Hi, I should have introduced myself in the introduction forum but I have limited time with a 15 month old. That's my problem, how to get our dogs to accept and respect our baby boy, Dylan.
We have 3 dogs. Puck (10yo beagle/shih tzu mix), Reese (7yo rott/shepherd mix), and Rocky (6yo hound/shepherd?? mix). I had Puck before I got married when I lived with my family and lots of little kids, but Reese and Rocky my husband and I got after we were married and they've never been around small children.
I am scared to death of having the dogs around Dylan. When Dylan was 2 days old I let them sniff him and meet him and Reese tried to take his head in her mouth. That scared me to death of course. I thought later that she could have been trying to treat him like a puppy, not being aggressive, but now I'm reading that it could have meant that she saw him as prey!?!?!
Fast forward to now. I've got a baby gate set up in the kitchen doorway so that they are seperated. The dogs have the kitchen and familyroom. I really hate doing that because I know that the dogs probably feel left out. I want ALL of us to be a family. So I've recently started letting the dogs in the livingroom, one at a time, to spend an hour or so with me and Dylan.
Old Puck did fine. He's pretty mellow and he's been around babies before. Reese's first day was yesterday and it was going ok until she was laying down and Dylan walked behind her and he stumbled and put his hand on her back leg (not hard, just touched). She jumped and barked/sort of snapped at him. She didn't touch him but she scared him. He got really still and his little eyes were big around. So she got put back behind the gate. It might not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it upset me.
Should I keep trying? It terrifies me. Every little hair on Dylan's head is like gold to me.
Any advice? Should I just keep doing what I'm doing?
I do know to never leave them unsupervised. Also, we've been teaching Dylan to "be nice" and "be easy" since he was old enough to start grabbing at stuff. We have two cats and they just lay there and let Dylan pet them. He's always good with them but I'm always there ready to intervine if he starts doing something not nice (I know he's just a baby).
We have 3 dogs. Puck (10yo beagle/shih tzu mix), Reese (7yo rott/shepherd mix), and Rocky (6yo hound/shepherd?? mix). I had Puck before I got married when I lived with my family and lots of little kids, but Reese and Rocky my husband and I got after we were married and they've never been around small children.
I am scared to death of having the dogs around Dylan. When Dylan was 2 days old I let them sniff him and meet him and Reese tried to take his head in her mouth. That scared me to death of course. I thought later that she could have been trying to treat him like a puppy, not being aggressive, but now I'm reading that it could have meant that she saw him as prey!?!?!
Fast forward to now. I've got a baby gate set up in the kitchen doorway so that they are seperated. The dogs have the kitchen and familyroom. I really hate doing that because I know that the dogs probably feel left out. I want ALL of us to be a family. So I've recently started letting the dogs in the livingroom, one at a time, to spend an hour or so with me and Dylan.
Old Puck did fine. He's pretty mellow and he's been around babies before. Reese's first day was yesterday and it was going ok until she was laying down and Dylan walked behind her and he stumbled and put his hand on her back leg (not hard, just touched). She jumped and barked/sort of snapped at him. She didn't touch him but she scared him. He got really still and his little eyes were big around. So she got put back behind the gate. It might not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it upset me.
Should I keep trying? It terrifies me. Every little hair on Dylan's head is like gold to me.
Any advice? Should I just keep doing what I'm doing?
I do know to never leave them unsupervised. Also, we've been teaching Dylan to "be nice" and "be easy" since he was old enough to start grabbing at stuff. We have two cats and they just lay there and let Dylan pet them. He's always good with them but I'm always there ready to intervine if he starts doing something not nice (I know he's just a baby).