If you’re looking for the short version, here it is: Chase loves Sadie. Sadie, um, tolerates Chase.
Now for the long version…
Chase –> Sadie
First, let’s talk about how Chase is responding to Sadie. In the beginning, Chase was rather indifferent when it came to the presence of our crazy dog. This was to be expected because I didn’t think a newborn would have a reaction to a dog (or pretty much anything, really), but I was surprised at how much Sadie’s barking did not bother him. In Chase’s newborn days, he could nap in his Rock ‘n’ Play and Sadie could bark at the UPS delivery man five feet away and he wouldn’t even stir. High fives all around for that one, right!?
As Chase grew and became more alert to the world around him, he discovered his furry sister and quickly became infatuated. Sadie is honestly the only thing in our house that seems to be able to truly captivate Chase and hold his attention for a long period of time.
He loves watching her, squealing at her, reaching out to touch her and jumping up and down in his activity jumper as I play indoor fetch with Sadie beside him. She is, without a doubt, the coolest thing in the world to Chase right now.
Chase looks at her with wide-eyed concentration. We laugh because it really looks like Chase is deep in thought whenever he is watching Sadie. He is totally enamored with her and it’s fun to see his curiosity surrounding Sadie continue to grow.
And now for the fun part of this recap… How Sadie is responding to Chase…
Sadie –> Chase
Oh Sadie, you are such a character. Whenever people would ask me or Ryan how we thought Sadie was going to handle a baby in the house, we talked about it with reservations.
Sadie is SO needy and is very, very used to being the baby of the house. We are the biggest suckers when it comes to Sadie and have always let her lounge on the couch, sleep in our bed, curl up all over our bodies (I’m sure my fellow vizsla owners out there know that last one isn’t really an option and more of a requirement for owning a “velcro dog”), so we had a feeling she might not love a new addition taking away some of her attention.
And we were right.
At first, Sadie ignored Chase. She’d sniff him on occasion and whine when he would cry sometimes, but for the most part she just pretended he wasn’t there and would proceed to try to climb in our laps even when we were holding Chase. She didn’t understand that holding a baby meant holding her at the same time wasn’t really an option.
There were a few things that I think made the addition of Chase into our lives a particularly tough pill for Sadie to swallow that I didn’t really think about ahead of time.
First, we talk to Chase in high-pitched sing-song voices a lot because they make him smile more than anything else. Well, guess who else we talk to in high-pitched voices? Yep, Sadie. Now “her voice” is being used to communicate with another being in our house which I am sure is incredibly confusing.
Second, a lot of our playtime with Chase takes place on the floor. Sitting on the floor in Sadie’s world always meant “go time” before and lots of playtime for her.
And third, we love making noises for Chase. Whether it be whistles, blowing on his belly or other silly mouth noises, Chase loves engaging noises… But so does Sadie. They drive her absolutely crazy to the point that I honestly try not to make these types of noises unless I’m in a room away from Sadie or I have Chase high up on his changing table where Sadie cannot jump all over the place around us.
The good news is that Sadie is such a sweetheart and has never shown even the slightest signs of aggression toward Chase (we weren’t concerned about this, but it’s still worth mentioning). She has definitely shown signs of jealousy, but Sadie has always been a jealous creature and loves being the center of attention at all times. Clearly this isn’t always in the cards for her these days, especially when I’m home alone with Sadie and Chase during the day, but we are doing our best to make her feel very loved through walks, evening cuddles after Chase is in bed, lots of praise when she behaves well (especially around Chase) and more rounds of indoor fetch during the day than I’ve ever played in my life.
So, in far too many words, you have your Sadie and Chase update.
I wish I could say they’re on their way to becoming fast BFFs, but right now their love is a little one-sided. I’ve been told Sadie may come around when Chase starts dropping food on the ground for her, so there is still hope, right!?
Question of the Day
- Pet owners + Parents: How did your pet respond to your child(ren)?
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Yes, yes, and YES!! You basically just summed up the relationship between my 8 month old daughter Reagan and our little pup Georgia. The only difference is Georgia likes to pretend that she is afraid of Reagan sometimes so she doesn’t have to be too close to her, lol. For example, I try to always get their monthly pictures together and Georgia is not always a fan of this idea. She usually sits next to her with her tail between her legs while Reagan just squeals with delight to see her sister coming to “play”. But I have noticed Georgia being a little extra concerned with where Reagan is at all times as well. As if she wants to always be able to protect her. It’s so fun to watch!
