just not enough in most cases.

The exception in a dog suit would be a calm, easy-going, grown-up, mature dog, one that is already familiar and good with children. This dog would also be well-trained, respectful of their humans, and know specific human vocabulary and commands. That being said, even these dogs can use some of the conditioning I will be speaking about.

If you are planning on having a baby and your dog friend lacks manners and has not been to basic obedience school, now would be the time to do that. As I just stated, a well-behaved and already trained dog is so much easier to work with. Since they have already learned to learn from you, teaching them some of the conditioning exercises goes much faster and is easier.

The best book I have ever read on this subject is Child-Proofing Your Dog by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson. It is a great little paperback and readily available on the Internet. You can even get it as an e-book or on iTunes. It is simple, practical and covers a lot of the basic stuff. This book is a very good place for dog owners making babies to start.

Through this column I am going to give you all of my techniques and understandings that are not covered in that book. There are two basic exercises that I want you to teach your dog as soon as possible. (By the way, these are a good thing to teach all dogs, baby coming or not. You will see that they can be used in many different situations)

The first one is my "friend's" exercise. Licking the hand or face of a human is the friendliest and most submissive greeting a dog can show to you. So, if your dog licks you, when he does, praise him with the words "good friends" several times. If he does not lick naturally, we will motivate the behavior. Rub some butter or tasty liquid on the back of your hand. Offer your hand to the dog and while he licks it off, praise with the key words. Put some on your cheek, if you are okay with that, and repeat. You do not have to do the cheek part. Gradually reduce what you rub on your hand or cheek until the dog responds with licking without the stimulus when you say the word.

Now you have a word that alerts your dog that someone is a friend and should be accepted. When you first introduce the dog to the baby, as you do that you will use these words along with others. Something like: "Friends. This is our baby Susie. Be gentle with Susie. Friends. Good friends. Good gentle." As you are saying these words, you want to imagine the dog being soft and gentle and friendly with the baby. It is not necessary to allow the dog to actually lick the baby.

Remember the telepathic communication here and visualize in your mind how you want this greeting to go. Also remember to breathe and stay calm and relaxed yourself. These are very important things to remember as baby grows up and becomes more active around the animals. You will always be verbally and visually coaching both dog and child. You cannot expect them to be calm and relaxed if you are all nervous and uptight. "Do as I say, not as I do" does not work with dogs or kids.

The second exercise I want to teach you is called "a jolly routine." A jolly routine is a word or phrase that automatically makes the dog think of something wonderful and happy. "Let's go for a walk or a ride" can be jolly routines. I am going to explain how to teach one that involves a food reward as it is the best one to use most of the time. If your dog is not food-motivated you can substitute a favorite toy instead.

A food reward only needs to be large enough to taste, like a small dog treat, or a piece of chicken or cheese, and something the dog really, really likes. Pick a jolly phrase to use. I like "Oh boy, cheese" or whatever your food is.

The reward should not be used for anything else, as it needs to be very special.

Practice your jolly routine as often as possible but there should be at least two to three hours between practices.

Start when the dog is not expecting it. You will already have the food reward in your pocket and the dog does not know that or it is still living in the kitchen somewhere. I want it to be the words that trigger the dog not the physical act of you giving the food. Because of that you start the jolly routine, out of the blue, with the words only. "Oh boy cheese. Oh boy cheese, Bozo. Oh boy, cheese."

Get the phrase out lots of times before you go into action. Then get up or start moving excitedly around, constantly repeating the jolly phrase and getting the dog all pumped up and excited. Do this for about two minutes. Then stop and out of your pocket comes one food reward or you go to the kitchen to get the reward, give it to the dog and you are done.

Practice as much as you wish but remember the delay between practice jollies. When the dog gets excited when he hears the jolly phrase before you go into action, you can cut way back on practices.

The jolly routine will become your emergency push button to get the dog out of a potentially dangerous situation and it can be used to change the way the dog feels about something. We continue from here next month.

Martha Norwalk is an animal behavior therapist and host of Martha Norwalk's Animal World, Sunday mornings, from 9 a.m. to noon on Alternative Talk AM 1150. She can be reached at Martha's Canine, Feline and All Creature Counseling at (360) 217-7258 or www.marthanorwalk.com. For a free, no obligation telephone evaluation or to make an appointment for Martha to work with you and your animal friend, give her a call.