Puppy & children......

1879 Views 10 Replies 10 Participants Last post by zena brotherson, Aug 21, 2011

Teresa

Discussion Starter · Aug 20, 2011

I was just wondering if those of you with a Pup and children or have already been through it, how you deal with over excitement from the kids, our youngest 2 are both 6 and it's driving us nuts.
They will not leave Buzz alone then wonder why he jumps and nips at them, they argue over hom constantly, so if he sat closer to one the other starts calling him over to them which sets of the excitement from Buzz again.
We have been putting the kids in their rooms if they don't calm down for time out.
I just wondered in others experience how long their kids took for the novelty to wear off?

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Nadhak

· #2 · Aug 20, 2011

I hear you!
My two are 10 and just 9 - but argue over Treacle constantly - she comes to me for peace and quiet!
We have had Treacle 3 months and my son is beginning to accept that my daughter is possessive with her!
They also get her into a nipping frenzy and then get hurt but I tell them it is their own fault as they are too hyper for her!
The problem I have is when she meets new children - she thinks it is acceptable to jump up and play with them [she never does it to adults] and I am frightened one of them will get hurt.
At training we were told puppies and children do not mix and it is very difficult to train whilst they are around as they can quickly undo your hard work. Roll on back to school when some normality can be resumed!
Looking forward to any advice along with you x

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tinal38

· #3 · Aug 20, 2011

We've been having a ton of nipping with my 10 yr old and 7 yr old, I'm trying to teach them not to overpet and how to ignore him when he gets nippy. We've had Chip a week and a half and the boys still adore being with him every minute, but we keep him in the kitchen when he's not supervised, so when I see the puppy getting riled up, I make them stop for a time and let the puppy rest. When he bites, they're more than ready to do so.

But, the puppy is busy play biting/fighting with the older dog too, so he gets pretty wild from that. I'm just hoping I can calm everyone down in a few weeks! LOL. Everyone loves the puppy!

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DONNA

· #4 · Aug 20, 2011

Ive been teaching my two to ignore Buddy also ,mine are aged 12 and 9 ,however a good game which carmed Buddy down was i got the kids to sit opposite each other with a bit of distance apart and each would have a handful of treats and they would take turns in calling Buddy so they would say "BUDDY COME" when he got to them they would say "BUDDY SIT" and they would give a treat ,then the other one would call him and so on and so on.

The kids had fun Buddy stopped jumping on them and he also carmed down the kids got bored after a while and went back to what they were doing all were happy ha ha .

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Sarette

· #5 · Aug 20, 2011

My kids usually leave Max alone to be honest, they just go off and play and Max stays with me. But they do interact with him, stopping if he tries to bite them...

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wellerfeller

· #6 · Aug 20, 2011

Wow its a toughy!!! I just had to wait for the novelty to wear off. Kids and puppies are very alike!!!!!

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holicon

· #7 · Aug 20, 2011

I've got 4 kids the 2 older ones don't pay much attention to Coco but when my toddler starts running around Coco wants to join in. When it gets to much to handle I put Coco in his crate for a little while until they both calm down.

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Sezra

· #8 · Aug 20, 2011

I do sympathise with you, it is hard work managing the children and the puppy and in my experience so far (all of two and half weeks

) the kids need just as much training as the dog!

My children are aged 5,8 and 12 and I also childmind so as you can imagine it does get pretty busy at times. Because the puppy and children mixing was so important for me I read; Living with kids and dogs by Colleen Pelar which was a great book. It gives lots of practical advice on how to involve the children in training and how you can help the children bond in ways other than having cuddles. We have followed lots of advice from the book including recall games with treats, getting the kids to hide with treats, playing with stuffed dogs and talking to the children about how dogs don't like to be cuddled and how they should approach a dog and also the standing like a tree game! She talks about each age range and includes how a child will interact with a dog at a specific age and how you can involve them. Time out is also important for both the puppy and the kids so if things are getting a bit exciting then maybe it could be time for a nice stuffed kong for Buzz in his crate? Maybe they could be involved in feeding and walking, taking it in turns to put the bowl down or maybe they could take turns in having a ten minute play with Buzz and then say it's time for Buzz's sleep and read a story? Mine are very argumentative over who's turn it is to hold the lead, so again we time it so that it is always fair!

Good luck, I am sure things will settle down though soon!

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ali-s.j.

· #9 · Aug 20, 2011

Phew! My youngest is 13, and helps with all the puppy chores

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Teresa

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 21, 2011

Thanks for all your advice, today has been much better, the kids are finally realising that he is here to stay and so no need to smother him. We have a made a rule that if he is asleep they are not to touch at all and have involved them in dog chores, even poop picking, yes they argued over who's turn it was......

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zena brotherson

· #11 · Aug 21, 2011

Glad to hear 6 year olds have poo picking job!!! My sons the same age and just hope he can stick to his end of the bargin re the poop scoop!! Puppy arrives in 3 weeks so time will tell lol

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