New pup and child

Condatis

My daughter has a 12 week old Jack Russell cross.

The pup is reacting well with the parents but wants nothing to do with their two and a half year old son who is very upset about it.

Pup and child are closely monitored and their has been no rough treatment by the child.

Why would the pup not anything to do with the child?

kylith

Probably for a couple of reasons. Small children can be quite high-pitched, which a lot of dogs don't like. It's also possible that the pup has had a bad experience with a small child before your daughter adopted him, which is causing him to avoid children.

I would advise that she keeps the child as calm as possible and let them interact with the pup in a non-excited way, keeping a close watch and making sure that the child is gentle. If the child could feed the pup (i.e. put the bowl on the ground) the pup should come to see them as a provider and will want to seek them out more. Letting the pup look for the child's company is, imo, very important. The more the child tries to push itself on the dog the less the dog is going to want to play with them.

Condatis

Good suggestions, thank you.

borderlinemeath

kylith wrote: »

Probably for a couple of reasons. Small children can be quite high-pitched, which a lot of dogs don't like. It's also possible that the pup has had a bad experience with a small child before your daughter adopted him, which is causing him to avoid children.

Or no experience with children at all. What a puppy experiences in the first few weeks of their lives with their mother and siblings in their breeders home will have an effect on how they react to situations when they get to their forever home. If the breeder had no children and didn't introduce any children to the pups then the puppy doesn't quite know how to react.

I would advise that she keeps the child as calm as possible and let them interact with the pup in a non-excited way, keeping a close watch and making sure that the child is gentle. If the child could feed the pup (i.e. put the bowl on the ground) the pup should come to see them as a provider and will want to seek them out more. Letting the pup look for the child's company is, imo, very important. The more the child tries to push itself on the dog the less the dog is going to want to play with them.

Definitely start with the bowl rather than letting the child hand a treat to the pup, it may unwittingly snap it out of the childs hand and it could frighten the child against the dog.

aonb

the puppy could probablybe hoping to be higher in the pecking order of the pack than the child too!!!

my dogs always 'preferred' me and my husband to our daughter - shes always kissing and hugging them but she throws ball for hours and walks them too so they tolerate her now that shes a teen, but she is definately lower in pack order than us 2 adults

RubyGirl

Maybe help him teach the pup some tricks that are the tricks between them two only, like fetching a ball?

DBB

If there's one quick way to put owners off their dog, or to find a reason not to like or trust their dog, it's to tell them that their dog is above their child in the pecking order. I wouldn't mind if there was some actual substance to this theory, but there isn't.
Sometimes, dogs don't quite know what kids are for, and so don't gravitate towards them. Sometimes, dogs consider the adults in the house to be far more rewarding or fun the the child (though I know quite a few dogs who prefer kids to adults, so it cuts both ways). Sometimes, kids are damned annoying, and unwittingly do things to a dog that an adult wouldn't, causing the dog to retaliate... And then the poor old dog gets labelled, or rather mislabelled, as dominant.
OP, you've got some nice advice above: don't push things, but do passively make your little one more interesting to pup: under strict supervision, have the wee one feed him (putting the bowl on the floor, not hand feeding just yet), throw balls for him etc as already suggested. Also, bringing pup out for walks with the little one can really get a good, positive association going.
But don't force things, that's important. If you keep things light and passive, it should come with time. Remember that many parents complain when their new pup is too much in the kid's face!

jimf

anytime we had a new pup when it came to feeding i would always take the food away before they were finished for a few minutes then gave it back again and allowed them to finish and after 40 years of being around dogs i can honestly say i have never had a dog that was anyway food aggressive not for a minute am i saying you should allow your child to do this but maybe do it yourself im sure others on here wont agree and will their own ideas but it has always worked for me nothing worse than a dog that guards their resources especially with kids around also ball play as already advised is a great bonding tool for dog and child

DBB

Ooerrrr jimf, I know you haven't had a problem with doing this, but ALL food guarders I meet have had their food taken off them like this, and it is not to be recommended at all. Not all dogs turn into food guarders, but a lot do, so you have to be so, so careful.
The method advised is to give the pup every reason to enjoy people, including children, approaching the food bowl. Taking the bowl away all too easily creates resentment. So, all puppy owners should do the exact opposite: regularly and routinely approach the feeding pup, and empty more food from the hand into the bowl. Adults can empty normal food into the bowl, kids should empty jackpot treats like meat, cheese etc into the bowl. You need to have the pup positively wriggling with happiness to see a human, of any age, approaching them as they eat.

jimf

DBB wrote: »

Ooerrrr jimf, I know you haven't had a problem with doing this, but ALL food guarders I meet have had their food taken off them like this, and it is not to be recommended at all. Not all dogs turn into food guarders, but a lot do, so you have to be so, so careful.
The method advised is to give the pup every reason to enjoy people, including children, approaching the food bowl. Taking the bowl away all too easily creates resentment. So, all puppy owners should do the exact opposite: regularly and routinely approach the feeding pup, and empty more food from the hand into the bowl. Adults can empty normal food into the bowl, kids should empty jackpot treats like meat, cheese etc into the bowl. You need to have the pup positively wriggling with happiness to see a human, of any age, approaching them as they eat.

thats exactly why i said im my post than others wont agree

DBB

jimf wrote: »

thats exactly why i said im my post than others wont agree

No, I realise that, but I think it's important that op, or anyone else reading this, know that taking the food bowl off a feeding pup, as a method to prevent resource guarding, is not recommended. It's more likely to cause the problem than to prevent it!

Pretzill

jimf wrote: »

anytime we had a new pup when it came to feeding i would always take the food away before they were finished for a few minutes then gave it back again and allowed them to finish and after 40 years of being around dogs i can honestly say i have never had a dog that was anyway food aggressive not for a minute am i saying you should allow your child to do this but maybe do it yourself im sure others on here wont agree and will their own ideas but it has always worked for me nothing worse than a dog that guards their resources especially with kids around also ball play as already advised is a great bonding tool for dog and child

It's natural instinct for a pup to gaurds its food particularly if they've grown up in a busy litter I wouldn't reccomend taking the bowl away - also when it comes to pack whoever is the leader should take the lead where ever the dog thinks it rests in pack order when it comes to small children the leader should qualify wrong from right. Funnily dog should learn quicker than toddler!