I'm new to the forum and have an almost 6 month lab puppy and an almost 3 year old toddler. Although the first few months were rough, my lab puppy has made so much improvement in the last couple of months- she rarely nips and is quite good at following commands such as sit and down. We have been very viligent about interaction between the puppy and our son. Our previous dogs were chihuahuas so having such a larger dog has been a huge change for all of us. My son has been doing quite well with learning to stand up tall when around the puppy and we often have him participate in giving her commands such as sit, down, and fetch and allowing him to reward her when she complies. However, even at 6 months our lab puppy is still very bad about jumping up on my husband and I, but because we always have her on a leash or confined behind a baby gate, crate, or tie-out when around the toddler she has only jumped up and knocked my son down once (which was more than enough!) My question is how much longer do you think she will continue to jump up to where she can't freely interact with my son? I know when she was nippy it seemed at the time as if it would last forever and then one day it just became much better. I miss allowing my kid to just run up and hug his dog (and I know he misses our small dogs too- one has been gone a year and he still talks about him). So how long do you think it will be before we have a calmer lab so that we can allow the two to interact more freely together? I don't plan to ever leave them completely alone- but at this point every time they interact she is on a lead or tied and I just hate that we have to keep them apart this way. We use positive reinforcement methods to stop her from jumping up and she is improving- but any advice about how to speed the process to a calmer lab that my son can freely interact with would be greatly appreciated. Since this is my first large indoor dog, I just don't know how much longer this stage of puppyhood will last. Thanks!
Re: Puppies and toddlers Hi, Welcome to the forum. Your puppy is still a puppy at 6 months and still has to learn its boundries, jumping up is a pain but it will stop with a little training. When she jumps up, on no account push her down with your hands. By putting your hands on her, she is getting the reward for jumping up. Use you knee or turn your back and walk away,do not say anything and she will soon learn that jumping up gets no reward.
Re: Puppies and toddlers We did it the other way round and got Riley before Lizzie arrived but the most useful thing we did was teach him to go to bed on command. It allowed us to have him unrestrained but controllable(ish )
Re: Puppies and toddlers i have only one grandchild that spends a lot of time with jasper he is 6 so a lot different from being around a 3 year old, he as always spent time with young children, he is 17 months now, i only allowed him to run about with my sisters grandchildren about a month ago, they are both under 3, he was brilliant with them, weaving between the 2 of them i would never leave him alone with any of the children
Re: Puppies and toddlers from a teeny tiny black 5 1/2 year old Lab known as The DivaDog and her pet human
Re: Puppies and toddlers My grandson was twenty months when we got our last pup. We didn't have that big a problem with the jumping up. I used to sit him on my knee and let the puppy greet him. We avoided getting the puppy over excited and he was only allowed in the room if calm. I just let them get on with life and the pup seemed to realise he had to be more gentle around him. They were never left unsupervised, I never used a lead just stayed close by. The more they interact the quicker they get to understand how to behave.
Re: Puppies and toddlers I have lots of kids and lots of enthusiastic dogs so I feel your pain! I am a BIG FAN of the place command - All of my dogs go to their mat when the kids get rowdy or company comes over. Its great for teaching the dog impulse control and at 6 months, pups need all the impulse control learning they can get! Jeff Gellman is an excellent trainer out of Rhode Island - here is a video of how he trains the place command, which is similar to my method. I don't call it "place" - I call it "go to your mat" or just "mat." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIGq_5r0DeE
Re: Puppies and toddlers When we got Dexter he was 5 months old and my niece and nephew were 2 and 4.......his jumping wasn't dreadful but at their first meeting he grabbed a biscuit out of Sophie's hand quite roughly ( my sisters fault :)and she was a bit wary after that....... We 'trained' the kids that if Dexter was jumping to cross their arms,turn their back on him and stand still like a tree.....simultaneously I would get him into a sit....worked pretty well.they also were 'trained' to know that they were never to go into his room,which is the utility room off my kitchen and close the child gate behind them closing themselves in with him....and NEVER to go in his cage.to be fair though they were never (and still aren't )left alone with him. It's toys I found hard to deal with,so I moved their toys upstairs into a spare room because whilst his Leave it is pretty good for individual items/ toys if there's a lot out on the floor he gets curious and starts playing up even now......going to add that to me list to work on this week while I'm laid up! ;D
Re: Puppies and toddlers I have 16 grandchildren , ranging in ages from 3 -25 years . Sam is almost three years old now , when we had him some of the grandchildren were just babies or toddlers , they were taught never ever to torment or tease , never to disturb when Sam was resting etc . There is a particularly close bond with six year old Silas who was only three when Sam arrived , they are just the best friends in all the world , Sam is his protector, his confidante and his playmate but even so, I would never ever leave them alone together . What is really sweet is that when Silas sleeps over with us , Sam is right outside the bedroom door all evening and still there in the morning
Re: Puppies and toddlers [quote author=kateincornwall link=topic=5697.msg73505#msg73505 date=1399214121] There is a particularly close bond with six year old Silas who was only three when Sam arrived , they are just the best friends in all the world , Sam is his protector, his confidante and his playmate but even so, I would never ever leave them alone together . What is really sweet is that when Silas sleeps over with us , Sam is right outside the bedroom door all evening and still there in the morning [/quote] I love that friendship, gives me a warm feeling
