Tips for teaching toddlers to respect dog's space?
I'm at my wits end with my 21 month old and his behaviour around our dog. While they love each other and usually play nicely, when the dog is done playing and wants to lie down/sleep, my son often starts trying to harass the dog (trying to lie on him, poke/grab him, shove toys in his face etc). I obviously intervene and don't let him do such things, but it's really wearing me down as it's constant.
The dog has terrible separation anxiety and gets very stressed if we try and put him in a different room/behind a gate and doesn't have sense to go lie somewhere away from the toddler. If we try and crate him, toddler becomes extremely upset and has massive tantrums as he wants to play in the dog crate 🫠. For these reasons, is very difficult to separate them while my partner is at work. He has a very intense and persistent personality and I'm spending so much time constantly removing/diverting him from the dog as he just will not leave him alone. We've tried everything to try and teach him how to be gentle and to try and encourage him to leave the dog alone, but he just isn't getting it. Has anyone else been in a similar situation and found anything that helped?
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I have no tips I’m afraid but I’m in exactly the same situation with a toddler exact same age … I’m just hoping when he learns no is no ( to others as he completely understands the word no when I ask him to do something 🤣) he will understand 🤞🏻
Okay so I get that he has tantrums because he wants to be in the crate with the dog...but have you tried just setting that boundary and sticking with it consistently? Like hes not going to learn to respect the dogs space if you aren't enforcing it.
We have cats and they just go up high when theyre done with our daughter and we have been very consistent with not letting her be aggressive with them and respecting their space. Does she always get it or remember? No of course not but we reinforce the boundary and if she has a tantrum we just wait it out.
Its important your dog has their space and somewhere safe to go. Like there may come a time when he doesn't put up with your son anymore and then you may have a much bigger problem.
Get a giant cardboard box and make it into a fun dog "crate" for the toddler to give the same experience of something that's clearly fun for them, including colouring it. Even include soft toys
Over time they'll get bored and movd onto other things.
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