My dog, Harry, is doing great with our new grandbaby, Emily, except for one issue: if Emily cries and Harry can see her, he's fine. But if she cries while she's in her carriage and out of view, he's inconsolable. He gets frantic, whimpering and yelping and finally working himself up to a silent scream where his vocal chords are bursting, but no sound emerges. How can we help?

I turned for help to Jill Miller, of CourteousK9s.com, whose professional life is devoted to helping dogs and babies get along, to find some solutions for poor worried Harry. Jill is linked on www.thedogbible.com, and so is Grandma Stephanie, whose great books for kids are also linked, under "Books I Love." —Tracie Hotchner

Poor Harry just doesn't quite understand, does he? There are a couple of things that you can play around with to see what he responds to best.

1. Reward Harry for any calm behavior when Emily is crying, or where he can't see her. In the beginning, this may involve you rewarding him heavily just for watching someone put Emily into her carriage. If you've done any "clicker" training, this would be a great time to use it. Basically, the moment he's quiet, even if it's to take a breath, you'd click and treat. If you're not using a clicker, I'd say "Yesssssss!" -- and then treat him. The click or "Yessss!" is letting him know that the behavior he's exhibiting at that very instant is the behavior that got him his reward. A reward that may be even more powerful than a treat would be, to let him see Emily. In other words, Harry + quiet = a look at Emily.

2. Give Harry an alternative behavior. This may be tough if he's really upset, so I'd either pick something easy that he can do well, or teach him something new when he's relaxed, and start asking for it first near Emily, then near the carriage, then as Emily is going into the carriage, etc. This can be as simple as a series of sits and downs (push-ups, basically), or something more involved, like heeling next to the carriage or carrying a toy or blanket -- either his or Emily's. If Harry is able to focus on something other than his distress that he can't see the baby, he may settle more quickly.

3. Desensitize him to the sound of crying. The "baby sounds" CD on Tracie's website is great -- it has happy baby noises as well as crying baby. Again, if Harry is calm when he hears the noise, he gets a reward. You can start the CD very quietly, or play it in one room and work Harry in another.

4. Don't let him think that there's anything wrong with the baby being out of sight. While I don't think dogs understand every word we say, I do think they understand a fair amount, and they definitely key in to our tone. If you're trying to reassure Harry that the baby is fine, your reassuring voice probably sounds a lot like your praise voice. Therefore, Harry could be thinking that you are praising him for fussing, rather than the reassuring you're actually doing. Rather than reassure, I'd be very matter-of-fact. "Well, Harry, the baby is out of sight/crying, but it's not your job to fix it. Let's do something else instead." When I do this with my dogs, I try to make my voice as neutral and matter-of-fact as possible, even if I'm embarrassed or a little worked up myself. My collie is going through a "freaked out about everything" phase, so I spend a lot of time neutrally telling her things and redirecting. The first few times she didn't believe me, but as we work more and more, she's getting better about picking up cues from me.

I just had sort of an odd thought about redirecting, so use it or not: you could get a stuffed doll or a stuffed animal to be Harry's "baby." When he's upset about Emily, you can redirect him to his "baby." "Yep, Harry, Emily is definitely crying. Should we see if your baby is all right?" To get him interested in his "baby," you could either let Emily have it for a little while (so it has her scent on it), or just hold it out to Harry. When he noses it, say something like "That's right! Harry's baby!" You can use an excited voice and whatever name you want for the toy, and give Harry a treat. Every time he pays attention to the toy, he gets rewarded while you're naming the toy. If he'll gently carry it, all the better.

Hopefully, something here will help Harry calm down when he can't see "his" baby. Best of luck!

Tracie Hotchner