Oh what a beautiful family! I just love reading your blog. I’ve been reading it for a while and enjoy it so much. So much, that you’ve inspired me to start my own. Eeek! I’m just getting started but I’m loving the challenge. Thank you for the inspiration.
My 2 month old Chase and our vizsla have pretty much the same relationship. My Chase isn’t too observant of Brooks yet BUT the floor play is torture for her! If I don’t throw her ball she gets inbetween Chase and I and is like LOOK AT ME! PLAY WITH ME!
exactly!!
My cat Athens was/is super needy. We weren’t sure how she’d react at first. When we first brought my son home, she basically ignored him. She’d sniff if he cried but stayed away.
Then around month three, it’s like something clicked and she realized this little being wasn’t going anywhere. She’s super sweet, so she started laying near him during tummy time. As Sam got older, I was worried about him grabbing her. But it’s like she’s fully aware that he’s a baby and she lets him.
Now at 18 months m, they’re besties. He looks for her as soon as we get home and has a special giggle for her. It’s so cute!
I can only imagine how jealous my dog is going to be when it comes time for me to have kids, he is such a jealous boy haha
We’ve experienced all these things with Penny (a fellow velcro dog) and Jack. Floor time used to equal playtime for her, we also talk to Jack in a sing-songy voice that was normally reserved for her, and she’s often confused why Jack is allowed to do things and she isn’t (just this morning Jack was pulling clothes out of our hamper – a new favorite hobby – and I just get it be. Well, Penny followed suit and I yelled her. I realized it must be SO confusing for her! I try my best to be patient and kind with her – but I’m only human, so I don’t always do the best job.
The good things is that Jack and Penny are BFFs – they just love each other. I do think it has a lot to do with the fact that Jack feeds her constantly… 🙂
I wonder if Chase is remembering Sadie’s bark from when you were pregnant and that’s why it doesn’t bother him? The same way babies can recognize their parents voices.
We have two cats who are pretty needy and a baby due in April, I’m very curious to see how things go! Thanks for the post!
I am so so happy to hear that things are going well and I’m sure when Chase can play with Sadie, he will be her new favorite! We had a min pin when my daughter was born and everything was fine until my daughter became mobile and then Lola (our dog) became super agitated and eventually scratched and even nipped at my daughter, drawing a little blood. I was pregnant with our second so I didn’t trust that I could keep our daughter and dog safe while having an active toddler and a newborn so Lola had to go. It broke my heart but the girls’ safety was too important and a bleeding baby made it impossible to ignore. Makes me so so sad just recalling it. ? But so happy for you that you are having a positive experience!!
Bahaha aw poor Sadie. She just wants everyone’s undivided attention! 😉
I LOVE this update because it’s the exact same relationship my almost 8 month old daughter has with our dog. My dog is a Brittany and I think is very similar in temperament to Sadie so I feel like I am reading my life in his update. 🙂 My daughter lights up and gets the biggest grin at the sight of her doggie – meanwhile the dog wants to make a b-line for the basement whenever the baby is being loud. Luckily our dog is coming around now that the baby is becoming more mobile and eating solids (It’s the only time the dog is right up her butt…lol). I believe there is hope for us – they will be BFFs soon – I know it!
Awww and I thought my cat/puppy drama was a lot to think about ….
I have a 4 month old daughter. Our dog, Margaret, isn’t a cuddle dog (even though I wish she was!) so I don’t think the adjustment has been too hard for her. She follows us around the house and hangs out in the nursery with us chewing her toys. We still let her sleep in our bed (baby doesn’t sleep with us) so she still has her queen spot. She still gets her walks and runs in, just with the addition of the BOB stroller. The only funny thing she does: we keep a folded swaddle blanket on the floor as a diaper changing area in our living room and Margaret loves to sit and lay down precisely on the folded up blanket even though she has a huge comfy dog bed 2 feet away from the blanket! I can’t quite figure out what she’s trying to do by laying on the blanket but it’s hilarious seeing her curled up on this think blanket.
Aww I’m sure Sadie will come around but I know what you mean. We have a cat who we got on the floor to play with, he napped on our laps, he got his food when we ate, and we talk to him in the same voices as Annabelle. He is really confused. Where he used to greet us at the door and get tons of cuddles, he now doesn’t bother because he knows we have to get Annabelle out of the carseat and such (though he does greet my husband at night because he knows I have A, haha). He has recently come around, though, and joins me on my lap when I feed A and is always in her room at night when she goes to sleep (until we go to sleep then we make him come out). It’s hard when your pet was your first baby and you want to make sure they are feeling the love, too!
