Photo Friday

Madi and Brady

Young children, 8 years or younger, should never have unsupervised and unrestricted access to a puppy or dog. A puppy may accidentally hurt a child with their sharp, needle-like teeth and a child may accidentally hurt the puppy by not handling it properly. No normal child will willingly hurt a puppy, but all children need to learn how to handle the puppy to keep both puppy and child safe.

Puppies learn all kinds of important social behavior by playing with their litter mates. When puppies play together they use their teeth and push with their bodies. A puppies teeth are very sharp, and when a puppy bites his litter mate too hard the litter mate will yelp loudly. When you take your puppy home you become his new litter, or "pack". He will treat you the same as he did his brothers and sisters. When the puppy bites you too hard you need to do the same as his litter mates did; yelp "Ouch!" loudly. If a child is too young to do this the child should not be playing with the puppy!

Small children should not pick up a puppy and walk around, it's too easy to drop the puppy if he starts to wiggle or to hold the puppy in a way that makes the puppy uncomfortable or scared. If a puppy has an accident with a child (like being dropped on the floor) it could not only hurt the puppy physically but mentally as well. A puppy who's had a bad experience with children can hold onto this for years and it takes a long time, and a lot of work to teach the dog to get over it; in some cases the dog may never feel comfortable around children.

Children who are too young to pick up a puppy should sit on the floor and play calmly with it. Children and puppies often get too excited when playing together, and the parents or adults should make sure to control the environment so no one gets hurt. All puppies have prey drive, it is genetic. Some breeds have higher prey drive than others, and some individual dogs in those breeds are higher prey drive than others. When a child gets excited, squeals, and runs it triggers the puppies prey drive and will cause the puppy to chase and bite at the child. This is unacceptable, and why the child should sit on the ground with puppy. When a puppy shows prey drive it's not showing aggression, it's showing it's natural desires and instincts that humans have bred into dogs for years. Puppies need to learn that human clothes and skin are NOT appropriate prey items, and when a puppy bites you should yelp "ouch!" and then redirect the puppy to items that ARE appropriate prey items such as the puppies toys.

A child old enough to carry the puppy needs to learn how to safely do so;

• gently pick up puppy
• hold the puppy against your body
• support the chest
• support the back feet
• gently place puppy back on ground

All puppies need a safe place to escape to and feel comfortable if they need a break from children and/or their environment. Crates a great sanctuary for dogs, and I believe all puppies should be crate trained from the first day they are brought home.

For more about crate training you can read my article; Puppy Crate Training.

When children and puppies are introduced properly and taught how to interact safely together, it can be the start of a very beautiful relationship. There's nothing better than the bond between a child and a dog, but it is extremely important to start both puppy and child off on the right path!


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Source:
Leerburg Kids & Puppies video