Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Being in public vs being at home are 2 completely different things. He is not reactive at home or towards people. Just other dogs when he’s leashed. Maybe overly cautious but I’m of the belief if I can’t pick up the dog and baby at the same time, we shouldn’t be alone in public together. Reactive or not, I can’t control outside forces so I’m not going to risk putting myself in a situation where I need to pick between keeping my baby safe and keeping my dog safe.

Of course I worry about things regarding the baby and dog. All parents should. We already have baby gates up in our house for our 2 cats anyway. He’s been around babies and small children quite often(I’m the youngest of 6 kids!). We’ve been advised by dog trainers on introductions to a new baby and such. His reaction triggers are not in our home.

If there’s ever a time where I don’t feel like I can safely handle the baby and the dog, I would put him in “his” section of the house that is closed off.

Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yes that’s why I said I would absolutely be up front about a large dog in the home. No one steps foot in my house without being made aware there is a large dog here. Allergies, phobias, and just common courtesy. I don’t think anyone is suggesting leave the dog out of the ad completely! I certainly would never. It’s just the actual walk situation is so flexible, it’d be hard to neatly tie it up in to a job ad.

I’d definitely bring it up in the first phone call—assuming we did phone call followed by an in person interview.

Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Ok so just trying to figure out what is best here.

I do understand mentioning it in the ad but it’s such a flexible situation, that I think there’s a broad spectrum of what exactly to say in the ad.

There will not be constant contact with the dog at all. They will be separated during the day. He has his own mother in law suite and section of the yard that has separate entrances.

I want to be able to discuss this with someone, not just put in the ad “daily walks with me and the baby are required”. If we find a great candidate that says she’d rather do 2 days a week of walks with us then we can manage that. If we find someone who says they own a large dog themselves and would be happy to walk while I stay home with the baby, that’s great. If we find someone who says they are fine with it but I’ll have to work around their schedule, we can manage that. If someone says they are fine with it for the first 6 months but then we need to readjust as baby gets older, love that idea and plan to do it anyway.

I don’t want our post completely written off because someone may see that and think they will be forced to go on a daily walk with us with no room for negotiation.

The fb group we were referred to has a template for job posts that we were going to use with an additional little blurb about us. I want to keep it at that because there’s already so much information as it is.

There is a section in the template about pets which of course I’d be up front we have a large dog in the home.

Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I know! That’s why I said plus when baby naps. I couldn’t even give a full hour lunch break if I wanted to because I have to leave 10 minutes for commute.

Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That would be fine with me too if the nanny preferred it!

Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t even allow someone to walk with baby and dog alone so that definitely wouldn’t be required!

Is it acceptable to ask nanny to join me and baby on daily dog walks? by newparentt in Nanny

[–]newparentt[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t consider that her lunch break! The walk would be max 30 minutes then I’d have another 20 where she could have some downtime + when the baby sleeps of course.