Re: Children & dogs - how young is young?


"BethInAK" <bethinak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:13c1klocrstl4a4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Julia Altshuler" <jaltshuler@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:u5mdnYZ_1ZNI5S3bnZ2dnUVZ_hCdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In the pit bulls thread (I didn't mean to troll, honest!), the subject has turned to the safety of leaving dogs alone with young children. For those of you who think it's NOT a good idea ever to leave dogs and children together unsupervised, how young is young? At first I was nodding in agreement because I was picturing a toddler. Then I realized how awful it would be if a 10 year old never walked the family dog by himself.


Being the on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand sort of person that I am, I asked myself how young we're talking about. 4? 8? 6? At what age is a child who has grown up around dogs and knows how to be around them gently deemed old enough to be alone with one who has been trained and has no track record of erratic or violent behavior?


I leave the Monk and Tok alone briefly without any concern (i only briefly leave Monk alone in a room). Tok is not a dog who would consider using his teeth under any circumstance except those too horrific to speak of. The Monk is pretty well dog trained, although he occasionally wants to lie or sit on Tok and we try to discourage him from this behavior- for Tok's sake - who wants a 2 year old lying on your back?

As Monk gets older and more reliable, I'll feel very confident leaving Toklat alone in a room with him.

However, Monk is the reason I think we will hold off on considering another dog. I need a dog I can trust with Monk.


Kavik and the baby - I generally took Kavik with me when leaving the room briefly - because I somehow felt he was more sensitive to Monk's overly affectionate lying on hugs than Toklat. The kid when he was 7 months old pulled Kavik's hair and Kavik spent the next 10 months staying out of Monks reach. And Kavik wanted to be underfoot every second, so he'd rather leave the room with me. Tok was happy to lay within baby reach.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Need a webpage on pitbulls & breed bans
    ... fault in some way. ... together alone. ... Dog bites are so common, ... I've seen parents ruined for years under the ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Children & dogs - how young is young?
    ... turned to the safety of leaving dogs alone with young children. ... At what age is a child who has grown up around dogs and knows how to be around them gently deemed old enough to be alone with one who has been trained and has no track record of erratic or violent behavior? ... I leave the Monk and Tok alone briefly without any concern. ... Tok is not a dog who would consider using his teeth under any circumstance except those too horrific to speak of. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: How to correct dog who pees in house when you werent there to see it happen
    ... I left the dog alone for 20 min to ... Well done for adopting an unwanted dog and also for not telling her off ... You need to make her feel safe at home without you. ... Buy a plug in DAP diffuser or a DAP collar for her. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Need a webpage on pitbulls & breed bans
    ... But will the fact that you were not injured as a child left with dogs make it okay if your dog mauls or kills your child some day? ... He had some near misses himself, but even if he hadn't, I couldn't live with myself if my kid got run over because I assumed something that could be very dangerous must not be just because my dad survived it without injury. ... She was particularly worried about awful things happening to her grandson if he was in a public restroom alone. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Reconcile(TM)
    ... cannot be fixed with drugs alone. ... They might take the edge off, but the dog ... is not given a coping mechanism to deal with the underlying anxiety. ... behavior modification alone is not able to make a dent. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)