new puppy with 2 yr old son

I have a son that was 7 years old when we brought our puppies home. I wonder now if that was too young. My son is very loving and likes to take care of his puppies.He will feed them and likes to take part in training and walking. Paladin will still after 1 3/4 years old will nip our clothing when he gets excited. This was never an issue for Maverick. I stop in my tracks and give a firm no bite and most of the time it works. My son who is a very active kid gets very upset when Paladin nips at him and just yells at him and gets mad at him. I have been working on my son to try to teach him to be firm and say no bite an to be still. Consistency to say the least has been difficult. But I am still working on both my son and my dog. He only does this to my son and myself and sometimes my son's friends also. When the friends are over I have to keep a watchful eye. Congratulations on the new family member!

Donna
 
Thank you. We bought a 10 by 10 exercise pen today. I think this will help a lot so both can play outside and be separated. Hopefully we can get finished putting it up this week. Boomer is starting to understand some when I say Good boy, he is already expecting a treat. :):smile2:
 
PreciousSheltie said:
Hmm I'm not sure I'd agree that shelties are the best family dogs that are great with kids. I find they do better in more adult homes with older children. All of my dog breed books have said the same thing, there was always an X across "Good with children" picture for shelties. This wasn't a deciding factor for me as we have no younger children in the house but with my experience in having two shelties and other dogs in my lifetime, shelties are definitely a lot more sensitive. Meaning they don't like the pulling, tugging, screaming, chasing, craziness that usually is involved with younger children, they don't tolerate it as easily and can become very children-scared or become very shy overall if not socialized properly together in good environments with good supervision/training/etc.

Both of my two shelties, despite attempts to bond with children, have both failed to make any good experiences. I don't blame them. Children that run up and stomp their feet around them, throw their hands in their face, yell and scream and shriek, tug their ears and tails, that do not know how to APPROACH a dog in general are all factors that I've seen. Unfortunately, I've gotten all of those and a LOT more, despite how quick I have been to take my dogs out of those situations, keep the children back and teach them how to properly and calmly pet a dog, teach them how to ASK to pet someone's dog before running up and jumping on them, it's funnny how in all situations, the parents were no where to be seen for the longest time. In the end, both my shelties have disliked children, never grew aggression as that isn't something I'd tolerate either, but they do not approach them at all and stay away from them if possible just because they know that 'the small human beings are very unpredictable, loud, hurtful, and scary'. All in all though, I'm sure with proper teachings and proper supervision of both your child and both your puppy, since both are babies, could end up well - it's all about positive experiences though.
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I agree, I would have to say something along the lines of a labrador or other retriever would fall into the "family dog" category and may have been a better choice. Shelties really are far too sensitive to sound and touch to be comfortable with what comes with very young children. Both of my two shelties, despite attempts to get them used to children, have both failed to make any good experiences as well. I repeated my self over and over to be gentle, quiet, slow, etc. But all different kinds of kids engaged in the same behaviors. Some encouraged the pups to come up, but then screamed in fear when my pups came too close. Others stomped towards them to 'see what they would do'. I've found that very young children-especially young boys- go through a phase where taunting young animals can be a problem. So if you have a small dog, cat, etc, it's very important to keep an eye on any interactions. My friend's 5 year old son must be watched constantly. He will pet my overly calm and gentle cat, Dante, in front of me, but if I turn my back and he thinks I'm not looking, he'll start roughing him up, trying to get him to run away so he can chase him. I correct the boy instantly, but I know next time he'll do it again. He does the same with my dogs, trying to scare them so he can chase them. I got so infuriated I had to put my dogs in the car. Little Bear will never like young children at this point. He barks with a growl undertone if they come too close. And Claussen just steers clear.

So, I guess the lesson here is just 100% supervision is key-but separation would be more important. If you can tell that the puppy is afraid, remove it from the situation. For instance, if you have him on your lap, and your son is trying to pet him, don't force him to be petted. Shelties may react with a bite out of fear or aggression as any dog would if their initial warnings go unheeded. And since this is a very sensitive breed, extra attention must be paid to be sure that the dog gets rewarded for not reacting to loud noises. I would recommend introducing the dog to louder sounds and rewarding with a treat immediately after the sound. Pet him a little harder than you normally would. Touch his tail, his ears, his feet, and reward him for his tolerance. Pretend you're a child for a moment with him-perhaps this will accustom him to what his life is going to be like for his first few years of life.
 
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DanteBella85 said:
I find that so odd! I always thought you should never "back down" from a dog, but rather make them back down. Whenever my dogs get after my heels (usually when I turn my back to go upstairs) I just stop in my tracks to block the behavior from being carried out. If I'm not moving, he can't herd me, he loses the game, it's no more fun. But as soon as he sits and calms down, it's MORE fun because he gets my loving attention.

Anybody else care to weigh in on how they tackled their puppy's herding behavior?

And we'd love to see some pictures of your puppy!
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Yep stopped Sca when he was a pup. He will on occasion still do it and once I stop he kind of goes 'oh yea' and quits (loading the motorhome means I am going somewhere and that is not allowed :lol:)
 
Yeah. I did not know exactly how it would be like when we got the puppy. The older sheltie I used to have was great with kids.

This one is just a puppy, and I have never had a puppy before. Boomer is doing better. I do ALWAYS supervise them when they are together and have limited the time that they are together. I have been taking Boomer into the kitchen to play lots of time with Charlie in the living room separated by a baby gate, and I have bought a 10 x 10 ex pen/ kennel for the back yard so they can both play in the backyard and be separated. Charlie is not too mean to him except when he starts to bite his clothes. Then tries to get Boomer off. I am usually close by and tell Charlie to stand still so I can get Boomer off, and I pick Boomer up and take him to play with toys.

Charlie likes to pet him and loves for Boomer to lick/ kiss his face.

They are getting a little better together. Boomer is starting to learn to sit when we are training him. The ex pen will help a lot once we finish putting it together this week/weekend.
 
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