Dolly And My Toddler Grandson

[~Sarah~]

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My daughter, her OH and James, their 21 month old toddler, were staying for the weekend as we had my son's wedding taking place. They haven't stayed with us very much since they had the baby because we have been building the house and haven't really been able to have people to stay until recently. I have visited my daughter, leaving OH at home with the dogs, so Dolly has not had much contact with James and she hasn't met other toddlers either.

She is obviously very nervous of him and doesn't like him touching her. We were all out for a walk together (Dolly on the lead) and James tried to touch her. She looked as though she was might be going to bite him, although I think she was just actually barking at him. My son-in-law is not at all keen on dogs (I think he was bitten or badly frightened as a child) so tends to be quite anti dogs unfortunately. However, James does have contact with other really friendly dogs, so hopefully is learning that they aren't all like Dolly.

I don't know whether to try to encourage Dolly to get used to him on the occasions when they stay with us (which isn't very often), or just leave well alone and shut her in another room when they are here, until James is much older and understands that she is nervous so he should leave her alone. At the moment his face is just at her head height so I am rather paranoid about her hurting him.

 

[nannypony]

My daughter, her OH and James, their 21 month old toddler, were staying for the weekend as we had my son's wedding taking place. They haven't stayed with us very much since they had the baby because we have been building the house and haven't really been able to have people to stay until recently. I have visited my daughter, leaving OH at home with the dogs, so Dolly has not had much contact with James and she hasn't met other toddlers either.
She is obviously very nervous of him and doesn't like him touching her. We were all out for a walk together (Dolly on the lead) and James tried to touch her. She looked as though she was might be going to bite him, although I think she was just actually barking at him.   My son-in-law is not at all keen on dogs (I think he was bitten or badly frightened as a child) so tends to be quite anti dogs unfortunately. However, James does have contact with other really friendly dogs, so hopefully is learning that they aren't all like Dolly.

I don't know whether to try to encourage Dolly to get used to him on the occasions when they stay with us (which isn't very often), or just leave well alone and shut her in another room when they are here, until James is much older and understands that she is nervous so he should leave her alone. At the moment his face is just at her head height so I am rather paranoid about her hurting him. 

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[nannypony]

Our part whippet, Rudy, was the same as Dolly with under sevens and could not be trusted not to snap at them. If they left her alone, she was fine, but if they ran past or touched her she didn't like it. We found it simpler, and less risky, to keep her away from small children. We had her until she was 16 and she never really improved. She preferred girls to boys, and had come from a household with small boys, so had probably been teased. She was fine with older children.

 

[~elizabeth~]

Personally, I'd try to avoid the problem and keep her out of the way while the child is around.

I have problems with my inlaws' children too. One followed our dog round yelling 'bow wow' at him for several hours (with not a cautionary word from S-in-Law :angry: ) until Gelert finally just buried his head under my jumper and tried to climb inside to get away from him. If your Son in Law is nervous and intolerant of dogs, he may also misinterpret any defensive behaviour on Dolly's part as aggression and you could have an uncomfortable ongoing situation on your hands.

Fortunately OHs nephews/nieces are all getting a bit older and better behaved now. That said, OH has taken him to a big family get-together today, against my advice, and I am quite anxious about it. I gave him quite a talking to about dogs not being toys or there for the kids' benefit, and the seriousness of the situation for Gelert if a bite incident did occur.

 

[*Lesley*]

I agree with the others Sarah because Sienna is frightened of toddlers too I think it is because they are too lively and unpredictable for her, so I tend to keep her out of their way if friends with toddlers come,I don't want to put her in the postion of snapping out of fear at them and obviously don't want them to get bitten, it's quite odd because she doesn't like puppies much either :unsure: the rest of the dogs are fine with both toddlers and puppies it's just her I don't know if it has anything to do with her being top dog or not and maybe she finds them threatening :unsure:

 

[~Sarah~]

Thanks for the good advice all. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I think I had pretty much decided to keep Dolly separate when they visit so that my nerves don't get too frayed. :lol: It's good to have others advise the same.

 

[zilloot]

Two of mine are very nervous of small children - simply because they've never met any on a continuous basis. I just shut them away when my toddler nieces come to visit and it keeps everyone happy.

Zoomie loves children and they love him because he's a reasonable size for them. He can still knock my nieces over and that makes them whinge(! and they're growing up with two boisterous labx). He loves our neighbours kids but they're boys and a bit rough with him so I end up avoiding them if I can.. pity.