Kids and pets~ What do you feel the biggest mistakes are?

Question

people always think it would be cute to let there kids grow up with a puppy. What do you feel the biggest mistakes are that people make when deciding to add a puppy to the family? or even a child to the home that already has pets...

a little story from when I was a kid... my neighbors loved little Yorkies. I remember they had 2 totally cute ones... one day they ony had 1..and a week or 2 later they did not have either instead they had a puppy...soon the puppy was gone and replaced with a larger breed pup.. come to find out...their little boy found it fun to take their dogs and put them in the pool...he wanted to see them swim under water...needless to say they would drown... so why get more..why have any? what to do to prevent this and other things from happening...

Answer 1

I believe this biggest problem with mixing the two is lack of "parenting."
The child is not taught how to properly care for and handle a dog or puppy and the dog or puppy is not trained appropriately either. Coincidentally, ever notice how people who have misbehaved dogs end up with misbehaved children and vice versa?

Answer 2

That is a horrible story.

#1 mistake that people make is trusting a dog with a young child, leaving the dog alone with a young child. A young child may annoy the dog, the dog may get tired of being annoyed and snap at the child or bite the child because the dog wants to be left alone.

#2 mistake getting a toy breed and having young children. Even adults have accidents and drop a dog or step on a dog but, what about young children, what if they leave a puppy/dog on the bed and the dog falls off, or what if the child pick it up and then drops it by accident. These dogs can be seriously injured..

#3 asking a child to take the dog for a walk around the neighborhood, lets say bob told his 8 year old daughter to take their labrador for a walk. So suzie took the lab for a walk and while walking around the neighborhood they encountered another dog, the dog came running at the child and lab and attacked them.....The child loses control of the lab and the lab is fighting with the dog. The lab runs away and is never seen again... The family is torn apart by what happened. (not a real incident just a made up story for example))

Answer 3

Well, that is the most disgusting story I have ever heard I think!!! Those parents shouldn't even have a kid if they let him kill dogs! Imagine how horrible he may be to animals when he is an adult. Really it's the parents fault for being so dumb. You can't blame the little kid.

As for the biggest mistake.... people do not realize that puppies are just like babies. They are a TON of work but some parents get a puppy anyway. They get whatever is the cutest at the local pet store and do not research the breeds well enough. I rescued my Italian Greyhound from a couple who had two toddlers and a baby. They could not have picked a worse breed!!! They said they could not handle him anymore because: his legs were too thin and one fractured when their kid landed on him, he was too hard to housebreak, he was too high energy, he jumped, he was shy, he didn't like to fetch.

If they just read a book on the breed, all those things would have been obvious to them. But you know how people are...LAZY.

Answer 4

The biggest mistake is pretty obvious and you've just told a sad story to prove it.

People who get dogs to keep the kids occupied while they do something else are irresponsible and stupid. You need to monitor the kids with the dog at all times if the kids are small.
Kids hurt dogs, the dog bites if he can - the dog loses,usually gets dumped. Think about it, if you pulled my ears or clunked me over the head with a toy, I would probably bite..

In the case of older kids, you have to be sure they know how to treat a dog well and not like a toy.

Small dogs and small kids are always a disaster, and every child should be taught to be respectful of any dog - especially ones they don't know.

I could not count all the times little kids have come up behind my dogs (mini dachshunds) and grabbed them. The dogs I take out in public do not mind little kids - but the point is that their parents should have educated them never to do this. So, I spend my time doing what the parents didn't do - telling kids how to approach dogs they don't know.

A little common sense would go a long way folks.
Teach your kids that dogs are living creatures and need to be treated kindly - and don't leave small children alone with dogs unless you know that dog very, very well and your kids understand limits with the dog.

If you don't give a damn about the dog, as the people you describe obviously didn't, then at least care that your kids could get hurt.

Answer 5

one of the biggest mistakes i think parents make is assuming the child will take responsability for the dog. That is just naive at best. Children are children, and we don't become responsable for a long time, if ever in some cases.

I also think that leaving a child and dog unattended is a recipe for disaster for the the child or the dog.

And not including the child in the formal training of the pup. The whole family should be in on it, and it is the parents responsability to include the child in the training sessions.

I also don't believe it is wise for a child under the age of 5 be expected to even know how to pet a dog without proper guidance.

Answer 6

I think the biggest mistake is getting a dog FOR the kids. Yes, parents ACTUALLY expect that the kids are going to FEED it and tend to it's needs!!! The adults do not supervise, and have no real idea if the dog got fed. Ithappens with pocket pets all the time too. They die because of neglect! Many dogs end up at the shelter because the parents TOLD the kids that if they didn't take care of it, it would have to GO!! And they didn't take care of it, so it WENT!!!!
Then they try again in a year or so when the kids are a little older......and the same thing happens!!!!

Answer 7

That's really sad. I think lots of parents just get pets when the kids are too young to really grasp the concept that although the new addition is all fluffy and cute, it's a fragile little life that needs lots of care. I was 8 years old when I got my first pup and my mom and I cared for her together. Even though I was a pretty mature kid and had done a lot of research, I don't ever remember being allowed to have any role in the dog's care by myself. She recently passed after 16 wonderful years.

Answer 8

That is a horrible story! Yet one more example of ignorant people who shouldn't be allowed to have anything more complex than a pet rock.

I am one of those people who don't believe that any child is too young to learn how to treat a dog. I was breeding afghans when I had first one baby, then a toddler and a baby. My oldest son was 7 months old, sitting propped up in the corner of the couch with my show male and stud dog close beside him. It took me only a couple of minutes to teach the baby not to pull hair and how to pet.

When he learned to walk, he'd fall on the dogs a lot - they knew it would happen if they stayed on the floor - and when it happened, the dogs did nothing.

My son used to sit on the floor in front of the dog bowls and feed the dogs. He only allowed them to eat out of his hand and if a dog went to put his head in the bowl, he'd push him out.

My dogs taught both my kids a respect for and a deep love for animals which has lasted until today - when they're in their 20s.

Having said all that, of course there's breeds who wouldn't tolerate that - so if you've got toddlers, you stay away from them. But according to the "experts", you can't have afghans with young kids either. I don't agree - all you need is dogs with stable temperaments and a good dose of common sense.

That's the mistake people make - they don't take the time to teach their kids, don't correctly train their dogs, and don't supervise them when they're together.

Answer 9

The biggest mistake I see is parents not realizing their children should be monitored at all times, whether they have a dog or not. Certainly, this is even more true when serious harm could come to either the dog or the child.

Kids do strange things (when I was 4 I talked my sister into seeing if an orange pip would fit in her ear... imagine if I'd done it to the dog instead???) My idiot brother (the aeronautics engineer) accidentally spilled gas in the garage when he was 10 and lit it on fire to dispose of the evidence. This same brother ate caulking at age 3 because it smelled like peppermint. A bit of adult supervision was needed.

Answer 10

Well, children should never be left alone with a pet. They need to learn how to be around animals and what they can or can not do. Little animals are not good for toddler age children. My sisters kids drove their toy size dog crazy and broke its leg. Just not a good combination.

I grew up with animals and have them now. We had our dog before we had children. I always keep an eye on my children. We have a mid size dog and a cat. The children have been scratched several times and my dog growled a few times. Each time because the children did not know when to stop. That is where we parents come in. It is our responsibility to teach children how to treat animals kindly.