By Heidi Clayton
The youngest dog in my house right now is my 7-month-old baby, Kabuki. She has the benefit of living with someone who has built a business on training dogs, and yet I still do not trust that she wouldn’t knock an over excited child if the situation presented itself. That is not because she is in the least bit a mean puppy, but at her age, she lacks the emotional maturity to control her excitement. Impulse control in puppies takes time and training to develop.
Often in my business, I meet families that get a puppy while raising a baby or toddler and complain that the puppy is “rough” with little humans. It is important to realize that when bringing a puppy into the home where you are also raising small babies or toddlers that you are basically bringing another infant into the home. This infant does not speak our language and has an entirely different set of rules on how and what play and interaction looks like.
The internet may have you convinced that the babies and puppies just naturally coexist in harmony with all of the cute pictures of kids climbing on dogs; dog trainers will tell you that is most often not the case. Puppies and small children can exist together for sure, BUT, placing unreasonable behavioral expectations on a small puppy will always lead to frustration and trouble. Raising the two together will take time and patience.
Because puppies and dogs can pay with their lives in some cases, I firmly believe that children under 7 should not be left alone with them unsupervised. Things can go south very quickly and more often than not, all of the bite cases I have worked with that involve a child, there were cues missed that could have prevented the situation. As hard as it is to teach a puppy boundaries with the baby or toddler, it is equally as hard if not impossible to teach a baby or toddler how to behave around a wiggly, excited puppy.
Here are some rules to follow to ensure everyone is safe.
Puppies regardless of their size lack the emotional maturity it takes to not react to a baby or toddler who is crying, excited or running around. Teaching your puppy to not knock a toddling baby over is very hands on. While you are tempted to have them loose together, be reasonable and consider if you can actually manage both watching the baby AND rewarding the puppy for sitting calmly and settled near the child. What can you effectively manage if baby toys that rattle and make noise get the puppy overstimulated and cause them to grab them from the baby’s hands? Can you manage watching your baby or toddler learning to walk or crawl and reward your young puppy for not following them and knocking them over? This is a common issue with toddlers running around, making exciting noises resulting in the puppy chasing and knocking them down and/or nipping their clothes or skin when overstimulated. Teaching a puppy impulse control and not doing those things is a process that takes both time and effort and success coincides with them maturing mentally.
When you can absolutely focus on both the child and the puppy you should always have treats on hand to reward the puppy for calm behavior. Yelling at the puppy to get down or stop it while they are jumping and overstimulated verbally reinforces the unwanted behavior. If your child starts to cry as a result of being knocked over, this can also lead to the puppy getting overstimulated and jumping higher and harder. It is much more effective to reward the puppy when they are settled. Before letting the puppy loose with the baby or toddler, consider how you will manage if the puppy gets over excited. Do you have enough hands to calm both the puppy and the baby?
Raising a puppy alongside your children can be a wonderful experience for all involved. But remember the process is a marathon not a sprint so please do not ask for too much from your puppy as it’s unfair and unreasonable.
Any questions please feel from to email heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net
Heidi Clayton started Four On the Floor Dog Training to provide positive, reward-based dog training in South Jersey. She breeds, trains and shows bull terriers under the SoraBully’s Bull Terriers kennel name. Email questions to heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net or learn more at https://fouronthefloordogtraining.net
