Boxer Siblings' Attempt to 'Free' Human Baby From Playpen Is Too Cute
“Hang on, Avery! We’ll have you out of here in no time!” reads the caption on this video of a pair of Boxer dogs trying desperately to get to their little human sister, who is chilling in a playpen. The adorable video captured hearts as it revealed the depth of love between these dogs and the human baby they live with, and how beautiful the bond between a pet and its family can be.
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Most people who grew up with family pets can attest to the powerful love and affection the animals show to even the youngest members of their family. Even when I was pregnant, my dog used to come and put her ear next to my belly to listen to my baby inside of me. One of my cats has decided that my daughter is her person, and waits patiently by the door every day for her to come home from school. One of my friends even owes her dog her baby’s life, as he alerted them to the fact that the baby was having a seizure in his crib.
Related: Boxer Expresses His Sadness Over Brother Going to a Sleepover in the Sweetest Way
That’s why I always find it so surprising when I learn that one of the most common reasons for animals to be surrendered at the shelter is that the family is expecting a baby and doesn’t trust their pet around the new arrival.
Preparing Pets for New Babies
The truth is, animals can be an enriching and rewarding aspect of your child’s life, even from the very beginning. Naturally, there are precautions that should be taken when introducing a pet to a new baby, and all pets have different temperaments. If your pet is bad-tempered or untrained, the time to do extra training sessions and other behavioral modification is before the baby comes home, when there is still time to correct it. And when the baby first comes home, it pays to make sure all interactions are supervised. Adding a new family member to the household can be a stressful experience for both humans and animals, and pets sometimes don’t know the proper way to behave. They should be carefully watched to make sure they will not hurt the baby through exuberance or sometimes not realizing that baby humans are far more delicate than, say, puppies or kittens.
But most animals will have a natural understanding that they need to be especially gentle and careful around baby humans, the same way they would be about their own young. It should not take long for everyone in the house to realize that the baby is just one more member of the family, and for everyone to get along.
Letting Pets and Children Bond
Obviously, the boxers in this video have a wonderful bond with their human baby. They seem happy to see her and only mildly confused by the fact that she’s separated from them by the screen of the playpen. In one clip, the dog is seen licking the screen, as if trying to give baby Avery kisses. "How are we supposed to give her kisses if she’s locked up like this?" the caption imagines them thinking.
It’s a delightful scene, and one that is achievable by families who are willing to do a little work to make sure that their pets are comfortable around the children in the household, and vice versa.
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