minibeanie,
will be gd for bb and dog to be separate first when bb first arrive. bb might be weak still. it will be gd to start trg ur dogs to sleep away from u from now on. for the one that is barkish, try to do it gradually, like leave her in the kitchen w/o u in sight for a few hrs progressively till she is not barkish and can sleep alone in the kitchen. dogs are like human, they can adapt to changes, they just need time.
it's better to train her now then to remove her the moment bb come, that's worse for her.
i think will be gd for u to do preparation work now for the arrival for bb. there are many issues to see to. preampt them and make live easier for u, ur dogs and ur parents/inlaws. some pple might think it's ok and they'll manage but somehow, things don't go as plan and they feel they can't handle the dog with the bb and in the end the dog suffer and gets sent away.
so sit down and think how dog will affect bb and how u want to run ur life with ur bb and dog together and start making the changes now. it will defnitely benefit u and family in the long run.
my dogs also sleep in the kitchen. i only let them sleep with in my rm in their own beds occasionally, it's like a bonus to them. i also do this cos i don't 1 my dog to feel the pinch when he got to move to the kitchen when i have bb.
mag,
it's gd for dogs to be socialised. but of cos too much of a gd thing is a bad thing hee hee. mango is very friendly cos she is still a puppy. and it's a gd thing. this will prevent behaviour pbm like being very sticky with u and barking at strangers. cocoa is also well socialised but too much already. he can go off with anyone ha ha... but it's alrite with us, we r happy as long as he's happy. not to worry abt dogs not being attached. bonding needs a long time to cultivate. over time mango will know u're her family and she'll stick to you but she will still be friendly with other ppl cos she is well socialise. a well socialised dog is more fun.
my 2nd dog is very timid. i think he wasn't well socialised when young (i got it from somebody) so he doesn't play with other dogs but lucky he is ok with humans. so he's very sticky. he just follow u ard but doesn't play with cocoa. and his quiet nature also makes it hard to play with him, like fetch and teach tricks, not ez also. hopefully i can try to change him over time.
binbin,
try to socialise prince abit more. since it's in the nature of sheltie then not to worry he will become too friendly. cos barking at strangers is not very ideal as sometimes when u bring prince out, he might bark at pple and pple might get scared esp children. and humans being humans can have all sort of reactions. socialising him will let him know that it's ok to have other humans beside u and family and other dogs ard and not be scared of them. this is just my opinion for ur reference, like u said, to each his own