KobiD

Thanks, I have read that one a couple times. I've had a good research before posting the questions and can't really find any solid answers or advice. What I need to do is work out a way to reduce the value of the child to the puppy, or increase the respect the puppy has for the child. The child is too small (and immature) to consistently put the dog in place (stand still, ignore behaviour, etc). Every time the puppy jumps up and pushes the little one back, it gets a reaction which is self rewarding behaviour, meaning excitement levels rise on both parties. Using a leash to inhibit dogs ability is challenging, as I feel any holding/tension on the leash will either a) influence the puppy to dislike the leash, or b) increase her drive to get to the child. I think success will be in the form of select, short, positive encounters. Ie come outside, put dog on leash, work some drills, introduce child and manage excitement levels through distance. Only allow children to make contact when dog is calm. Reward the puppy for calm contact in return. Ie lead past the child and a sniff or lick with all 4 paws = mark and treat. Any jumping results in end of session and separation. Adding to that, I think dinner time could include the 2yo giving the sit-stay and release.. if she is in a co-operating mood. We could drill this multiple times a day with smaller servings to get the message home. All in all, it's not a bad situation. Just one that is taking a little more patience. With both child and puppy being mentally immature it leaves 2 variables to try and influence into performing the wanted behaviours. If one goes off topic both do, and so it goes. I don't want to keep them separate either, the whole point of a puppy is to integrate into the family, so we can all spend some time outside together throwing balls and having fun.

Hello everyone, Hoping some people can shed some light and share some advice in how you all handle puppy and child interactions. Our family has a 3 month old mixed rescue pup (staffy x), 7 year old son, 2 and a bit year old daughter, myself and my wifey. We've had her just over a month now and been very active with positive re-enforcement and she's a very bright pup. During a training session with a well loaded marker she'll pump out combo's of sit, lay down, paw, bop (nose targeting), come, stay, etc without fail. She'll already hold a stay as long as you ask at dinner time and wait on release before hooking in. Overall we're pleased with how she's coming along. She is also learning to walk on a loose leash well and becoming indifferent to just about everything she's seen (bikes, people, dogs, birds, cars, kids, mowers, etc). With the children she likes to get excited and play a bit, jumping up and licking, which then often changes to some mouthing on the arms, all in a hear beat. My son at 7 is pretty good at ignoring the behaviour and unless if its afternoon crazies time she'll be OK (otherwise she just wants to chew his ankles while he ignores). My daughter on the other hand is an easy target. 7.5kgs puppy vs 12kgs of child means when she jumps my daughter gets pushes around. She only wants to lick, but the action and size between them means I need to step in, while my daughter usually swings her arms trying to create difference; usually inspiring the puppy to mouth at her hand/arm. If I step between she's often already wound up (in an instant) and see's my arm and hands as fair targets, and disregards any redirection. Separation and time out occurs but I feel things have escalated by then and often my daughter resists being told play time is over causing another challenge in itself. How do people handle situations like this? I'd like to get things on the right track before the puppy is bigger than my daughter. The kids and dog are never alone unsupervised. 7 year old and wifey both feed the dog and she will comply with commands. 2 year old can get the dog to sit, and hand feeds during the day. She can ride her trike around without being bailed or harassed, and I often mark and reward positive behaviour through the day. After writing this I feel it's mostly happening around crazies hour. By afternoon everyone is tired, patience wears thin on my fronts, and puppy zoomies are full swing. Perhaps it's best to keep them separate at this time for now. I also have some questions re treats and fading/reducing. Little jojo (puppy) seems intelligent enough to be aware if I have no treats and often will test a bit. In a session with treats on she's 100% food driven and focussed. Playing with the toys if she's in the mood I can get work drive out of her quite well (leave it, drop it, get it, sit, etc). I always have treats in my pocket and have started trying to reward her variably, for behaviour of known commands, but she gets bit inconsistent herself. Will probably just take some more getting used to. It's early days. First time owner, learning to swim.

Thanks for the kind words. We've had another pet in the house (meow) for the last couple years so the kids are already well aware of the responsibility and companionship that pets bring.. and I couldn't imagine a family without one. I've always had them throughout my own childhood and couldn't imagine growing up without a dog by my side.. Obviously getting the puppy was more for me than it was for the kids or the family, but we'll all benefit no doubt.

