Training A Puppy and Kids

[ibot]

Hey all

god i am such a moan really sorry.

So tonight everything blew up and my 13 weeks old puppy bit my 6 year old son. now it was a very small bite but my hubby has gone mad. It comes 5 days after him biting my same son on the ear, we had to go to A & E to get his top of the ear glued.

I feel like i am a terrible mother now as i am sticking up for the puppy, he use to be terrible i have even done a post on this already but since he has been allowed out he has calmed down and hardly bites me or the other kids.

I think he sees my 6 year old as one of his actual brothers and so when he is being excitable he goes and gets my youngest and "plays"

so tell me how can i train my youngest and my pup to play nice.

Mickey is 13 weeks jack russell cross with either spaniel, collie, dalmation or pointer.
think the mother got around lol

thank you so much
xxx

 

[CAYLA]

This is why I recommend not allowing a puppy on the settee during the training stages (why)? because it give children (time out) i.e if pup gets rough then kids on settee and feet up, now the way I would deal with kids is probably alot different to you (im firm as hell) more so with kids than dogs. You need to make sure the children are not overly hyping the dog up and that play is supervised and generally little hand contact but more play with toys, encouraging them to teach the pup to run after a toy and then swap it for a treat, this is more positive play and certainly less handling at this stage, kids are rough and encourage excitement then scream blue murder when pup retailiates in it's own rough play (all perfectly natural)

Stroking should be encouraged when the dog is in a calmer (non play state) and the children again must be supervised and taught how to stroke and not tease/torment.
If children run/scream/laugh/wave arms around, this is great fun for a puppy, pups have sharp teeth and of course if will hurt when caught by a finger/ear etc. I suggest you teach the kids (time out) as in "this is how I want you to handle the puppy and if you don't then, get in your room and leave the pup alone"
Try to encourage play out in the garden and less so in the house, try to encourage them to teach the puppy more than pester him otherwise your puppys temper will break and then you will really know what a bite is.

If the children are casually behaving and puppy is running at them and biting willy nilly then ask them to ignore him and remove themselves from his company or them on the chair, pup then associates ott biting with him being without human company and being ignore. But don't forget if he is biting and nipping and the kids are squalking and waving arms then it's fair play to him.

Get the pup some teething toys and ideally having his own space (crate) would have been ideal to allow the pup to have some time out from the kids.

So basically encourage teaching tricks and training more than rough play.

TO ADD
I would also not let the pup go into your childs room as in the toilet post, this is unsupervised contact and if you hubby is already displeased with the biting then it's asking for trouble to allow the kids have the pup in their room until some rules and boundaries are set in the way they are handling the pup.

 

[CAYLA]

Joining a training class with the kids may also be a good idea, teach the kids how to handle him in a training environment, there used to be a few junior handler at my mams class would had a fab little bond with their dogs/puppys..

 

[Littlelegs]

I agree with cayla. Not seen your other posts but I'd add that a dog should always have a child free zone for when its had enough, whether that's a basket or a crate, its important it has somewhere to be quiet if it chooses. Golden rule in my house is that if the dogs in his basket or his corner of the garden its ok for my daughter to pat his head briefly on her way past if he's awake but otherwise he doesn't get hassled, & other kids aren't allowed to do that much even.

 

[ibot]

thank you guys that is really helpful. i do actually go to a puppy class and he seems very smart and learning very quickly, at my yard he is an angel and today whilst i rode my beast he sat on the chair in the corner of the school while i rode. i am so impressed for a pup of his age to be that calm around the horses

We have lots of dogs come and go in my house and one of the rules has always been when in bed to leave as a time out place, but with our puppy my youngest does not seem to get it for some reason.
so from tomorrow time out for puppy and kids (do you think i can have some too )

Thank you
xxx