When we got our puppy, my wife had a vision of the puppy growing with our 2 yr old girl and eventually them playing outside together having a great time.

However, I told her that with dogs, at any time, the best trained dog in the world could snap and attack our daughter. I told her that either we need to wait until our daughter is physically strong enough to control an out of control dog(when I say out of control, I don't mean cujo. I mean a dog who tries to bite or jump our daughter), or we must always be right there when our daughter is playing with the dog.

She mentioned how her niece grew up with a fully mature cocker spaniel and fed her, groomed her, and played with her by herself. Even when she was only 7 yrs old. Nothing ever happened.

I told my wife that that was just luck.

Am I correct?

Ps, we have a 22 lb lab/terrier mix expected to grow to about 40 lbs when fully mature.

Thanks

Eddie, I'm no expert but a child should not be alone with a dog. Dogs and kids have to be taught the rules of interaction with one another and as long as each respects the other everything will probably be fine. But even then you shouldn't leave them alone.

On another note if you get a serious working GSD I think it will likely be many years before your little girl will be physcially and mentally capable of handling such a dog by herself.

Just my opinions. Good luck!

I agree, you should not leave a small child alone with a dog for any length of time. I have the same problem as you Eddie, the wife is not on board with the training. The worst thing she did was let Max and my 2 and half year old son play in the crate together or kick them both out to the back yard together unsupervised. Nothing bad happened but it screwed up the training.

I played with our dogs unsupervised all the time. I don't see any of my dogs doing anything like attack, but I have seen children I wouldn't want to be unsupervised with! Demons!

You're right Jeff, my "Brian the terrible" has Maggie nervous as hell. He grabbed and held on to Maggie's upper lip and wouldn't let go. Maggie is a 90Lbs GSD. She leaves the room when Brian shows up.

we have 3 dogs 2 gsds and a lab

my pup is 10 months old and is not left alone with my son, for some reason puppy sub 1 yrold kid just spells trouble in my mind. the lab i trust, but still do not leave them unsuporvised .

my wifes dog is 4 yr old rescue not on your life. he is short with kids and just had surgery on his hip. not a chance in hell is that dog being left alone with my kiddo

My almost 10-year-old daughter probably understands training theory better than a lot of "professional" trainers out there, and Ceili now looks at her like she's The Divine. She can now get that dog to do anything, anywhere, anytiime. Do I leave them alone together?

ABSOLUTELY not. Brianna only outweighs Ceili by 10lbs or so. If something SHOULD happen - and I cannot even fathom the circumstance where it would - despite being a young athlete, Brianna does not have the physical strength to control the animal, period. Do I think anything is ever going to happen. Not by a long shot - but I'm not willing to risk even the tiniest fraction of a percent when the safety of my children is at stake. Kids are kids, and dogs are dogs, and neither one is totally predictable!

Same goes, obviously, for my 3-year-old Rhiannon. Ceili must obey commands given by her as well, to cement that ALL humans in this home are above her in pack order, but that doesn't mean Rhiannon can "control" her yet! Ceili is a house dog - and when I leave the room, either the kids or the dog goes with me. Always. (It's usually easiest to take the dog! *g*)

Amber

In that situation I wouldn't trust the dog or the child unsupervised. Small children are often hurtful to animals even when they don't mean to be. The are also unsteady on their feet so the can trip and fall on top of a dog in addition to stepping on the dog's feet, pulling ears, poking eyes etc. Why let an animal be subject to that kind of treatment. On the other hand young dogs like to play bite, jump up on others, and a child's fearful shriek's only encourage them. I have a 12 year old stepson and it is only recently that he's allowed to have our 60 pound Shepherd out if he's home alone. He is not allowed around the 80 pound Shepherd without adults around. I would not have either of our dogs unsupervised around a toddler. There is no excuse for taking the chance that your child will get bit in the face and a dog will be put to sleep because people had unrealistic expectations of the how they would act. By the way both of our dogs are devoted to my stepson but we still don't take foolish chances.

Both of my children know most dogs will give you a minimum of 3 warnings before a bite attempt if they are being bothered by kids.
First signal - dog gets up to leave
Second signal - if not able or allowed to leave the situation, dirty glare
Third signal - growl
I've taught both my kids and any others under the age of 16 who come to my home that if they get themselves bitten by one of my dogs they did NOT heed the warnings given.
*with that said, I do not allow kids under the age of 16 to be with my dogs unsupervised for the simple fact that both of my dogs ( I don't know for sure about everyone elses ) where born with a full set of enamels and some rather primitive canine instincts on how and when to use 'em.

I don't have kids, but even with other children, I rather be safe, both for the child and the dog, than sorry. Which is why I'm taking my time getting my next dog. I want to be fully prepared.

Our neighbor child was bitten in the face, of course, by a neighbors dog <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> . No matter that the dog was put down (not a mean dog, just not real friendly and the child tried to pet the dog when it was loose) that child will probably never recover from the fear. On top of this, one of the dog's family (their kids) I found trying to pet a dumped pit bull, not 8 months later. I was able to stop the kid, and get in between this unfriendly, large intact male that had been dumped, and the kid. Kids do not necessarily remember or have the reasoning capability of some adults.

Even though these people felt sure their dog would not bite, accidents do happen. You can't take them back and undo the damage. Safe is always better, for all concerned.