Parents With Toddlers Who Currently Own
a Pet
Parents of toddlers know how greatly things change
when a child becomes mobile. Suddenly, what was once harmless can pose
a real danger to your child's safety. Even the friendliest family pet
can be a danger if parents don't take the right precautions and teach
their children as early as possible how to safely interact with pets.
Most
problems that arise between a dog and a child occur when the child reaches
the crawling and walking stages. When the child starts to toddle, the
pet might feel threatened. What was previously a little being that mom
or dad carried around is now living and moving in the dog's floor-level
realm. Pets often don't know how to read the new little human's strange
behavior—flailing arms, invading the dog's space and sometimes accidentally
falling on the pet.
Child-pet interaction
Toddlers and young children who are learning to walk and talk can learn
a lot from very closely supervised interaction with the family pet. Try
to involve your children in very simple dog care and training activities.
It makes your pet a more well-mannered family member and teaches your
child humane treatment and effective communication. Often, just the presence
of your child in the same room while your dog is receiving his favorite
things or activities can help build positive associations with children.
Here are some easy ways to involve your toddler in your dog's care:
• Have your child help you feed the dog—children
that have mastered some language skills can learn to give the dog the
"sit" command before you put the bowl down. Small children
can be taught to scoop food into the dog's food dish.
• Let your child help brush the dog—as you hold the collar
and feed him a few treats.
• If the dog is small enough, teach your child how to properly pick
him up.
A great way for a toddler to interact with pets in a
positive way is through play. Allow your child to play supervised games
that foster cooperation and control—games such as fetch with a football
or Frisbee, blowing bubbles, hide and seek (with your dog finding the
kids for a toy or treat), kicking a soccer ball around or learning fun
tricks.
Many pets adore children and will withstand vast amounts of roughhousing,
but it is best to begin setting limits on play. Avoid tug of war, wrestling,
ear pulling, pony riding, toy hitting, fur grabbing, chasing and any rough
play. All of these activities teach your dog to be rough with humans and
to grab and bite. Do not allow any family member, including adults, to
engage in rough play with your dog. Your dog will attempt to play those
games with your children and the results will not be harmonious. Don't
allow or train your dog to do anything that you would not want him to
do with your own toddler.
If your dog is high-energy, exercise him yourself through jogging, biking
or a hard game of fetch before he interacts with your children. If your
dog becomes too excited during play, end the game immediately and try
again later when your dog is calmer. Some dogs get excited and may even
become more dangerous when children scream and run. Teach your child appropriate
safety behaviors around dogs.
Ensuring the safety of
your children and pets
One to three years of age is a time of exploration and for putting things
in the mouth. A pet who is possessive about his toys and food can be potentially
dangerous to a child, so set ground rules from the beginning. Teach your
toddler basic dog safety rules and never allow the dog and child to interact
in an unsupervised environment. Work with your dog regularly until he
understands and obeys signal words. For example, repeat "Easy, Easy,
Easy" to your dog so he will know when it's time to be calm.
Teach your children not to take a toy out of a dog's
mouth or to be near an animal when it is eating. Toddlers and crawling
babies don't recognize the imaginary special boundaries that adults see.
A child 6 months to one year old will grab at whatever is in his or her
path, so ears and tails are targets. Children have to be carefully supervised
around animals to avert any unexpected reactions. For the pet's sake and
your child's safety, keep pet food and feeding areas away from crawling
and toddling children. It's easy to maintain child-pet harmony by simply
minimizing the chances of your pet's feeding time being unpleasantly interrupted.
Teach your children the possum stance. Children are
small, move erratically, yell and generally act crazy. Most dogs either
would like to chase them or become fearful of them. Teach your children
that if a dog is chasing them, and possibly even barking, growling or
nipping, to immediately stand still. Arms should be folded across their
chest or over their face. Their voice should become soft or completely
quiet. By doing this, your child instantly becomes a lot less interesting
to the dog. Odds are the dog will calm down and go off to do something
else in a matter of moments.
Teach your children to report to you whenever they hear
the dog growling and it is clearly not during play. A growl is a warning
that your pet is not okay with the immediate situation at hand. Unless
your child understands to back away immediately, they could be bitten.
If you hear your dog growling at any time other than playtime, consult
a professional immediately. Aggression problems, unless addressed quickly,
tend to get worse.
To ensure the safety of your children and your pet,
hire babysitters that have experience with pets and carefully instruct
them on how the child and the pet are allowed to interact.
Teaching your children
to treat a pet respectfully
Teaching your toddler to respect animals, and your pets in particular,
is a valuable lesson that will serve him across many aspects of his life.
To toddlers, treating a pet with respect is as simple as the Golden Rule,
but there are many ways to approach this.
Here's what you can do:
• Read books about animals to your
toddler to help him understand that pets have feelings too.
• While your child is watching, rub your dog behind the ears, talking
in a low soothing voice to your pet.
• Demonstrate for your child how to approach a pet—slowly
from the side.
• Communicate off-limits behavior. Teach toddlers that tail- or
ear-pulling, poking eyes or feeding a pet is not acceptable behavior and
that a gentle touch is needed for petting.
• However, teaching toddlers to "play gentle" can be challenging.
Choose key words to communicate gentle behavior, like "Easy," "Gentle,"
or "Nice." Practice using the words with a toddler while demonstrating
gentle behavior on a stuffed animal. Stroke the stuffed animal with the
toddler's hand as you repeat the words.
• Lead by example. The best way you can teach respect is to show
respect for your dog yourself. Give your dog a place to retreat to when
he has had enough human interaction or you cannot provide supervision.
Your dog will need some daily time off from the children. Use an indoor
crate that is off limits to the children or baby gate your dog into a
safe room such as a kitchen or bedroom.
Children need to learn
the rules.
Children need to learn the rules. Children should be taught to pet softly,
stay away from food dishes, toys and bones and not to startle the pet
when he is sleeping. All of these things can and should be done with the
pet but only while you are there to supervise and once you have first
trained your pet to enjoy and tolerate all of the above, using positive
methods.
Child-pet respect is a two-way street. As much as your
child is being taught to give respect, the pet must be taught to give
it as well. The best way to ensure that your pet 
respects
the family hierarchy (with the pet at the bottom) is to give your dog
his own bed, on the floor and out of your child's bedroom. Letting your
dog sleep with your children is not only unsanitary—it increases
the risk of zoonosis—but it also relays a message to the dog that
your child is a littermate. Littermates sleep together. Littermates get
bossed around by being jumped on, pushed over, growled at, snapped at
and finally bitten. You can protect your child by preventing your pet
from viewing them as an equal. If your child insists on having the dog
in their room, crate train your pet and put the crate in your child's
room for sleeping only.
The importance of parental
supervision
The normal sudden movements and high-pitched noises of a toddler may cause
your pet to become overly excited or agitated. It is important to continue
monitoring interactions carefully. Never leave a child, no matter what
age, alone with a dog. Every dog bites under the right circumstances.
Make adult supervision a strict rule in your household.
