Toddlers/small children and pets

qwertytlk

I have a small dog who wa already part of my family before baby came along. She is very good with the baby and knows her place etc. Anyway im just wondering if when the baby gets a little older and starts walking and exploring things if he will still pull the dogs tail,legs, ears and generally torment her, as most yound kids do or does this usually only happen when the pet was introduced into the home when the child was a bit older as opposed to the pet being there all along and the child being used to seeing it from day one? Thanks.

Lola92

My daughter is 14 months and we have a 13 year old Japanese Spitz. She has been walking for 3 months now and never chases or harms the dog. From a very young age we have tried to explain to her that she has to be gentle with Snowy, only touch him with the flat of her hand when stroking him, never go near him when she has food among It is going well so far with no major incidents and hopefully will continue that way!

He is a very good natured dog and has grown up around young children so would be used to tugging etc just in play. Once or twice she has stepped on his tail by mistake when he was lying down. He snapped but we lifted her away immediately so I suppose that goes to show how important supervision is when it comes to pets and children.

In my opinion it is our responsibility to teach children how to care for animals and that they should be treated well and not hurt, that it is not acceptable to pull at them etc.

qwertytlk

Thanks. I agree, i mean my dog is great too and i do trust her. But i still know that animals are animals and we cant expect them to behave like people so supervision is important at all times, and so is educating the child in how to treat animals.
My son is 8 months and starting to show more of an interest in the dog, so just wanted to see what other peoples experiences had been.
Thanks:)

Moonbeam

I have a 7 year old cat that I had before kids,then when my big girl was 9 months we got a Jack Russell who is very much her dog.
Both girls are very gentle with him but he does get poked and prodded,bitten by teething baby etc
He is only young too and knows no different.
The cutest is when the 3 of them curled up on a blanket and went to sleep.
The cat puts up with them!! and lvoes the dog most of the time.

qwertytlk

Aww moonbeam thats soo cute. My little man will be sitting there and the dog will stroll by, minding her own business and for some reason he thinks this is hilarious and starts giggling away to himself. Its so funny

slarkin123

I have a toddler that has to put up with 2 huskys and a bison frise . When he was starting to crawl around i showed him how to pet the dog. Whenever he tried to sit on them or annoy them in any way id tell him to pet them instead. Most dogs pay no attention to kids messing around them. But always be vigilant . My son soon copped on that he's not allowed hit or pull them. His favourite thing is sitting in front of one of the huskys chatting to her. The dog will just look at him like he's mad and lie down. If she's getting fed up she'll give him a big lick on the face and he runs and will leave her alone for a while.