They are both too cute! I’m sure Sadie will end up loving Chase, especially when he starts dropping food like you said. 🙂
Awwwww!! Ya know, that is about as good as one could hope for! My nephew is also obsessed with the dogs- luckily they are good sports to. When Chase can play with Sadie and run around with her, I bet she’ll love it!
Laughed out loud at the “loveless” pic, too funny. And not too wordy at all. Bring on the wordiness! Love all the updates.
Wait till Chase starts crawling. My little guy started a few weeks ago and as soon as he sees our dogs the race is on! Granted he goes about as fast as a snail right now, but he loves to chase after the pups!
Sounds exactly like one of my dogs – we have a beagle (Cooper) and a beagle mix (Lambeau), and while Cooper is used to being the older brother (we got Lambeau when Cooper was 2), Lambeau is still adjusting. He’s needy, bossy and a complete cuddle bug, so he’s not used to having to give up my lap … and he doesn’t understand why he’s too big at 60 pounds to lay on top of my 3 month old son!
We have to do all floor playtime & tummy time in my son’s nursery with the doors shut because Lambeau tries to wedge his way in and gets way too excitable – I know he would never TRY to hurt my son, but he completely loses control of his body when he thinks it’s playtime!
But to make up for it all, they’re both always so concerned any time we take our boy anywhere … two dogs that used to jump up to greet us now just run over to sniff the carseat to make sure our little man is there and OK.
Well we decided it would be fun to get a yellow lab puppy 3 weeks after our daughter turned 1. I blame the lack of sleep LOL. They have grown up together basically and absolutely adore each other (if our daughter isnt home the dog goes around the house looking for her its pretty cute!). Our dog quickly realized who dropped food at meal time and where to be for the after school snack LOL. Our daughter is never alone with the dog but has been able to crawl all over her without a problem (we are working on this since not every dog is as relaxed as ours and my husband spent alot of time training the dog to not disipline the baby). I am a little nervous since we are about 11 weeks away from welcoming our 2nd baby into the family but judging from the fact that our lab is very well behaved around our 3 year old and has been from day 1 im not too worried. She has been sniffing around the new nursery and since i talk to my dog like she is human im sure she understands a new baby is joining the family right? 😉
that’s just the way it goes, baby 1 comes along, puppy comes in 2nd, then baby 2 comes along 18 months later, and baby 3 20 months after that. The dog might have been #1 all those years, but what can you do? the humans come first and the dog is lucky to be fed and walked by the time #3 is born. And when the kids are finally old enough to appreciate the dog, the dog is elderly. It’s just the way it is in spite of your best efforts.
I LOVED this update! We also have a very velcro vizsla who was not a fan of us bringing twins into his life! Our boys are now almost two and he loves them at mealtimes. They are big fans of throwing food for Yount and giving him treats. However, they also love to give him lots of hugs, kisses and aggressive toddler pets. Luckily, being a sweet old man, he tolerates it. He will give us quite the look while they are in his space, but he is so very sweet with them. Being such a tolerant dog, it is hard to teach the boys to give him his space and not sit on him as he will take it, but we are getting much better at only giving nice pets to Yount. 🙂 He then requires lots of lap time after bed time to make up for the toddler overload of the day!
Oh boy when he starts dropping food I’m sure Sadie will be ALL ABOUT him! Haha! Our dog waits patiently next to the high chair ALL the time. We didn’t have Riley nearly as long as you had Sadie before having a baby, so that probably makes a difference. But we found a lot of the same things: Riley is more needy than before because she was used to being the baby. But the more Ellie grows, the more Riley loves her. People would tell us that Riley would become “just a dog” after Ellie was born but I thought that was ludicrous. Riley is still my fur baby!
When I was born, my family’s dog ignored me completely during the day. She was queen of the house and acted like I didn’t exist – until nighttime. Then she slept guard outside the door of my nursery. I think dogs take on the role of where they’d be if they were a family’s children because she continued to act like the guardian who didn’t have much use for the baby siblings until she passed away when I was in middle school. Our next dog, Sasha, was and always has been the baby of the family, and she acts like just that!
We have a two month old and a Siberian husky named Sirus who is needier than most huskies. Any time we are on the floor we have to basically use our bodies as a harness to keep her from licking the baby to death. Sirus still doesn’t understand that she can’t play fetch with him and we have had one or two incidents where a toy has been dropped on her head because Sirus just wants to play. He really loves her and peeks over into the pack n play to check on her frequently but he doesn’t get the fact that she can’t interact with him yet. It is really funny to watch him try though.
