Do you trust your dog with kids?

[Toller_08]

I trust Spring and Keira with kids. After Keira's initial excitement when she sees kids, she's great with them. Spring's really good with them too, except she likes to get as close as possible for attention and doesn't have much sense of personal space toward children. Kids don't seem to mind, but I do.

Dance behaves with kids for short periods of time, but if they're around too long she stresses. Unless they're kids who have manners around dogs and aren't loud and fast. Those kids she likes... but most aren't like that it seems.

 

[Dekka]

Dekka is fantastic with kids. She gets mauled by litterally thousands of little hands doing things like the Sportsman Show. I trust her as much as you can trust an animal. BUT I don't trust kids. There are few things Dekka doesn't like... she doesn't like strangers picking her up when she is lying down. I have had to tell kids soo many times they can't pick her up when she is sleeping on the bed on the booth. (what do parents never teach kids these things... who thinks to come up to a strange sleeping dog and just grab it to pick it up?)

Snip is a great booth dog too. I do trust them and my child to be alone in another part of the house (Child is now 8) and have for the past couple of years.

Dash could bite if startled or scared. He is a very gentle dog but can be a bit nervous. Bounce is good but I have only had her around lots children once and that was at the Super Dog show so I was right there on stage with her.

Zo, loves kids but I don't trust her in general.

Kaiden is good but won't handle rough treatment.. LOVES children, but isn't afraid to tell them off if he thinks they are rude.

Sport.. he is still young, but he is owned by an 8 year old and is better with him than with adults. He is a super fantastic dog. Not sure if I would trust him alone with other people's kids as he is a rescue and we don't know his background.

 

[Bigpoodleperson]

Absolutely!!!! Would i ever leave him Alone with kids? No. Not that i dont trust him, but that i am a responsible dog owner. Even if i dont trust kids, i trust Riley to not harm them. He wasnt raised with kids in the house, but i have friends with kids. He has been around all ages of kids. He doesnt jump on people or lick. He just likes to stand next to you for pettings. He is the best dog!

 

[yoko]

yoshi trusts kids more than i do. i will let them play with her and walk her if i am there. but i don't trust kids enough to leave them alone in a room with my dog.

 

[shadowfacedanes]

I will admit that I don't trust Hannah with children. If it were two years ago, I'd say no problem. But when we moved here, the two kids across the street totally changed all that. Since that, we've not taken Hannah out to many rescue and social events because I'm not comfortable with it. She could've acted the way she acted because it was on her turf, but I'm just not willing to risk it to find out.

I know she is good with kids she's known since she was a pup, same as adults.

She is one of the most socialized dogs on the planet too. She went to work with me at a very busy kennel every day from the time she was 12 weeks old until she was over a year old. She met kids, adults, people in uniforms, heard all sorts of loud noises, etc. I don't know what went wrong once she hit maturity. Genetics I suppose.

Corvus has too high of a prey drive to be trusted around young kids. Older kids, maybe. Again, not something I'd be willing to test. High pitched screamy noises drive him nuts.

Nellie loves kids, but she's a nibbler. Not out of aggression, just as a touchy thing. She gets excited and when she does, she nibbles. It can be anything - fabric, another dog, my fingers....

 

[Georgygirl]

Yes, I definitely trust Joey with children. My mom's an at home daycare provider, so when I go home to visit he plays with lots of children. He's quite the celebrity there! He even helped one little boy get over his fear of dogs. I wouldn't leave him with children unsupervised though. But I'd be more concerned about what they'd to to him than what he'd do to them. When the kids are getting to much he's very good about just walking away. Plus he's very good about sharing whatever he has (food, toys, chews, ect).

 

[Debi]

never. sure, strict supervision with me holding the dog is fine for our little guys to pet and get to know them. nothing else. I actually cringe when I hear people say, 'don't worry, he/she won't hurt you'. oh really?? you can truly, honestly be THAT certain?? I think not. any factor can come into play, and I'd never...ever...risk a child. my dogs are not around guests, and if that sounds horrible..I really don't care. I adore my dogs like anyone here, I just also think of them as animals. and I side with caution, rather than be sorry.

so many different situations with different dogs, but just one for now...was at my BIL's house. wonderful dog..always even tempered...around many children. but that ONE day it was very hot, and the dog bit. for anyone that says that would never happen ...cause they have this idea their dog is so fabulously trained...I think you should think again.

at my house, children come first.

 

[milos_mommy]

I'm going to keep it short and simple and say no.

 

[bubbatd]

I did every minute !!!

