Families worldwide love bringing puppies into their homes as a means to establish a bond between their kids and a new pet. Mawoo Pets has access to multiple breeds and types of dogs to help you choose and bring home your new puppy. Dogs and children can be an excellent combination and be friends for life. But in some cases, dogs need to learn how to behave when around young kids.
Sometimes, you may be lucky enough to have acquired a puppy that naturally enjoys children and knows how to act around them. However, many of these pups still need proper training and socialization. And unfortunately, not all puppies will get along well with kids. Some puppies may even be afraid or feel anxious being around children if it feels overwhelming with too much yelling and petting.
As a new dog owner, it is vital to ensure that you train your dog to behave around children and learn to interact safely so that you do not have any concerns.
So how do you train your puppy? Here are some of the essential dos and don’ts for teaching your new puppy to be friendly when around children.
The Dos
Do Allow Your Pet a Safe Space
Since children can sometimes be too much for your pup, be sure that they have a safe place within the home that is away from people and off-limits to your kids. Children can make animals feel overwhelmed with loud noises, sudden movements, and their boundless energy. Your puppy should have an area to relax and rest.
In creating this space, you are also permitting your pet to leave during interactions with your children. Sometimes dogs don’t enjoy being handled too much, and with a lot of hugging and kissing and playing coming from children, they may need a break.
Ideally, you want your pet to initiate wanting to be petted or played with, so you may have to teach your children to wait for the puppy to come to them and not bother the pet when they are in their safe space. You want your new puppy to feel as comfortable as possible while at home.
Do Supervise Interactions
Since anything can happen in just seconds, you should ensure that you are aware and present during all interactions between the puppy and children. You can quickly prevent any accidents from happening as long as you are around, and this way, you can ensure that both your puppy and children are behaving as they should.
Do Train Your Puppy Commands
Starting an obedience program to have a well-behaved dog is an excellent way to ensure that your children and puppy are safe within our home. If you are able, teach your dog some basic commands, which can include:
- Sit
- Lay Down
- Stay
- Leave It
- Go
- Come Here
Frequently, dogs like to jump up to greet people, including kids, so if you can establish your role as the boss and keep your dog from doing these types of things, that could potentially harm your children. However, suppose you don’t feel that you can train your dog by yourself. In that case, there are many affordable professional training classes that you can enroll your puppy in many affordable professional training classes to help prepare it to behave.
Do Acquaint Your Dog With Your Children’s Things
Kids tend to have lots of toys and other things that will be around the home. Some of these toys can make noise, which might pique your dog’s interest (or scare them), and sometimes they can steal or chew them up. Introduce your dog to your kid’s things when the children aren’t present and use commands like “Leave It” so that your puppy doesn’t misbehave and steal or destroy anything.
The Don’ts
Don’t Disturb a Sleeping or Eating Dog
Puppies can be easily startled when sleeping or eating or drinking out of their food bowls. Sometimes dogs are aggressive when it comes to food and become overprotective, so you need to ensure that you and your children don’t ever bother your dog when it is sleeping or eating.
Don’t Deviate From Routines
Children and dogs both crave structure, so having a set schedule and routine to follow is essential. Don’t disrupt routines if you can avoid it, so that dog and child have predetermined times for eating, playing, etc., together.
Having a routine also helps to acclimate dogs to children because they start to understand and feel comfortable with their everyday habits. Times when they know the children will be resting or quiet can be mirrored by your dog, and vice versa. It helps create and establish a good bond.
Don’t Leave Your Dog Alone With Your Children
If you have young children, this is especially important. Unless you are entirely 100% confident in your dog’s behavior, you should never leave it alone with your children. There is no predicting how your child or the dog might behave, and if you’re not around to command it to cease something, it might not be safe.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help
Maybe you aren’t sure where to begin to get your dog in line, or perhaps you just have a dog that is challenging with its behavior or showing more aggression than you’ve prepared for dealing with. That is ok; you should never be afraid to seek out help where you might need it.
Consult with your veterinarian and other dog specialists and experts to see how you can help train and calm your puppy if it shows signs or symptoms of behavioral issues or abnormal aggression. Unfortunately, some dogs may just not be a good fit for children, and though this is sad, you must assess the risk and evaluate whether you should keep the dog within your home.
However, many behaviors can be modified and managed, so don’t be afraid to ask for assistance in determining a course of action to help your puppy acclimate better. Soon you will witness your children and puppy becoming the best of friends and spend their days happy and in harmony together.