[BigKahuna13]

My little girl has just begun to crawl in the last week. My dog who has mostly avoided the little noise maker now has no real escape meaning that the two are now occupying the same space. For the most part their interactions are brief because the dog can go to the next room and keep up her avoiding the baby. for the last few days their interactions have slightly changed. The dog gets excited and picks up an item she finds on the floor like a ball or a shoe or whatever she can. the dog parades around wagging her tail and slightly growling. It is a playful growl that seems to say come and play with me. She does this with me all the time. Nothing serious. Lately the baby has been harassing the dog by going and taking things away from the dog. the dog doesn't seem to care but for the last day or so she has been letting out a bark. It doesn't seem aggressive but I do not want to see anything bad happen between them because we all know who the loser will be. Again the bark given out seems only to be a leave me alone type bark like a mother to an unruly pup and the times its happened she has been reprimanded by me. Does anyone have any experiences or thoughts on this subject????

 

[Mary Lynn Metras]

Don't leave them out of your sight!!!

 

[BigKahuna13]

They are always supervised. I really don't think that the dog would do anything but not going to risk it.

 

[John Lash]

They are always supervised. I really don't think that the dog would do anything but not going to risk it.

As you already know, that's the best way. The dog probably will be OK but there is no way of knowing that for sure. It only takes a couple seconds.

 

[mostlygold]

I would not allow the child to be grabbing things from the dog. The dog does not view the child as "alpha" to her yet and normally a dog will discipline an unruly pup by a nip or by growling. A puppy will understand that behavior and become submissive, but a child does not understand the signals. Don't put your dog in that position. Be certain your dog has an "out", a way to escape or get away from the child. I would perhaps not have toys that could be a matter of contention laying around when the two interact.

Dawn

 

[ebenezer]

Go and buy the book called How to Child Proof Your Dog by Brian Killcommon. Every young couple with a dog and a new baby should read it.

 

[BigKahuna13]

Thanks for the input. I totally get the fact that the dog and baby speak two different languages. Its kinda like when your walking down the street and you see another dog walker being dragged by their barking dog and the person just says "don't worry! My dog is friendly" People don't understand their pup fully. I don't think my pup has a mean or even territorial bone in her body. She is pretty sweet hearted but I do see now that she can be motherly for lack of a better word, letting my baby know she needs to get her act together. Again thanks for clarification and all of your help.
Ed Kern

 

[cripes]

I would not let a baby near any dog. It takes only a heart beat for a major disaster. Even if supervised you could never be fast enough to prevent an incident. It is not fair to the dog either. I would keep them apart until the child knows how to act around dogs. For both their safety.