How do I teach my 1 yr old to be gentle with the dogs?

Question

Ok - dogs are my specialty - not kids, I train dogs - my 2 large dogs are beautifully behaved and would never hurt my adorable baby - but baby thinks this means he can use the dogs as his personal, seat, pillow, stair, hand rail, teething tool etc..etc...I dont want to smack my baby - but I am not sure how to make it VERY clear to him to not hurt the dogs. I have moved him away, said no, he just keeps doing it! MY poor dogs are besides themselves!!

Answer 1

If you are a "gentle trainer" with your dogs - use the same type of thinking with your child. (Some of my best child handeling has been gleaned from dog handleing literature.) Just as you would not allow your untrained dog near your small child, protect the dogs from the child too. Sit with the baby in your lap, take a hand and teach proper touching. Catch any hitting hands and return then to the babies lap saying "not acceptable". Praise every gentle touch. If baby gets rough, remove baby and cuddle and praise dog for being gentle. Soon the baby will understand that only gentle touches are allowed.
If baby sits on dog remove baby to time out spot for one minute. Then show a chair or pillow to sit on and say "you may sit here, but not on the dog".
If bay bites the dog, remove the baby to a one minute time out, then give a teeting toy and say "you may chew on this biting hurts the dog"
I also see nothing wrong with teaching the dog to leave the child and not staying around for abuse. (Even if this means the child gets "dumped" off on the floor. I would never punish a dog for leaving an abusive situation.)
Be persistant and consistant, it will seem like it takes a lot of time at first but soon you will see a big difference and it is well worth it. You must stop the child from abusing the dog while at the same time makeing it clear that the child out ranks the dog in the household by greeting the child first when you come in and feeding the child first, leading the child through the door before the dogs come through. Otherwise you will be setting up for the child to get a bite when the dogs have had all they can take.

Answer 2

I have a 1 1/2 year old. Odds are the child will continue to 'torment' the dogs to an extent, only because that is the way a child shows affection and plays.

What I did with my daughter that worked pretty well is I used the word 'gentle' with the animals. When she was first introduced to a new dog, I would repeat 'Gentle, gentle' while holding her hand to stroke the dog. When she would play, if I noticed her starting to get rough I would repeat 'Gentle gentle' so she would start petting again.

hope that helps.

Answer 3

It's important that your baby see your emotions when he hurts (or is in danger of hurting) a dog. Watch carefully, and when he starts to do something that could hurt the dog, yelp or cry out as if in pain, rush to stop him, then act relieved at stopping the catastrophe. Then immediately instruct him to show the dog affection, in whatever way your baby favors; pet the dog, kiss the dog, say "I love you" or whatever. Then show how pleased you are that he is being nice to the dog. This way he learns what he should do with the dog as well as what he shouldn't do.
He is quite young, you will have to supervise him in any case.

Answer 4

I'm a dog person too and a kid person. You never ever hit a dog and I'm sure you already know this. Don't apply this knowledge to your child. At some point, if you can't get your point across, a swat on the a** is perfectly acceptable. I've never beat my kids, but I've also never hesitated to crack their butts when they needed it and they are growing up to be the most well behaved kids I've had the pleasure to be around. Patience will get you a bitten kid.

Answer 5

i agree with the lady above me. babies are known for not having a long memory/ attention span. the best thing you can do is spend time with the baby every day and show him/her how to *pet the puppy nice*(phrase i use with my one year old). eventually it will come naturally to them and they will understand that animals are not to be used in that manner. in the mean time until you have a half hour or so to spend with your baby on this task just keep telling them no and keep using the phrase*pet the puppy nice* before setting them off away from the animal. Hope this helps. i have had lots of experience with my chihuahuas who dont like little kids that much.

Answer 6

I know I am probably going to get bashed for this, but I have found a squirt bottle filled with water works just as well to train kids as it does dogs... When your kid is rough say No, then if he doesnt listen squirt him. Thats what I use on my nephews and it works wonders..lol

Answer 7

Show him how to pet the dogs and how to cuddle with them and such...continue saying NO when he does bad things with the dogs but then show him a nice way of doing it or a nice thing to do instead of that

Answer 8

You should need to stop the baby from what it is doing and say No, we pet the doggie like this *pets dog*. and we treat the doggies kindly. You need to show the baby how to treat the dogs.

Answer 9

save doing what you're doing, yet additionally prepare your baby what he/she would desire to be doing truly than purely what he/she should not be doing. In different words, each time you're saying no, additionally take the toddler's hand and gently puppy the canine and say "be severe high quality", "be comfortable", "careful" etc. that is extra acceptable (and much less annoying) to substitute a foul habit with a stable habit than to easily anticipate the baby to quit all habit!!!!

Answer 10

It takes time for baby to remember stuff like that... just keep saying No and puting him/her to something, he/she 'can' play with.
If you give in and let baby play with dog once, they will keep on doing it.