I am a new member and I have spent the last couple of weeks just reading everyone's advise. I am impressed with the knowledge on this board (really) and I would like any opinions. After 5 years of waiting and looking, I am finally getting my 1st GSD, german showlines (I know, no one in this forum is a fan of showlines, but I thought she was beautiful (and I really didn't know there was a difference until reading Ed's site--I thought German was German...) Anyway, I decided on a puppy because we have a 2 year old daughter. I am planning on the dog being an inside house dog, although we have 2 fenced acres if needed. I have Ed's training videos and I have read just about every article on his site. I plan to follow his advice completely. Actually, I used his videos in training my lab with great results.

So my question is...does the puppy and the baby growing up together make any difference in the dogs attitude toward the baby? Will it make the dog any less likely to bite her?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Linda Duhon

PS - this is my 1st post -- no spell check?

 Quote:

So my question is...does the puppy and the baby growing up together make any difference in the dogs attitude toward the baby? Will it make the dog any less likely to bite her?

No. The way you handle, supervise and separate will make the dog les likely to bite. I recommend this book: http://www.leerburg.com/954.htm There is a wealth of information that parents need to know - even parents that do not have dogs. This book can be alarming, but it also offers perspective and documentation.

A person that raises a puppy and an toddler at the same time, either has superhuman capabilites (or a staff). <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> If you don't have time to spend training (and housetraining) a puppy, consider an adult dog - like a retired breeder or a rescue.

One of the topics addressed in the book I mentioned above is that people - especially children - are most often bitten by dogs they know well. Many people reason that a dog will not bite a family member - especially when pup and child are raised together. This is simply not true, and is a dangerous asumption.

I recommend the article I wrote on PREVENTING DOG BITES IN CHILDREN - click here to read it

I just added a section on how to deal with a new born baby and dogs.