ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Mary

I am pregnant and have a 6 months male maltese that my husband and I love very much. How is this dog with babies? I am afraid that he is going to feel jealous. He is very dominant and is being trained since one months ago. What can I do to prepare him to love and care my baby?. Thanks for any advice...

DISCUSSION:

I have no personal experience in this area, but my cousin also owns a Maltese. She has a four year old female named Chelsea. She had her first baby about a year ago. In every video I've seen of the child the Maltese was front and center as well. When my cousin was feeding, or holding or playing with the baby the dog was always there. Either sharing lap space or just sitting next to her and watching. My cousin says that Chelsea gets a little jealous once in a while, but more oftens she seems to think that the baby is hers. In fact the dog is happier because she has more human company. Not only does she have a new person to lavish attention on, but my cousin is home more now since she no longer works full time.
-Carina

I to had my first child when my first maltese was about 6 mths old....He also has a dominant personallity. I found that as long as I set some clear rules about his interactions with our new daughter and did not shove him away for any reason I did not have any problems with his dominance. We now have two human children and 4 dog children and the old man AKA Ivan deals with it all in stride..E-mail me if you have any further questions about his behaviors maybe I have been through the same types of problems and can help you out some.
-Charity..SnoCcrystal Maltese

My six love my grandchildren. They get so excited when they come over, they totally ignore me. I keep the smaller children behind the gate and don't let them play with the dogs, but the dogs stand on the gate and give them kisses. I have had no problems with the dogs and the kids, except keeping them seperated. When my newest grandson was born, they were amazed, watching him on my lap and sniffing the air. They only wanted to see the baby and could care less that I was holding him. They are very loving dogs.
-Marsha A.

Thanks for your advice! They are very helpful. Charity, sure I'll contact you to talk more about it. In the meanwhile I am trying that my maltese gets used to the baby clothes/things without chewing them.
-Mary