Acclimating Our Dog to the New Baby

So last Friday, my wife gave birth to our first child, Felix. Fortunately, we were preparing for this occurrence. Our preparations included letting our wonderful dog walker, Mike of Happy Dog, know that we might need him to pick up and board Ruki at a last minute's notice. With his birthday and Christmas looming, he agreed, and Friday night I tossed him off an e-mail that we were heading to the hospital. 

Sunday, we came home newborn baby in tow. I had talked to Mike, and Ruki was at home waiting for us. When we got home, she was predictably excited, shivering and shaking her stubby tail. But how would she greet the baby? Well, she didn't really. She seemed kind of aloof. Which kind of makes sense: She was completely exhausted from running around crazy with five other dogs.

Well, we figured that aloof was better than too excited--or angry. It eventually took Ruki about two or so days to work up the energy/curiosity to greet Felix. Still, it's been about a week, and she's not super excited about Felix. She's curious. She'll sniff at him when we bring him to her or when he's curled up on his bouncer. And she's beginning to express alertness and concern when she hears him cry. 

But at night, she gets a little cranky with the crying. She curls up and scrunches her face into her bed at 3 a.m. when we're up consoling and coddling Felix. 

We try to acclimate her by giving her at least a little attention most times we pass her. And I throw her up on my lap at least once a late night. So hopefully this will progress smoothly until  Felix and Ruki are best friends.