We don't have a crate or pen setup, but have got secure areas and give the puppy ample time to herself as well as interaction. In her earlier weeks we did use a play pen however putting her in there got her more wound up trying to figure out how to escape the confines than calming down, where if we moved away she would simply realise that the play had stopped. In all honesty the children (particularly the little ones (including relatives/friends)) prove the hardest to 'train'. Under the right conditions there is loads of opportunity to learn the right behaviours and we're seeing improvements just about every day.

Thanks, She throws challenges at us daily. Being that my partner hasn't really ever had pets, and our children at 7 and 2 are both in different stages of life in terms of listening and following rules, along with their own energy levels it's had steam coming out of my ears at times. One moment you have everything setup to succeed. The next the energy level has gone up a notch. A puppy is determined to hang from a toddlers ear, and said toddler isn't interested in listening or going back inside to defuse situation, so 9 year old in his best attempt to help comes and grabs 2 year old, which then turns into a tantrum/struggle/fight. Not the ideal scenario by any means, and I can see how training a puppy would be so much easier as a single person with ample time, patience, and limited distractions. In saying that, we also have the good times where the kids play and puppy is content just being in our presence. A pocket full of kibble and lots of opportunity to reward behaviours we like, as well as enforcing leave it and drop it when trying to get into something the children are playing with. It's just very easy to get frustrated when things swing back the other way.. sometimes feels like one step forward and two backwards. Just have to remember she's just a little puppy and will be for some time yet.

I've made it a priority to expose her to all sorts of things and people during her early weeks.. not to play with/self reward but simply to be aware of what things are.. mostly the things she will see often and I think it has paid off. She still has her final vaccination to go, so we haven't been hitting up dog parks or such, just short trips down the street always on leash and closely monitored. Mainly for exposure and to train with a certain level of distraction. Probably a topic of discussion in itself, but I figure you can't bubble wrap them too much during the socialisation period.

Thanks I've always had dogs in the family but this one is the first of my own so it's not all foreign, but the finer details definitely offer up a learning curve. More than anything I was just shocked at the response as it was very abrupt and quick. She paused, tucked the tail, turned and headed for home all in a flash and very unexpectedly. Same little girl who shows very little response to the lawn mower, leaf blower, thunder, etc. It was just out of character for what I have seen in the last month which is what prompted me to ask the question. In saying that she has still been her same old self and doesn't show any issues approaching the same area again, so either she saw something that I didn't or she picked up a vibe she didn't like from somewhere. Here's a pic from the day we brought her home. She's put a couple more kgs on since then and become more leggy.

First post here, and first time dog owner. Have had ownership of a little mixed breed for the last month (just before Christmas).. Staffy x (I think Bull arab/GSP mix). She was a rescue pup and at 8 weeks when we got her, and as such had probably been away from her mother a good week or two before that. She's very mouthy as expected, and we've been having a win with training and redirecting the behaviour away to toys, or with time-outs if things get out of control. She shows decent bite inhibition in that she doesn't bite overly hard, but it's a constant drive which needs addressing. I'm not concerned as she is showing progress. We've also been busy socialising and making sure all experiences are positive and rewarding. On a little walk around the block today on leash (she has been walking very well loose leash) we saw a man off around 50m. I'm not certain why but she had a strong fear response to the situation. Turned, tucked the tail and tried to run for home. We back tracked a little and then I redirected by picking her up for a second and then once she calmed followed with some commands and treats, while circling in the general area and then called it a day. The person was at the end of the street in their front yard so we didn't continue and they didn't towards us. This is the first real fear response I have seen from her though, as most days we pass multiple people, pushbikes, dogs, cars, etc and she is very calm, sits, waits and if anything shows excitement towards strangers and I've been using impulse control techniques ('look at me'/her name) and positive reinforcement with good results. The only thing I can think of was that it looked like the person had a leash in hand and was walking through an access between their house and a playground and I paused and looked for a moment to see if they had a dog off leash. Possible that the puppy picked up on this, but I wasn't feeling fearful, just being observant. Any suggestions or thoughts appreciated