Cora- The mother hen

Wanna know what's a fun way to spend your day? Taking care of your new baby (can I call him new when he is 9 weeks old? Sure I can, I'm his mother, he will be "new" until the day he dies because I'm choosing to live in denial that he is growing up. Technically each day with him will be a new experience so whatevs, he's still new. Judge me if you wish) Dang I get on tangents, sorry! 

So taking care of a new baby and constantly making your sure your mother hen of a dog knows her place in the family. Cora....this red, fluffy, super soft, super sweet, snuggly, crazy, hyper-bonded bag of fur that we love....does not know her place in our family anymore. Poor thing. She's confused. She thinks she is Henry's mother and not his big sister. What the heck am I talking about you ask? Read on.

Before Henry, she was the baby, Taylor would come home every night from work and she would freak out and he would get on the floor immediately and let her kiss him and he'd hug her and play with her and pet her until she calmed down.

They're obsessed with each other and that is good with me. When Cora was 2 weeks new to our house, Taylor got laid off and stayed home with Cora for the next 9 weeks before he found another job. It was just the two of them all the ding dong day and their love for each other became ridiculous. 

We worked really hard with Cora to train her well as a puppy and even took her to obedience classes for 8 weeks so we would have some control over her behavior so that when we had kids she would be a great family dog for us. We also worked with her to get her used to the idea of Henry coming. She knew something was up when my belly got enormous and she even used to come sit by me and lay her head on my stomach. Such a sweet girl. look!

 But we were worried she would get jealous not being the center of our attention anymore, especially with Taylor paying attention to Henry instead of her. I mean these two snuggle on the couch or in our bed every single night while watching TV and if Taylor was holding the baby instead I was afraid Cora would freak out and either get depressed and feel left out or start acting out and getting aggressive and possessive over Taylor.

Our vet told us that we needed to play the sound of a newborn baby making noises and crying on our phones on you tube videos so she would get used to the sound and it wouldn't scare her. She is kind of a big baby when it comes to new things and being scared of them. He also told us to turn on the swing and baby toys and let them play so she was used to them all and to walk around with a baby doll wrapped in a blanket so she would realize we would have our hands full. He said to lay the wrapped up doll on the floor or couch and set boundries with her that if the doll was there she couldn't jump up on the bed.couch, chair, or being on the floor on top of the baby doll. (we skipped the baby doll thing bc I felt stupid doing it but we did everything else). When we brought Henry home we slowly introduced them and paid a ton of attention to Cora when we got home so that things would be as usual, then we showed her the baby and it took some time of her sniffing him and looking at him to get used to him being around. 

She never once was aggressive with him just curious.

 She still sits with Taylor on the couch but sometimes she has to share Daddy with Henry and she seems pretty okay with it because Taylor still makes time for just Cora snuggles.

But lately she has become obsessed with and possesive over Henry. She has to always know what room he is in. When we get home from somewhere and we let her out of her kennel she immediately bypasses us and runs to find the baby and make sure he is ok. She won't go outside or eat without knowing where he is first. If she comes in from the back yard she goes to find him first and after she puts tabs on him she will settle down. Unless....He is making noise.

When puppies make noise they are calling for their mother to come to them for comfort or for milk. This little red mother hen thinks every time Henry makes a peep that he is calling for her and needs her. Which is honestly so freaking cute. Thus, he cries and she comes running to him, he coos and she comes running, he burps or farts or coughs or squeaks and she comes running. She is such a great dog and I love her so for being so sweet and caring toward him.

So here are my issues....

Insert problem #1- When she comes running to him to make sure he is okay, she kisses him (which is what mother dog's do to their pups). I really don't want her licking all over him and his face and hands. Plus he doesn't like it either. So I tell her "no kisses Cora". She knows what that means because when I say it to her when she is licking us, she stops immediately. With Henry, she looks me dead in the face and kisses him deliberately. OR she will stop kissing him, run away to make me think she's done, sneak back over, look at me, kiss him and run away again. She sneaks them in whenever she can. Brat! :)

Insert problem #2- She is stubborn as hell. I will lay Henry on the floor and change his diaper in our living room instead of taking him all the way upstairs and she will come start kissing him, I tell her no and push her away and she comes back even more forceful to get to him in any way she can. I have to barricade him with my body to keep her away because I am afraid she will pounce him trying to get to him through me. It makes me nervous bc he is so little still. 

Insert problem #3- She is getting too possessive. She uses her feet alot when she plays and she thinks he wants to play with her too and she tries to bat at him with her paws and such especially when I am trying to keep her away from him. She thinks it's a game and doesn't take me seriously. I have swatted her nose when she gets too rough and doesn't listen and then she goes and pouts in the corner and won't look at me the rest of the day. I feel bad enough she doesn't get all of our attention anymore and the last thing I want her to feel is left out and jealous and sad. Breaks my heart. 

He was crying in this pic and my in-laws were trying to keep her from kissing him.

I love her dearly but I was stuck not knowing what to do to get her to stop. So I called the guy who is the miracle worker that taught our puppy obedience class. He pointed out to me that she isn't being a bad dog or doing anything wrong so we have to be careful with how we handle boundry setting. We don't want her to think she is in trouble for being around the baby, she is a part of our family too and deserves to be present and sit next to us when he is being held etc. 

But we have to make boundries clear to her and be in control. Taylor works daily with her on her basic commands to refresh her all the time, sit, down, stay, come, drop, fetch etc. Now it's my turn, I am the one home during the day that is having the issue so she needs to be listening to me more so I have to work with her on her commands especially drop and leave it. He said if she will drop a tennis ball (and she will) she should drop the baby's hand and stop kissing it if we start practicing that command related to him. OR use a "leave it" command to leave him alone. 

Even in this pic she was watching him and couldn't stop.

 He basically said to treat her like a toddler with a new baby brother and make sure she knows that they can be friends and she can be a protective older sister but she has to be gentle and listen to what her mommy and daddy tell her to do. I found it hilarious that he suggested getting her involved and letting her help. Having her fetch a toy of the baby's or a diaper so she feels connected to him and doesn't feel banished or left out.

I want her to be relaxed enough to continue to sit with us and not get anxious and get up to get in his face when he makes noise (because if he is any kid of ours, he won't ever stop talking once he starts). 

She is our first baby and we just have to work with her to get her to be an appropriate big sister and not so much the mother hen... Operation get Cora to chill out commence!