[CharleyFirpo]

I'm wondering whether it's normal that Charley still didn't get used to the idea of having a "brother". My son is now 15 month old, and he still snaps and growls at him when the baby gets too close. Otherwise he follows him as a shadow, licks him, checks on him, so I don't get it.
Any ideas?

 

[The A Team]

Maybe it'll just take time. My dogs aren't ever around kids so they don't really care for them. Actually Ava will bark at a little kid while we're out and she's in her carrier (???) - she's never even had any experience with kids. :blink: I sure don't understand that.

Hey, I haven't seen you around for a long time! Congratulations on your baby!

 

[Ladysmom]

How old is Charley? If he is older and never been around children, he may not adjust to your son. To protect both of them, you need to constantly supervise them and never leave them alone together.

 

[cyndrae]

I notice that kids move differently than older people. I know that Lilly is different around our neighbors little boy. I give lots of treats and let the little one give them to her also.

 

[CharleyFirpo]

Yes, I was out pretty much for 15 month...)) But I'm back!
Of course I'm always supervising them, but looks like he'll never get used to the idea that he is not the only one any more. We give him plenty of TLC, taking care of him, bringing him along for our long trips to Europe, I can't do any better than this.
BTW today is Charley's 5th birthday!

 

[Matilda's mommy]

your doing your best, maybe the fact your baby moves quickly scares your Charley, and he might fear he will get hurt.
I know my girls get stressed when my grandkids come over, my grandkids are older 8, 10,12,13 and 18 but I still have to keep a close eye on them. They play way to hard with Matilda and my two younger ones also try and carry her.

 

[Ladysmom]

Yes, I was out pretty much for 15 month...)) But I'm back!
Of course I'm always supervising them, but looks like he'll never get used to the idea that he is not the only one any more. We give him plenty of TLC, taking care of him, bringing him along for our long trips to Europe, I can't do any better than this.
BTW today is Charley's 5th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Charley! :chili::chili::chili:

I don't think it's as much a matter of Charley not being able to get used to being the only one as the fact that he is probably nervous around your son. Little dogs seem to sense that they could be hurt by small children.

I have an 18 month old grandson and I have to watch him like a hawk around Lady. He wouldn't hurt her intentionally, but he's kind of like a monster truck. He plows through anything in his path!

 

[MalteseJane]

I don't think either it's a matter of Charley being the only one. Especially if he follows the baby like a shadow, licks him, checks on him. It's more a matter that the baby scares him when he comes close to him. Babies and toddlers make abrupt movements and that is startling the dog and scares him. You need to teach your 15 month old to go slow and gentle when interacting with Charley. My grand kids are 3-1/2 and 6 years old. We thought them how to be gentle around Alex.

 

[Snowbody]

Toddlers are down at Charlie's level so I think there's more of a chance that your baby will make those actions even more readily than to a grown up who's already up high from them. I know that little children will often go for the tail or face and our guys don't like it. It's very funny but I'm seeing this analogy with dogs too. When Tyler sees any dog he looks at them, stands there, let's them smell him and then jumps around to play and check them out. If it's a young dog, they both have a great time but very often with older dogs, they don't like those jumpy actions that a puppy will make and really don't want to be bothered. Just my observations lately with Tyler.

 

[Johita]

Aolani doesn't like seeing kids running around him. I've let some children drop treats for him (some have even asked him to do a trick which he does) and he loves that but that's as far as we've gotten so far. Though I was upset one time when I was holding him and a little kid came out of nowhere and pet him. Aolani didn't react, but he could have.

