Our grandson (comes to us once a week) has just started to crawl. We have a 14 week old pup. Any advice to help make sure they are both safe would be welcome.
Keep them apart. Neither pup nor your Grandson are able to understand each other’s behaviour and moderate theirs. If it’s a permanent arrangement you will need a safe area for your dog, behind a child gate, crate or the like. Distract your pup with a yummy frozen kong and look forward to the future when they have both grown up and will be best friends.
Thank you for your advice. I guess at the moment I can let Suki out when our grandson is having his naps. It just feels like a long time to keep her shut away. Grandson with us from early morning til evening.
You're right, it is a long time to keep her shut away, so when your grandson is there you'll need to set time aside to spend with her. At 14 weeks she's just a baby too.
You can also get a long house line that you can use to restrict her from going near him if he is occupied with something. But Mart is right, she is still a baby and needs your attention too. The last thing you want is to leave her while he is there and for her to be jealous with him.
Are you on your own in the house with the two of them or is there someone you can take it in turns with looking after either baby or puppy? The house line is a good idea if you are quick enough. It won’t be long before they can be together.
By apart I didn’t mean locked in a crate all day. I am guessing your grandson is just under one, so will be having probably 2 good naps a day. That’s your opportunity to play and devote your attention to your pup. Your pup could well sleep the time your grandson is awake then. You pup could be in another room, or grandson in a play pen, you just need to be creative to ensure they don’t get too close as it will only take a second for your lovely pup to inadvertently scratch or nip your grandson and then you could end up with a problem that lasts a lifetime. I have had pups and kids and managed them separately with neither missing out and everyone safe and happy.
So today we had a go at keeping them in different rooms letting Suki in the main room when grandson was napping. Also took him out for an hour so she could have more attention. Worked quite well. Fingers crossed for next week. Thank you so much your advice I appreciate your support.
I think you could let them be together a little, if you were right there watching and ready to intervene. Our 2-1/2 granddaughter has been around Cooper and Tilly since she was crawling. She was not around when Cooper was a bitey pup though. Cooper is still a little rambunctious when someone comes in but then calms down.
I’m hoping once she has stopped being such a furry croc. they will be able to spend more time together. Grandson has a dog at home who is very bouncy and he is fine with our 12 year old lab. Fingers crossed.
My puppy is now 21 weeks and my youngest child is 2. When we got her I kept them separate but together if that makes sense?! So in the same room but with the toddler on the sofa with me and the puppy in her bed with a chew, or the puppy on the sofa (too small to jump off at 14 weeks!) and the toddler playing. It was stressful at times, but going for walks helped as did lots of training for the puppy as it wore her out and she would sleep. She seemed to understand very quickly that the toddler was a no go person, but of course those teeth are sharp and hurt even when it’s unintentional. My son felt the teeth once when he was in his highchair and the dog tried to get his socks off his feet - didn’t break the skin but I was still upset. So he hasn’t worn socks around her since and all he’s had are a few licks while she waits under his highchair for inevitable food droppage. What’s helped the most is a baby gate across the kitchen doorway. It means I can get my son ready to go out without the dog getting ‘involved’, or I can put him over the gate quickly if she’s in a particularly jumpy or bitey mood, rather than try to shepherd her out of the room (just gets her more excited). At 5 months she is much much more settled with him so, although I’d never leave them alone together, I’m no longer concerned that she will bite or scratch him (unless he’s holding food in which case they’re separated!). I just have to be careful in case she jumps up at him as they’re about the same weight now so she would just push him over. Interestingly, if she does try to jump up at him he just turns away, stands still and puts his arms up over his face, so she stops. He did that by himself whereas it took ages to get the older kids to understand that’s what they had to do!