 

[sprintime]

Absolutely since my dogs have been totally childproofed. The more kids the happier they are. But having said this I would never leave a young baby alone without supervision "just in case" . My dogs love and protect all little kids and babies, but they are still dogs and babies sometimes can act like prey, my grandaughter does, in my eyes at least. My dogs love to curl up on the floor with her but to leave them alone is still too risky for me to take that chance. There is also the possibility of a toddler falling and injuring my older dog that might cause it to snap in pain without realizing it. Never happened , I've been guaranteed that working dogs never hurt children but for me it's not worth the chance. Just nervous me maybe.

 

[M&M's Mommy]

No. Dogs have boundaries, too - and I find that little kids don't know to respect that.

 

[colliewog]

I don't have children nor are mine exposed on a regular basis, but I trust mine implicitly with supervised exposure (like when we do the AKC Meet the Breeds booth and a toddler grabs my dog around the neck), but I'm more cautious with teenagers, especially boys, because they've reached an age where a dog might revoke their "puppy license" and I won't put them in a position to have to make that decision.

 

[sparks19]

Belle for SURE. she loves hannah and Hannah loves her. Belle would go crazy if she wasn't allowed to be around hannah.

But Hannah is also very gentle with the dogs. she does not hit, smack, poke or pull.

 

[Southpaw]

Absolutely. My mom does daycare, so the dogs kinda have to be good with kids

Molly has kids climb on her, fall on top of her, pull her ears and her feet... she's basically been bothered in every imaginable way. She just lays there and lets it happen, unless she really gets annoyed with it, in that case she just gets up and walks away haha. She's never snapped or growled, that would be so out of character for her.

Lucy's actually really good too. She LOVES babies, she's always curling up with them. When my nephew was younger, he was really good at grabbing her ears/fur and just tugging, and Lucy would try to get away but she never bit or growled. It's always surprised me because Lucy can be a bit... unstable... but she's just always been good with kids.

Both of them have been raised around lots of kids though, so it's just what they're used to... I'm sure it'd be different if they didn't really get exposed to kids until they were adults.

 

[sillysally]

I would not trust either of them unsupervised.

Jack adores kids--he actively seeks them out for love and attention, and has put up with crap from friends kids.

Sally, although she is timid with strange kids at first (she is timid with all strangers at first--kids are actually the least threatening in her opinion), seems to do very well after that. she has hung out with my friends kids and once she got over the jumping thing, was very gentle. I do have slight concerns with her as she has a high prey drive though.

I was bitten in the face as a kid and got 21 stitches, so I am wary about kid's faces next to dog's faces.

 

[saffie]

No I don't trust them. Boy was rehomed because he didn't do well with one of the children in his previous home, and snapped multiple times. Now that wasn't entirely his fault, he was provoked, but still a reason for me to never trust him with children.

And Saffie, I don't think she will easily snap at children but she's not relaxed around them either, although we really did our best to socialise her with them.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I'm more cautious with teenagers, especially boys, because they've reached an age where a dog might revoke their "puppy license" and I won't put them in a position to have to make that decision.

:rofl1:

As for the question... honestly, if a dog COULD be completely bombproof with children, it would be Fozzie. Any child can do practically anything to him and he won't so much as bat an eye. And I still wouldn't leave him unsupervised, because it's the children that cannot be trusted. I've heard of kids doing horrible things to dogs, completely unintentionally, but the dog doesn't know that.

Gonzo doesn't dislike children, but he avoids them, unless they're children in the family. Even then, he is sensitive to them being rowdy or loud, so even though he is all about avoidance I would not trust him with them alone. My sister (who has two girls) has said that Gonzo is the only dog she completely trusts with the kids, because he is so polite and leaves them alone, besides giving them a kiss or two.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Yes and no.

Bella: no. Kids are too unpredictable for her. I'm sure she'll love her kids when Mit and I have them, but unless she can be around them for long periods of time to get to know them and their habits, it's not a good situation.

Buddy: LOVES kids. Is so gentle with them and just loves, loves, loves to be around them. And he doesn't care that they only throw his ball just a two or three feet in front of them.

Banzai: He's curious and as I said before about strangers, will feed off of Buddy's excitement, but isn't nearly as "crazy" as Buddy is.

 

[MisssAshby]

Kai - I trust her around people (kids and adults). She loves attention and is much happier being around people.

Nomi - She is very cautious around people who she doesn't see or interact with on a regular basis. If she is directly supervised by myself or my husband she is fine around anyone. If someone she didn't know attempted to pick her up I wouldn't put it past her to growl as a warning for them to leave her alone.

Brawt - The only people I trust Brawt with are my parents. He LOVES my mother more than he loves me I think. He was kicked at a young age by my nephew (because my sister wasn't watching him) and for this reason he does NOT like any young children. To this day if he sees my nephew he snarls, growls, and I believe would BITE if given the chance.

I am very careful of all three dogs if they are around people they aren't familiar with. Just because I trust them doesn't mean I trust the kid or person in question.