My dogs rarely have contact with anyone other than adults. In our circle of friends we only have a few friends that have kids (which we don't see as often) and living in downtown, our neighborhood is full of couples like us that have dogs, not babies. When we take our dogs to the park, kids always come up and want to pet them and our dogs have no idea how to react to these small people that make such loud noises. Savvy usually scampers away and hides behind my legs as the little hands try to get to her and pet her. Macho lets the kids pet him but usually ends up barking or growling in their face which then just embarrasses us that our dog just frightened a kid.
It does make me a tad nervous about when my husband and I decide to have children as I really have no idea how our dogs are going to react due to their lack of interaction with kids. We recently had a photo shoot with a couple and they requested we bring our dogs as they wanted their son, Logan, to get used to being around dogs as they want to get one later on. When Logan first met Macho and Savvy he ran behind his mom's legs (as Savvy ran behind mine) and looked at Macho with big frightened eyes. Pretty soon though, he was holding Savvy's leash and walking her through the park. I then realized that Savvy is the best dog for kids as she really is just so gentle, never pulls on her leash and generally follows whatever you do. At the end of the afternoon, him and Savvy had become good buddies and he was sad to see her go.
What has been your experience with dogs and kids?
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I have a 16 month old daughter and a nearly 4 year old dachshund. We've been incredibly lucky with Jackson and Lorelai interacting - there have been a few incidents of peeing in her room and going after a stuffed animal or two, but you can see the potential for their friendship! Jackson keeps a close eye on Lorelai and will run after her barking if he hears us call after her in a "Mom" voice. She is over the moon in love with him and has taken to giving him kisses. I'm amazed at how tolerant this dog is, considering all that I heard about how dachshunds and kids don't mix! There are pictures and stories on my blog!
I have the same concerns for our dogs. They are never around kids so I totally know how you feel.
As of right now, Merlot (with a strict I-can-sniff-you-but-you-can't-touch-me policy) can be around kids, but Moses runs and hides.
We're starting to pinpoint how our pups each like to be introduced. For example, it's best to ignore Calvin until he calms down and then start playing fetch with him. After a while, you'll gain his trust and get past the I-can-sniff-you-but-you-can't-touch-me policy that he shares with Merlot. He quickly became friends with a three year old who was able to kick a soccer ball for him.
Theo on the other hand is pretty easy. He's game for whatever.
I say just ease them into it and start with kids that you trust to be calm and gentle. Keep all the first experiences positive and then challenge them more as time goes on :)
Tofu loves kids for the most part. I think it's as Ben says, introduce them to children who are calm and gentle first and make it a positive experience. The kids that are hyper or try to tease the dogs are the ones to keep a close eye on. Tofu has barked to tell one kid to back off but otherwise loves the special attention he gets.
It is the exact same with Beans! We took him to a walking trail and this little kid comes dancing up to him with his hands waving in the air and went to pet him, he just started to bark loudly at him...So his mom then goes "Come on (kid's name here), that dog is vicious!" When he was a puppy he seemed to love children, now we really have to watch him. He's generally o.k. with bigger children but doesn't seem to like the really small children. I think a good idea would be to have a treat that the child could give him, then it would be instant love.
LOVE your blog! My doxie doesn't do kids either. She too runs behind my legs. My husband's dog a Lab loves children so we'll have one who will love them and one who probably won't.
they both are ok with kids. however, it takes a while for them to both warm up to new children.
however, i want to just die of embarrassment when they bark at the neighborhood children who walk by our house on an almost daily basis. rude dogs!
Coco doesn't mind kids, but she gets bored of them petting her after awhile. She would then whine as if to say to the kids: "Are you done with me yet? I need to go home." Then I know it's time say goodbye to the kids. =)
We don't really know anyone with small children. So I'm not too sure how they'd react.
We have friends that just had a baby and they came over once with him. Rusty and Lila just sniffed at him and ran outside.
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