My son is three and his cousin is almost two. R they ready?

Question

Ok I have a 3 year old son and he is good around animals. We also have a house full of people living here right now. Including his 1 1/2 year old cousin. Well I had a small dog chihuahua and my son was good with him. On the other hand his cousin liked to carry him and if we told her put him down she would throw him. She threw him down the stairs one day and well anytime she would go around him he would get like sad and hide in the corners. Sad to say but he got real sick and died this morning. I love dogs and I want another but should I wait? Is my sons cousin too young to be around a puppy? If I get one should I keep him in my room where she cant play with him? Or teach her how to treat a puppy?

Answer 1

I'll be nice, since so many people in here have not been.

First, I think that it would not be a good idea to get another small breed puppy. Both children are too young to handle something like that. You may want to go to the pound an look for an older dog. There are so many in there who are great dogs and that can handle the "attention" that young children give them. However, I would definitely monitor the dog and the children. You should never trust children and dogs unattended! (Since dogs can't tell you if they are not feeling well, unwanted attention from young ones may cause problems!) Good luck and I am sorry about your other dog.

Answer 2

My answer to your question would be a big NO. You cannot have a dog with such small children unless you are able to control the situation. You cannot keep a puppy locked up in a room just to keep him away from your young niece. Why was this child allowed to carry the poor little dog around when you all knew she would throw him if you told her to put him down?
It is unforgiveable.

I think it would be far better for you to wait a while until your house is a little calmer and your son is older before you embark on adding another dog to your family.

You would be stressed out trying to deal with a new dog, the dog would become stressed. and the whole thing would get out of hand again.

I won't let my puppies go to couples with young children any more because I have had puppies returned in the past because the owners found it too stressful trying to cope with the toddler's demands together with caring for a young puppy.
They think everything will be great until they put it to the test.

I am sure you love dogs but please wait until the kids are older and then you can all enjoy a new addition to your family.

Answer 3

Short answer- no. Never leave an animal alone with a child.

The responsibility of the child and animals welfare are yours and you need to monitor the relationship very closely. It is a lot of work. Having these wonderful "young-ins" around the house is challenging enough and you don't want to have to keep a dog locked up in a room by itself.

Enjoy the kids at this age! You can get something like fish (that require a lot less work) to teach the basics of respect and responsibility. Then when the kids get older (around 10-11) take the leap.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Are you serious?? If you haven't been teaching the kid how to be respectful of animals and obviously you haven't.. You should wait til you do that before bringing another animal into the house.. One accident like that is far too many.. Don't practice on them.. Teach animal respect first, then MAYBE get another dog.. Don't just put a puppy in the other room, unless she isn't able to figure out how to open a door, and you dont' take the puppy from the room at all, she is going to be around the dog..

Answer 5

We have been using bribery since he was 3 (he's 3.5 now) and we're still working on it. I think our guy uses it to assert his independence. The only times I insist on him going is first thing in the morning and then again before bed making sure I limit liquids before bed. He actually does better when we let him run around with no training pants or underwear and that's how we started to make some good progress. I think bribery is just fine in this circumstance. #1 was the easy part, going #2 was a bit of a fight but he hardly has that type of accident any more. Just be patient and try only asking/insisting twice a day and give him something fun to do that he can only do while on the potty - ie: special toy, special book. The new baby, as you suspected, might be part of it too. Give him little jobs to do to help you and praise the heck out of him. When people come to visit, ask that they give him some attention first. Make him feel important and that might help him want to be a "big boy" even more. Best of luck to you!

Answer 6

First off I am sorry about your dog. The children are way too young to have a dog, you need to wait a couple years. Teach your children how to properly care for an animal, and at their ages they can begin to learn but still can hurt animals. It seems that you have taught your son to care for animals properly so just start working with his cousin and maybe in a couple years she will be ready. Its going to be hard to keep the dog in another room, so I would just wait.

Answer 7

Well, it' s hard to say. If you have a whole house full of people right now, and your niece isn't good with pets, then maybe you should give it at least another year or two. But if you are dying to get a dog, then you would just have to keep your niece away from the dog until she is old enough to understand that she can't do that. I hope this information helped.

Answer 8

You just said that she threw the dog down the stairs and now you're asking if she's too young to be around a puppy?? Are you stupid? DO NOT GET ANOTHER DOG ,you are irresponsible in not taking proper care that the kids don't hurt it. You should be reported to the humane society for letting the cousin kill the innocent little dog.

Answer 9

You should wait until they are older. Teach the kids that dogs are living animals and need to be treated well and respected.

If you REALLY want a dog now, get a larger dog which they can't carry around. I would reccomend either a Dashchund, Pappilon, or maybe a Manchester Terrier.

Answer 10

WAIT!! First of all children can't even take care of themselves or know how to treat others let alone an animal.
Secondly, your house is too full to bring another animal into the house. Thirdly, one of the young children probally feed your dog something that killed it. Sorry for your loss, I really am. But antoher animal under these circumstance will most likley, a 98% probalility, result in another dead dog. 10 years of age is min. (we lost 2 due to too young of age). Let alone too many people in the house.