Introducing to dogs- HOW??
Our home has a cat, super well-behaved with kids and has all her claws been in my toddlers life always. However, my relatives have dogs, some small- Yorkie others mid to large size- German Shepard. I'm needing tips on how to best manage the interactions.
Cat energy is low and calm and toddler will snuggle up to her. Dogs are simply more. More energy, more in your face sniffing, licking and tail a-wagging. I love dogs btw but my little one isn't yet equipped to manage yet.
The last few times we have been over, if they get into toddlers space he just starts crying after a scrunching up. I don't think he is scared necessarily but I have gotten tired. I'm not sure what else to do- i dont want to traumatized my kid.
Oh, and advise for discussing with my relative who has the most annoying by not obeying commands. I have tried to explain that my sons reaction is based on experience. And how as the pet owner, they need to manage their pet if they so desperately want to have them interact with my toddler
How do you direct a pet owner and what is available ideas for toddlers and high energy pets? All suggestions would be most helpful, Thank you!
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One idea is to go on YouTube and watch toddlers and dog videos, just them interacting so your little one will have an idea of what’s normal when he does meet them
We had our friends’ dog for a week (6m old, French bulldog), we had separate spaces for dog and my little one. The dog only wants to play, but she doesn’t know shes playing with a baby. We played together only supervised and kept the dog away from the baby most of the time because she’d jump and push our little one. It was the best way for us to keep things safe and quiet. We have a cat and gets along very well with the baby, we realised how different it is with a dog. We explained this to our friends too and I think dog owners need to understand that dogs are more powerful pets when it’s related to babies. And our little one started crying, all we did is we let her decide when she wanted to interact with the dog. As I said: always supervising the dog (keeping him close to us)
Thank you both for those ideas. I have always supervised but I think my sisters thinks that her dog will magically listen to her and not push over my almost 2yr old/ play gently. We have always been close when we go over. The times he cried was when we went to play with something a couple of feet from the couch and my sister was bringing her dog in from outside. SMH thank you again
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