This all sounds really similar to my dog and daughter’s transition too. My dog was my legit baby before my daughter. He’s a toy breed and always in my lap. He thinks he can be on you at all times of the day. He is definitely still jealous, even almost a year later. We talk to my daughter in a baby voice and my dog STILL thinks we are always talking to him. But that’s how it was for 4 years before my daughter came along! I feel bad because I say no to my dog a lot or tell him to get off because he’s RIGHT up in all our faces a lot. But after working through some kinks, he does listen. You just have to ask nicely and not yell 🙂
We have a toy poodle who was my baby before my human babies were born. When our first baby came along, our poodle HATED him. Like would sit next to me on the couch and growl because the baby was in my lap. He never got aggressive, but he let his feeling be known 🙂 Then, one day, my son spit up next to Teddy and it was like a light bulb moment. I swear you could read Teddy’s thought process across his face – “Whoa…so THAT’S what this thing is…a food machine!” And they’ve been BFF’s ever since.
We have a 3 1/2 year old black lab and she is both jealous and in love with our baby girl! Truckee I think is definitely noticing that she doesn’t get as much attention from me, and will do everything she can to get the attention back on her, including bringing her bones over to me when I’m nursing the baby. She’ll also though, sleep next to her swing or crib, and if baby is upset, Truckee will come over and sniff her out to make sure she’s ok. Baby girl though, is just now really noticing Truckee, and will reach her hands out or keep her eyes GLUED on the dog! It’s cute, I can’t wait for them to truly become besties! Big dogs are the BEST!
I’m dying over the picture of the arrows of Chase and Sadie. That is hysterical Julie! I’ve never had a dog (we were a cat household), so I find this fascinating. Thank you for sharing all of the details!
We just went through this with our 12 month old daughter, Eve, and our crazy pup, Milly! Now that Eve throws her food on the floor for Milly or hands it straight to her mouth, Milly tolerates her much better. She’s still not a fan of the awkward baby waddle going to towards her, but she LOVES when Eve picks up the dog toys and brings them to her to grab. Eve also thinks it’s soooo funny when Milly grabs things from her hands, like toys or food, so they finally have some kind of mutual enjoyment.
Also, in the last couple of weeks, when we get home from being out, Milly is way more excited to see Eve than me! It warms my heart because I really want them to be best friends growing up and I can finally see a little glimmer of hope.
Loved this post! We have a 2 and 1/2 year old lab/collie mix and I’m due with our first baby at the end of August. Our dog is by no means a snuggler but she’s used to being our only baby and the center of attention so we’re curious to see how she adapts! She’s been around babies and toddlers and is super gentle so at least we’re not worried about that aspect 🙂
My son is 10 months. I have 2 dogs. One has loved him from the start and the other was like Sadie.
The dropping food has helped but just time also. He has gotten so much better with the baby in just the last 2 months. He started to sit with him and look at him. Before he wouldn’t even look at the baby.
My husband and I were just happy he wasn’t aggressive or mean with the baby just indifferent.
Now on his own he is becoming very sweet with my son.
Its nice to see.
Hopefully the same will happen for you.
We are doing the same at our house with our 4mo old son and our 2 boxers. Both our dogs were pretty much our children before Cooper, and were also jealous of the attention more than anything else. Our younger boxer still hasn’t grasped what Cooper really is yet. But our female boxer is definitely becoming more affectionate to him. In due time! Once the boys are mobile and can handle some tug of war I’m sure they’ll be BFF’s! Cooper is also at the stage right now here he is starting to love staring at them!
This is so interesting. We’re thinking about a baby in 2017- perhaps I should change my Stella (our greygle) voice now?
We have a Vizsla (1 1/2 years old) and she is the sweetest thing ever and is our baby right now! We are just now starting to talk about having a baby, and I have no doubt that our Vizsla will be wonderful, but I do have a question for you! You guys have had a lot of out of town visitors and people coming in and out of your house since Chase was born. Our Vizsla gets VERY excited when new people come (i.e. jumping up, wanting to be in their face), so one thing that gives me anxiety is having all the guests in and out. How have you guys handled that?
That look that Chase is giving Sadie…oh my gosh! Precious.
