Please could you help.  My four year old seem very scared of my pup.  The pup is very boisterous and jumps up a lot and trys to chew.
My two year old loves the pup and plays well with her.
Im a bit upset tonight, I have only had her since Saturday but am worrying like mad now about my daughters reactions.

Give your daughter a chance to get used to the pup, they can frighten children the way they jump up, also teach the pup not to jump up on the children, push it down gently on the chest and say Off.  Teach your daughter to do this as well, my two yr old granddaughter has already been taught this by me and it makes her more confident round about the pup, the other young grandkids have no fear of the pup at all.  Get your daughter to help feed the pup i.e. put down pups food and then walk away.

if the pup starts acting up your wee girl should walk away without any fuss. if she gets upset or noisy the pup might interpret this as being playful and get more excited, however if the pup does something to upset her and she leaves calmly and immediately then your pup will see that doing that thing means the fun person leaves. you'll need to work hard to teach your daughter how to be around the pup and to teach the pup how to be with her. consider what does your younger one do that your older one does not? is the youngest quieter? does she quietly go in a huff if puppy nips? does the older squeal etc.

Children very often find the idea of a puppy much nicer than the reality. We all have a soft-focus mental image of a sweet, cuddly puppy snuggling beside us, and the reality of the semi-crocodile that we find it's been replaced by comes as a shock!

Puppies generally find small children, with their higher-pitched voices and sudden movements, very exciting, and want to play with them the same way as they would their 'natural' siblings, by pouncing and biting. They haven't had time to learn that humans are softy weeds, to be treated in a different way. This will come especially if you follow the advice given in The Bite Stops Here, but you need to be calm and consistent.

Limit the time your children play with the puppy, and make sure that neither the pup nor your daughter become over-excited. If you can keep everything calm then the puppy will learn to be calm too. You can play the more boisterous games with the pup - when the children are around, things need to be lower-key. And make sure the puppy has plenty of naps - just like an over-tired child, an over-tired puppy is impossible.

> Children very often find the idea of a puppy much nicer than the reality.

We are not all born to like dogs either, hard to believe I know :-D.  As a child I was desperate for one, a couple of my sisters were quite fond when it finally arrived but not much interested in doing anything with it like training and the fourth was never, ever interested and just stayed out of its way so for a very young child, if that was their inclination, it must be very difficult to express or deal with a disinclination towards the rowdier aspects at least.

Don't worry.  My children at 12 and 13 are very experienced with dogs but even they can be a bit overwhelmed by the 'leaping lunatic' puppy phase.

Puppies love children - they squeak, they run and they flap - just like chickens come to think of it!  Now you have a baby shark in the house it would be sensible to get out your old baby gates.  Your four year old, and the pup, will both need a place where they can romp about without fear of damaging each other.  Another thing you can do is to teach your daughter what to do with her hands.  So many children just raise them in the air and often the dogs will just follow this exciting target with joyful abandon and start jumping up.  It really helps if she can learn to keep her palms flat on her sides which will give Katie nothing to grab at.

At four years old your daughter is perfectly entitled to be a bit freaked out but as hard as it might be; my advice would be for your daughter to ignore the puppy, no interaction whatsoever unless you are managing it.  It's safer and more comfortable if Katie learns that your daughter is not a playmate.  My children do not 'play' with either of my dogs but they are absolutely the dogs favourite people for snuggling with.  I find that keeping the children calm around the dogs keeps the dogs calm around the children.  Both kids have what they describe as 'dog blankets' that they bring into the TV room - this is the dogs signal that it's snooze time.  Our youngest dog is now 16 months but as soon as I was reasonably sure he would be dry for longer than 20 minutes he'd come in - invitation only - to be allowed to snuggle up with the kids.  If he started to nibble or get silly they'd move away up onto the sofa and if he was still a bit daft he'd be removed til he quietened down a bit.  He soon learnt and now leaps in, has a swift snog, lies down and screws his eyes tight shut!!  The only problem now is that he snores like a pig and you have to turn the TV volume up to hear anything...

thanks for your replies.  Pup had a real go at my hand tonight so I will definately need to keep them apart. 

Where do you keep your dogs during the daytime and when they are awake?  Are the confined to one room?

Puppies are very in your face- licking, scratching so your daughter is obviously taken aback by this manic behavior!