 

[poochie2]

My 19 month old malt has been around kids since she was 6 weeks old. Never barks at any kids.........AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT BOTHERING HER.
I take her to the kids school everyday to pick up the kids and there are tons of kids around petting her and so on but she doesn't mind it cause she is just so used to it. I also have 2 young girls who play with her all the time. I think she likes kids more than adults. Men with glasses and beards she is chicken of. LOL

 

[coco]

Coco, who is 4, loved our grandson, Michael, as a baby. She would cry when Michael would cry. Now she avoids him when possible. If Michael gets close, she growls. I know she is warning him to stay away, so we make sure that happens. Lola, on the other hand, loves Michael, and she is a year old. If he goes up to her, she licks his hand and has never growled or even acted scared of him. Michael was 18 months during their last exposure to him, so he's everywhere in the house. I'm not going to try to get Coco to be friends with him. We will keep them apart. We didn't have Lola when Michael was a baby, so who knows? Coco has always LOVED being around children and has shown no signs of biting anyone, but when she growls, we know she is warning that she isn't happy about the situation. I don't know how you are going to deal with this. If your dog doesn't act happy around your baby, then keep the dog away. That's my best advice.

 

[Orla]

Milo likes kids as long as their not too rough or loud(Milo hates anyone or anything thats loud)

Roxy adores kids and loves their rough play.

Amber is alright with kids as long as she gets to know them first and they aren't too rough.

 

[jmm]

Roo LOVES kids...the more they want to manhandle and play with him the better. Of course he is always 110% supervised.
Soda tolerates kids and actively likes older, calm kids. We usually don't allow young kids to do more than say hello to him.

 

[momtoboo]

Boo & Hannah love kids of a certain age.They've really never been exposed more than a few mins to really young toddlers or babies though. Boo loves gentle play, but Hannah only likes kids that act like little adults.If they start to get rowdy she wants in my lap. Neither have ever acted aggressive toward kids.

 

[CharleyFirpo]

He's not only behaving like this with our son, but with other toddlers and older kids too. They always want to come up to him and pet him, and I'm always nervous he might snap at them. Maybe he'll never change...

 

[jmm]

Your dog is behaving perfectly normally when threatened. A good dog snaps and growls but refrains from biting unless truly pressed. The question is:
Is this behavior normal in this context?
Well let's define the context to the dog. There is a small, erratically moving thing coming towards the dog. Its eye contact is direct and un-breaking. The dog may or may not also be cornered by a leash or location. The child does not head any warning body language the dog gives.
The erratic movement and eye contact are DIRECT THREATS to the dog. Unless the dog has actively been taught to accept these things, it is UNREASONABLE to expect the dog to do so.
You can work to desensitize the dog to this, however, due to the size of our little dogs and risk level, removing your dog from this is a safer idea. Use a baby gate at home to keep the dog separate while the child is running around. Create positive experience for the dog with the child (ie sit on the couch together while child feeds dog treats, supervised games of fetch, child offers dog valuable chew and then leaves dog alone). You can start now teaching the child to approach the dog calmly or sit quietly and let the dog come to them.
SAFETY should be the first priority. Tolerance of children is not a natural thing for a dog. It is not fair to expect something you did not take the time to teach. You should be worried your dog will snap in a threatening situation - he is a DOG and that is normal dog behavior if within context. Prevent threatening situations, do your best to desensitize the dog to these situations, and over all keep your dog SAFE.

 

[CharleyFirpo]

Yes, my son loves to give Charley his favorite chews and toys, Charley takes them happily and walks away. My baby also knows to keep distance from the dog pretty much all the time, but they're checking out each other from the corner of their eyes...

 

[bebybeck]

I have a home childcare, so Finnegan (5 months) has never known our house without children of all ages. He is so bored on the weekend with no children around. I supervise him and kids at all times when they are together or seperate them. Even my toddlers know how to behave with him and tell him no when he gets to rough with his little needle teeth. He is in the chewing phase and my only problem is with a 6 m. baby. Finn loves to lick his face and chew on his toes. The baby doesn't care but I do. lol

 

[Mindi's mom]

Mindi does the same with our 2 year old. Growls and snips but never bites hard.

jmm is right on why. My hubby tells Mindi no. I try to tell him that our daughter is the one that needs to be taught what not to do. (Taking the dogs toys, picking her up, getting in her face quickly).