The other day a member of my family popped round for coffee. As we went from the front room (where the kids were) I took the dog with me & shut him out of the room by a star gate.

She said I was mean waking the dog up!
I told her I wont leave her with the kids when I am not there, just in case. (The kids are 2 & 4).
She asked if I thought she would bite them & I told her it was what the kids might do to the dog I was worried about!!

I have just had a call now from my mother asking me to think about rehoming her or having her PTS if I think she will turn on the kids! I told her she would not bite the kids & then she asked me why I would not leave them alone together then - grrrrrrr.

She said you have to trust a dog 100% (fair enough) & I will leave her with my older kids - she even sleeps with them. But my 2 yr old has no idea about being kind & has even bit my poor dogs ear & made her cry so goodness knows what he would do without me there to keep an eye.

Maybe the 2yr old should be PTS - lol

Rant over - I was so mad - has anyone else had to explain anything like this?

Thanx for listenging

Jo
xxxxx

I think you were very sensible and I disagree wholeheartedly with this statement: She said you have to trust a dog 100%

I do not believe you should trust any dog 100% - I have as near as that as possible with Willis, but I certainly wouldn't leave a young child alone with him.

You have the right responsible attitude and it's such a shame there aren't more people around with the same attitude ;)

You should never leave young kids alone with any dog, regardless of the dogs laid back nature, as you say, it's what the child may do to the dog, then dog retaliates, and then of course, it's all the dogs fault :(

Children have to be taught to respect a dog and they can't do that until they are old enough to understand what the word respect means IMHO. You are spot on with your thinking, I would never explain myself to anybody regarding my child and dogs, just be secure in the fact that you are doing the right thing by both :)

Poor you! Stick to your guns, because you're absolutely right. Small children can be very unkind to dogs, even though it's unintentional, and no dog should be put in a position where they might have to defend themselves from a child - it's not fair on either of them.

So keep doing what you're doing - that way a crisis is less likely to happen.

They can be cruel. A few months ago I walked into the living room to find half a crayon up each of Raffies nostrils
He didn't even open his eyes...in fact it's quite possible he didn't even notice but it has made me very wary of what a 3 yr old terrorbag child is capable of.

I think you are being very sensible - why don't you print this off and show it to your mum?   She will then see that we all agree with what you are donig!

Margot

Good idea Margot !

Teri ;)

Countless time to people hoping to get a puppy.  If they do not take the concerns on board then they don't get one, and a quick warning to other breeders means they are unlikely to have luck elsewhere.

I explain that a dogs only defrnce is it's teeth, and it should never ever be put into the position where it would have no option but to use them. 

This means great care should be taken that the children are never perceived by the dog as being a source of fear, or discomfort.

I warn that if pushed to the point of biting (and different dogs have different tolerance levels, so it is unfair to test them) it is more likely to use that method next time as it will inevitably get the desired effect (the child will stop what it was doing). 

Then I ask them who would pay for their mistake, the child might be scarred and the dog may pay with it's life.

I had my first ever dog when my daughter was a toddler of 14mnths, and when she sadly died my second one came to a houeshold with a 14 month old toddler and a 4 year old pre school child.

Both dogs adored the children, but the second could cope with them more easily than the first. 

The first was never a problem because from careful observation I knew when she needed time out from kids.

I love my dogs and they have never so much as given my kids a dirty look but when they were little I ensured that Purdy who was the only one I had then was never left alone.  Toddlers especially have this very evil habit of scurfing up fur and twisting it and to be honest I think dogs in general are very tolerant. 

Stick to your guns you are doing the right thing.  My mother in law tried every angle to get me to get rid of the dogs and we now have a unwritten agreement not to discuss them.

Thankyou for the replys.

I think I will print this out, just to prove that I am not the only one that does this!

Children are cruel without meaning to be at 2, & my dog will let him take anything from her, bones, food, toys & puts up with being tripped over, stood on ect  - but I would not expect her not to defend herself if my son hurt her.

My other children are 8, 10 & 13 & I am quite happy to leave them with her.

My mum was not happy when I got my first staffie 9 yrs ago - it looks like she still does not like them.

Thankyou all again for your replys

Barney is 8 months old and my children are 3 and 5. He is a large breed puppy, and although I trust him not to hurt the children, it is them that may cause a problem! I would never leave my children unsupervised with him. If I am not around then he goes into the kitchen behind the stair gate. It is true, that no matter what size, how well behaved or mild mannered your dog is, you can never trust them 100%.

Julia

i have 5 dogs at the moment,they are all brilliant with harry my 4 year old, and he is brilliant with them, however when we have freinds around with their kids i always put our lot upstairs in the bedroom out of the way, more for their benefit as young kids get them all hyped up by playing, and inside that can mean knocking littleones over etc, so while they are all good we do put them out of the way.

once we had freinds round with their 18month old little boy, now they have two mad dobes, so the dogs were mostly roaming around whn all of a sudden you could hear a really loud squealing, we rushed over to see what waas happening and sam the child was biting our harveys ear, luckily he is soft as muck and looked at us to say get it off me now! , whereas i think any other dog maywell have bitten in that situation, so we take no chance now, i say i trust the dogs and not the kids!!!!!

chel

Jo - I just wish all owners with small children were as aware and vigilant as you are.   You could not have got it more right :) !