My two cents: the pup and the toddler need to be "trained" separately for now. It's clear that allowing two babies together (one with very sharp teeth) and hoping to control both isn't working out. How could it? The pup simply has not EARNED as much freedom as you are permitting.

Pup and baby should only interact when you have total control--for the safety of both of them. Clearly, your child's safety is the most important--but I also worry about the safety of a pup that is put in a position where he might seriously injure someone. That's a good way to get euthanized (or beaten, or banished to a yard pen, etc.) I'm not saying you would do those things...but it happens.

With intelligent management and training (and you do seem like a very intelligent person), this problem will get better with time. Puppies do settle down, they stop teething eventually, and with training they catch on to the rules of a family. I have no experience with human toddlers, but I assume they also grow. ;^)

 Quote: connie sutherland

I'm not sure I agree about tethering being insufficient, but we may have very different ideas of what it means. I mean that the puppy is attached to my jeans with a 5-foot line.

My one year old(well, 18 month old) knows what "leave the dog alone" means.

Of course I would never leave them alone together to test it out, but when I'm in the room, "Leave the dog alone", is sufficient.

He's known since he could walk that chasing, grabbing, or screaming at the dog aren't things you get to do.

Turbo also respects Koen's space, but I can't see it being any harder with a puppy tied to me.

If it was, separation. That simple.

 Quote: danity siebenale

But we are going to go back to tethering and separation. Perhaps once we get him proofed on "sit" and "down" we can introduce them calmly to one another.

I know this feels like you'll be doing it FOREVER, but I promise it is shorter than you think.

It won't take hardly any time at all for your puppy, and even your son, to learn how to interact.

 Quote: danity siebenale

I know thhe is not trying to hurt the baby

Wait. I keep reading "baby".

Is there a kid younger than the 2 year old that we're talkin' about?

Everything has pretty much been covered for you Danity with one common theme. Separation. My preference for when the kids are running around playing is to crate the dog in the beginning, not try and keep them obedient on a leash. I think of that as a huge distraction they're not ready for yet.

You've seen now, how much good it does for a two year old to turn his back on a jumping puppy, and he's probably so fast you can't stop it if they're close enough to do it. No contact at all is better then letting bad habits get started. They only get worse.

We always want that perfect relationship between our kids and dogs, but like Melissa touched on, most dogs don't come with that automatic respect for kids. Don't worry that you can't end up with that when you separate them. It's not isolation, they're still around each other, they grow up together and your training carriers over.When they are ready to interact, you'll see it. A little bit at a time and you'll know.

No, the 2 year old is just the baby of the family. Sorry, he'll always be my baby.

Thanks, everyone!

Even though this thread had alot of emotion and such, I want to thank everyone involved. I had been scouring this forum, and others, for answers to this exact question.

I've recently acquired a 9 week old doberman, and have been looking for a way to integrate the pup to the family.

Overall, my biggest fear was what most considered breaking their puppy or diminishing their drive. I would love for this pup to be a protection dog for my family down the road.

I currently own alot of the videos Frawley sells, including (your puppy, 8 weeks to 8 months, dealing with dominant and aggressive dog, basic dog obedience, establishing pack structure..) and sadly, I felt lost too. It seemed as if the only option I had was to crate the pup, and rotate kids and pup through scheduled shifts.

The 'bubble' and 'no exceptions' mentality in this thread finally made something click. I've spent the whole day teaching OFF, DOWN, SIT, and providing a 3-5 foot bubble between the pup and the kids, and I think it's finally making sense for both of them.

Again, I want to thank all that was involved with this thread.

I'm very glad to have found this thread... I have a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old and an 8 month old Pit Bull puppy and I came here looking for advice on how to train Tessa to know that the kids are her pack leaders as well. I had no clue how to accomplish this with a 2 yr old. I still am not really sure but for now, since we got the pup I have kept Tessa confined to the kitchen (we had a gate there already to keep the 2 yr old OUT) and only let her around my 2 yr old when I am right there to supervise and correct. I may go ahead and start a new thread, I need advice on making sure Tessa sees my kids as pack leaders which at this point she does not cause I am continually having to scold her whenever the kids get around her cause she wants to jump on them and play bite. It's like she sees my kids and just treats them as toys, all she wants to do is play with them. I'm having a difficult time...



mod note:

see http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=333593&page=0#Post333593

Hi, Westy, and welcome.

I'm going to move this post off this old thread to your own thread.


http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=333593&page=0#Post333593