| Many famous and classic dog movies
show dogs and children as the best of friends. While this
is true in most cases, we still hear reports of pet dogs biting
or mauling young children. Many dogs are given up when a baby
arrives in the house because the owners think it is a daunting
task handling dogs and children together. Depending on how
your puppy or dog is trained when it arrives into your home,
your kids and dogs can be the best or worst of friends.
It is very essential to train your pup when he first joins
your household. Your pup should learn to accept people of
all ages including children. As children are usually at eyelevel,
many dogs may feel threatened. It is therefore important to
get your dog used to children in your house or in the neighborhood,
their actions, sounds and smells.
All children should be taught how to behave around dogs even
if it is not their own. Troubling a dog by pulling his ears
or tail, teasing and hitting him or disturbing it while it
is asleep are definite a no as even a well trained and perfectly
behaved dog has its limits. Many a dot bites have occurred
as children tease a pet beyond its patience. An adult should
therefore always supervise kids and dogs when they are together.
Children must be taught never to approach, tap or hug a dog
without the permission of the owner. A dog running loose will
behave very differently than when he on a leash with his owner.
Mostly, dogs do not consider children as figures of authority.
Moreover, dogs feel threatened by children since children
usually have a habit of staring keenly at them. Even the friendliest
dog may bite to protect himself if he feels cornered.
Dog owners should socialize their puppies to small children
at an early age. The younger the pup is when exposed to kids,
the more tolerant he will be. Socializing can be by walking
the pup through a park or playground where children are at
play. Regular experience of this kind will allow your dog
to become familiar with children and their behavior.
Kids and dogs should never be left alone especially if the
child is below five years of age as the child might unintentionally
hurt the dog and cause the dog to get aggressive.
Dogs and children should be separated at snack time so that
the child does not pass on its food to the dog and also to
prevent it from learning to steal food from them. The dog
should have a place of its own either in the backyard or in
some corner of the house to where he can retreat. Children
should not be allowed to trouble the dog when he is there.
Dog owners expecting new babies in the house should also
prepare the dog for the baby’s arrival. Most of your
dog’s schedules might need to be changed when the baby
arrives, so make sure you implement these changes long before
the baby arrives.
Make sure your dogs follow basic commands like Sit, Stay,
Down etc as you will need to use them a lot when your dog
is around the baby. Let your dog know that jumping on you
or knocking you down is absolutely not allowed. Let your dog
get adjusted to the nursery before the baby arrives. Train
your dog beforehand to stay quiet while in the nursery so
that they can be allowed in while you are nursing or putting
the baby to sleep.
Decide in advance who will be in charge of the dog while
you are in the hospital. Ideally this person should be familiar
to your dog. While it will be very difficult to give your
dog a lot of attention after the baby comes, do not let it
feel ignored either. Spending even five minutes of quality
time with undivided attention will suffice.
As the baby grows, allow for bonding time. Teach your infant
to touch the dog gently. Teaching a child the expected behavior
with the dog at infancy itself is far easier than when he
is a toddler. Allow your toddler to help you feed and bathe
the dog. Safety however should be your primary concern, and
you should never leave your kid and dog alone no matter how
well behaved or well trained your dog is.
The growing relationship between your child and the dog is
precious and needs to be fostered. As a parent and a dog owner
you can accomplish this by teaching your kid and dog to respect
and value each other. Dogs and children are wonderful together
but only if the adults use common sense and put safety first.
If this is done, fewer children will be bitten and fewer dogs
will need to be given up or put to sleep for aggressive behavior.
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