If you let them interact in a calm way when you are in control your daughter will not feel so unsafe. You can get a thin nylon lead very light so the pup doesn't realise he/ she hasn't one on and get your daughter to sit down no yelling or quick movements and let the pup come in . Give the pup a treat holding your daughters hand at the same time, put the treat high enough it will naturally sit or it will flop over :-) if the pup tries to jump up stand on the lead so it can not succeed in doing it. That will make your daughter feel safer then the pup will not act so silly around her and become full on.  They seem to go crackers with kids my son was 5 when I got my bully and in the first 3 weeks had knocked out 5 baby teeth! Time out is a good thing a safety gate in the kitchen when things get out of hand will calm you so chill out your daughter. It will take time to bond. Maybe she could come to puppy socialization classes with you and a friend sitting with her just looking from afar?

I'm sure she will get over the sudden change of environment with a puppy constantly hassling her so longs you let her have her space from the pup.
Another good tool is a tennis ball your daughter can roll it away from her and the pup will naturally chase that rather than focus on her. Make sure you show her the rolling not chucking LoL
Good luck with your new baby. :-)

It's best to confine pup to one safe room when you aren't able to supervise (often the kitchen is the best place ;) ) preferably with a washable floor until it is housetrained ;) This is where baby-gates are a god-send, the pup can see what's going on but not run riot or learn to wee everywhere ;)

Having a pup is very like having a baby at first - a very bitey, rambunctious baby :-D  But they do grow up quicker than babies ;)

push it down gently on the chest and say Off.

I would never do this as pushing a puppy (or adult dog) away encourages play so you get more of the same. Many dogs just love being pushed away so it's a real reward for them to have it happen.  Indeed it's how we sometimes encourage dogs to play with us at training class.

The training class I go to never does this, pushing the dogs down on the chest.  As I said gently just a palm of the hand thats what I do with mine and its worked for years and years, mine dont see it as playing or starting to play.  But of course, what works for one person does not work for another.

With regard to confinement, I bought my puppy a large enclosed pen from Croft online, where she has room for a bed, toys, water bowl and pee pad.  Sometimes even an enclosed room is too large a space for a puppy who wants to get into everything.  My girl is very happy in her pen (although always pleased to come out I might add).  If you check out their website, they have a lot of different options for pen styles and sizes.

Thanks to you all.  Such valuable information is a godsend.  I will check it all out more closely tonight, ive nipped home to see pup.

> Where do you keep your dogs during the daytime and when they are awake?  Are the confined to one room?

When I am at home the dogs area increases dependant on cleanliness! If they are a very muddy they stay in the garden whilst I wash and dry them; a bit muddy they can go into the utility room til they dry off a bit.  The kitchen is ok if they are wet.  The hall, where my PC is, is a 'free room' and both boys have 2nd beds in here.  The kids TV room and our room is by invitation only or to give my older dog a bit of time away from the youngster.

When they are still little and have the bladder capacity of a peanut then a wipe clean floor is the best option.  As a tiny puppy my youngest spent most of his time in the utility room and kitchen so I'd just find jobs to do in there so he wasn't on his own too long.  The hall was his next place as I became more used to his 'need a wee' signals and timings.  His boundaries simply extended along with his bladder size!!

I still keep a gate on the stairs as I know I can't rely on my kids to shut their bedroom doors and my youngster still likes to find dirty laundry (note to self: must find a way of making that more reliable, could come in handy!).  I also keep a gate into the main living room as I often use that space to give my older dog a break from the baby loon.  Instilling clear boundaries at this stage is a matter of making your choices, and sticking to them.  If you only want Katie to have toys in one room only for instance simply remove them if she carries them over the boundary and place them back in the room you want - as she get a bit older you can stand at the threshold and if she attempts to leave the room with a toy in her mouth, close the gate, when she drops it then you can open the gate.  In this way my boys know that our living room is not a play room.  Once you get to a good training class they can help you teach the 'leave' command so that she knows not to pick up your daughters toys.

Do some of your training alongside your daughter so she can see what Katie can do.  You can also reinforce messages like palms on your sides and turn away.  I trained my kids (!!) not to greet the dogs unless the dogs are sitting so that they (kids) have a bit more control over the situation.   If the youngster gets a bit over excited the kids are told to 'hands off' till he sits again.  If you are consistent it really works, my boy knows that if he wants them to say hello he must SIT first.

Can you tell us what breed the puppy is?  Different breeds = different tactics sometimes

You may find it useful to read through this and play the 'Safe and Sound game with your daughter.

> Pup had a real go at my hand tonight so I will definately need to keep them apart. 

it wouldnt have been agressive just playing.. so confining her will make her more exited when she sees people

dfferent breeds require different training. What breed is yours? If its a lab or large retriever breed i could offer some tips specific to the breed.

Katie is a West Highland Terrier.  9 weeks old.

Hi

Have sent you a pm re westies.