I think that my fiancé and I are likely the only ones in Denver that have neither children nor a dog, but I love these updates. It’s great that Sadie does recognize that her brother is going to be a regular in the house! I’ve known a few dogs that showed aggression towards new babes, so now feelings the need to have a herding dog (Boarder Collie, Sheepdog, Water Dog) has become relatively intense. It’s great to know that the two can get along swimmingly, even if not current BFFs. 🙂
XO, Jessica
We have a German Shorthaired Pointer (very similar to Sadie). When our first was born, there was a definite adjustment period. We never had to worry about aggression but our dog just didn’t know to be careful around the baby. Now our daughter is 2.5 and the dog does so well with her. Additionally, when our second came along in May, the dog was so much more prepared and does absolutely great with her though we do have the occasional knock down. I’ve very optimistic that their relationship will continue to grow and develop. And you aren’t that far from them being the best of friends.
This totally sounds like our dog, ha!! We have an 11 month old and a very needy 3 year old Lab. Our dog tolerates Charlotte (my daughter) and is very jealous. We call her “Mopey” because she mopes around when we are giving attention to Charlotte. Too funny, dogs are so sensitive!
I love this post! I miss seeing posts about Sadie 😛 I’m so happy they are getting along (tolerating on Sadie’s end) one another! Your first picture is the best!
My one sister is CONVINCED that none of her kids were ever sick with anything is because of the labrador … all those kisses from the dog made them have this super immune system that still baffles me to this day.
My 5 month old daughter adores my dogs too. For a month now she has been hysterically laughing at them all the time. It’s the cutest thing. Mom is so boring compared to them. The dogs could care less about her. They will love her when she can throw their ball. Ha ha
Maybe once Chase can throw a ball for Sadie she’ll come around. My toddler loves to throw a ball for our lab. And the dog loves to play keep away with her Kong toy.
Aw, loved reading about this. I have a feeling we will experience similar circumstances when a little one comes around. Roadie is always the center of attention right now… whether we like it or not. 😉
We have a chocolate lab mix (Roxi) who was about 3 when we had our daughter (Paige- now 16 months) was born. At first Roxi didn’t pay much attention to Paige; she was curious but kind of kept her distance. It didn’t take long for Roxi to become protective over Paige…she sometimes runs to me or whines when Paige cries like Hey, Mom, fix it! LOL They are best buddies right now. Roxi especially loves parking herself under Paige’s highchair to collect the scraps (seriously I would not survive without a dog to pick up after Paige’s crumbs LOL). The biggest challenge I have to worry about is Roxi stealing Paige’s graham crackers when she is walking around. I am sure Chase and Sadie will be best buddies in no time!
Hi Julie! I have been married for almost 13 years and we have miniature dachshund, Dillon that was our first baby. We got him when he was a puppy and has been with us for 12 years. We have two boys, ages 10 & 6 and to say Dillon loved the boys when they were born would be a lie. He has grown to love them now and will curl up with them on the couch or occasionally sleep with them at night. I’m sure Sadie will come around more, especially when Chase starts crawling and walking and is able to slip her some of his food.
OMG. That first picture. Is probably the greatest thing I have ever seen!
I have a girl bulldog who was also the center of attention before our little one came in our life. Now my husband and I adopted our bully from friends who just had a baby and were unable to care for any longer. They realized they were not giving her enough exercise, play, and love and we were lucky enough to know her since a little pup so we took her in. When we introduced our baby to her she was jealous and showed a few signs of sadness. I think she was recalling what happened with he first owners and thought it would happen again. So we just showed her extra love and playtime and we even hold our little one and help him throw the ball to play fetch and now she is definitely coming around. She is showing more interest now and not getting as jealous. I think as the baby gets older they will be best friends.
Love this post! Our LO is due in April and I tell our puppy (13 year old puppy) all the time that I love her and my heart will just grow more for our Mason. <—– Think she understands me?!?! lol
Our dog was definitely our ‘first child’ before our baby came home 2 years ago. During the newborn stage he had the same jealous tendencies, never bothered the baby and basically ignored she was there. I will tell you, when our daughter started to become mobile, it was like retraining the dog all over again. Our daughter started to crawl while we were on vacation and away from the dog. Once we returned home and the dog realized she was moving he was totally confused. He didn’t quite understand why she was all the sudden moving! Our dog took that as she was playing and actually began trying to nip at her like a toy. Not sharing to scare you, just wanted to give you a heads up for things to maybe look out for. When they were in the same room together I never took my eyes off them. The dog had to figure out what was going on and I had to regain trust that he wasn’t going to hurt her! My daughter is 2 now and they do okay for the most part, but when she is running wild around the house it gets the dog wound up and I have to keep an eye on them. Just something to think about!
The food thing shouldn’t be overlooked! The first little one our dog ever met had sticky hands and now she thinks all children are a delight because they either drop food or need a good tongue bath. Good things are coming for their relationship! (mainly in the form of cheerios)