Besides helping hundreds of families with all of these topics, I lived it myself. When my two children were babies, my wife and I also had two Rough Coat Collies and a wonderful Shetland Sheepdog to round out our family. You should have seen the looks we got walking a double stroller and three well-behaved dogs! We literally had cars stop and ask us what our secret was! I made it work and I can teach you as well. I would be happy to show you logical, effective and humane strategies to make it work!
Pre-Baby and Post-Baby Strategies
Many training and planning strategies exist to help families and dogs adjust to the arrival of a new baby or help a new dog coexist peacefully with a family. I can help you and your dog learn certain important skills before your baby arrives, along with sharing strategies to keep in mind when your dog and baby meet for the first time, as well as daily strategies to keep everyone safe and happy.
Besides having first-hand experience with my three dogs, a young child and another on the way, I have helped numerous families over the years understand what is involved to have happy dogs and happy children as they grow up together.
Preventative Measures
Whenever children are in the house, it is even more important to understand strategies to prevent inappropriate behaviors including aggression, barking and even normal puppy biting. Puppy biting can be annoying to adults, but very painful to young fingers and toes.
Aggression
Resource guarding is a form of aggression that can appear in any breed of dog. It is important to understand that dogs can be comfortable with certain people taking bones away or walking near their food bowl, but bite a stranger. If there are children in the home, it is imperative to prevent resource guarding or treat the problem if present.
Children also do not naturally understand signs of anxiety or aggression. Dogs might stiffen, lower their head or tail slightly or some other subtle warning. Children often ignore these signals and end up getting bitten. I can devise strategies to manage your household, treat aggression if present and teach you and your family how to read signs of aggression and how to react if you see them.
Boredom
Inappropriate dog behaviors often get labeled as "jealousy" when in fact they are simply boredom. It is amazing how much time and attention a new baby requires. When he or she is sleeping, that is often your only time to clean, take a shower or take a nap! With the brand-new little one in the home dogs sometimes get pushed aside and a family has less time to devote to their care, exercise and entertainment. A bored dog will find something to do such as barking, destroying furniture, digging holes in the yard or even aggression.
I will help you incorporate training into your busy schedule and show you specific ways to continue training your dog to prevent boredom. We can work on basic to advanced training such as leash walking, off leash control, and jumping prevention. We can also practice more advanced strategies such as heel, object discrimination, placement cues, distance work and refining behaviors to a high level. Tricks such as take a bow, roll over, shake, and high five are a fun, easy way to provide necessary mental stimulation.
Your situation might seem overwhelming right now, but I can help bring focus and direction and provide step-by-step strategies to have a happy home for you and your dog.
What My Clients are Saying
"I highly recommend Jeff Millman! My husband and I were expecting our first baby, with our due date a month away, in search of training to help our 18 month old puppy prepare! Jeff was able to get us scheduled right away and fit sessions in weekly with flexible times! He is very patient, so kind and just great with dogs!
He was able to show us what we needed to prepare our puppy for the baby as well as other techniques to help him with excessive barking and nipping! We saw results immediately through Jeff's methods and continue practicing with him! Thank you Jeff for helping us, our pup is great with our baby!"
I frequently get asked if I offer Board and Train. If you are not familiar with this type of training option, trainers will take a dog into their home (or in a kennel in the backyard) and work with the dog for a period of time each day, often for weeks at a time. They then return the dog to the family and (hopefully) spend some time explaining what their dog learned and teach the family how to communicate to their dog and continue the training that was done with the trainer. 
