16 months old terrorising the poor dog

We have went through this my lo is nearly 16 months and she is obsessed with the dogs she has definitely backed off a bit now we just kept saying no gentle hands or they’re asleep leave them alone and move her she thought it was a game but now is understanding more I don’t want my dogs to be locked away all the time so I try to be consistent with her but If I’m doing something and can’t watch them I do lock them up for safety

I just hope it twigs for him eventually, it's getting stressful, feel so bad for my poor dog because he's doesn't understand either 😩

Do you have a safe space for your dog to ‘escape’ to when your little one is being too much?
We allow our dog to go upstairs out the way and explain to our toddler that he’s feeling sad so we need to leave him alone.

We do the whole ‘kind hands’, show our dog affection ourselves when the little one isn’t involved just so he can observe how to treat him and we always make sure to praise our dog, offer treats ect when he tolerates my son being rough. We also move my son away from our dog when he isn’t listening and explain every time that that makes him sad, he doesn’t like it and he’ll hurt him.

Little one is 2 now and though he can still be a little rough, he is much more gentle and most of the time will stop when we remind him of gentle hands

what doggys do you have?

Be stern with your little one keep saying no and moving him away from the dog when dog is eating and his bed this is when the dog should definitely be left alone. Does your dog like to play with a ball or some thing show your son how to play and stroke him correctly give dog a treat when son is stroking him and praise when son when he interacts with dog correctly if son tries to pull or slap or hurt dog as they do make sure you tell him no and the interaction stops its not an easy fix it may take a month or so just be persistent because once you think oh I'm fed up of saying the same thing he will realise his persistence will get him what he wants and he will do it more.

yep he has like 3 beds and can go upstairs whenever bless him!

I will continue with what I've been doing then but also take him away too!

Thanks for the advice guys, nice to know I'm not completely doing something wrong, it's just more and more persistence. The babies/kids are sent to try us haha!

I have two cockapoos one is more tolerant one was starting to get sick

I would get a dog behaviourist.

I always felt my collie was unhappy around my son. We got a dog behaviourist and for both my son's safety and my dogs happiness we had to make the terrible decision to re-home him.

Now before anyone comes at me about having a dog for life this was by far the hardest decision I had to make. My dog was my world and that is why I had to make the decision I had to make. If he stayed with us he would have continued to feel unsafe in his own home, he may have been pressured into doing something terrible and had to be put down.

He now lives with a dog trainer and is so incredibly happy, it breaks my heart but I know it was the right thing for everyone.

To add, my dog never showed any signs of nipping etc to my child but the behaviourist told us he was a risk and they needed to be in separate rooms at all times with dog/baby gates.

I don't want to scare you but if your dog is already nipping he is an even higher risk. Please seek behaviourist/training advice.

If we couldn't have rehomed our dog she told us he needed anxiety medication to continue living with us alongside entirely separate rooms at all times.

I’d take the child out of the room and let the dog go upstairs so they can both have some time to themselves and just try to explain to your little boy to be more gentle and be stern with him.