[whitedc]

We have a 4 year son and a 6 month beagle puppy named Snoopy. (Yes Charlie Brown fans) We are trying to basically teach them both how to interact with each other. We have just had the puppy fixed and I am about to register the whole family and Snoopy in one of the Petsmart training classes. I was wondering if any of you have dealt with the whole child-puppy interaction thing and if you have any pointers. Snoopy likes to jump on and nip at our son as he is walking wanting to play. Our son takes this as he is picking at him and gets defensive. I am trying to work with our son about stopping, crossing his arms, and looking away. This is easier said than done with a 4 year old. Please help. Thanks.

Daniel

 

[randyc]

When Josie was around 6 months, she was introduced to my 2 year old niece, Kayleigh. Josie would do the same thing, jumping. Josie would be corrected by us and if she continued would be separated from Kayleigh. Kayliegh QUICKLY learned to tell the dog No Josie!

 

[Smeagle]

When it comes to jumping up I find that teaching the dog an alternative behaviour to get attention works most successfully.

Daisy was a jumper until she learned that jumping up means she will be completely ignored, whereas sitting means she gets lots of pats and attention.

Encourage your son to walk away from the puppy when he is nipping or jumping up, rather than have him stand there and ignore him. Teach your puppy the sit command (if you haven't already) and when he is jumping up or looking for a pat, tell him to sit. Ignore him or walk away if he fails to comply, when he does sit give him lots of praise and attention.

If he is being particularly playful/excited when around your son, put him on the leash so you can easily restrict his movements and prevent the puppy for jumping up or getting too excited.

When I get home Daisy will now run up to me but will sit automatically at my feet, because she has learned that is the only way she will get attention.

When it comes to teaching bite inhibition, I teach the puppy to redirect it's urge to grab. If the nip me, I give a firm 'no' and once the pup has stopped nipping, get it's favourite toy and play tug of warm/ fetch. It helps to let them know there are things that are ok to bite/grab/play with.

 

[Sephly]

Smeagle has some great advice, I completely agree, also i'd just expose him to alot of kids and kid like behaviours like loud laughing and Running and moving quickly (some dogs get startled by this) Maybe take him to a park on a regular basis so he gets used to the sights and sounds. With nipping it WILL happen, my suggestion is basically that when the pup nips, play time stops and he gets ignored. thats how we did it, it took a while but he caught on, also a high pitched noise tends to work too.

good luck!