Help needed

[cutiekez2220]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

hi all i need some help,

basically i want a dog to come and join our family tomorrow i will be going to meet a whippet x staffie. I have looked online for info but there isnt much the dog is a bitch and she is 15 months old and the problem i have is whether or not she will be good for us as whether or not we will be good for her firstly i have three children under 7 and wondered if anyone who has this type of dog has children the owner has children and says they are great with kids i do plan on taking my children with me but am unsure of how the dog will be when she comes home with me and also are they an easy dog to train help will be much appreciated thankyou

 

[Parly]

Honestly - not a good idea at all.

Not sure what the urgency is or why you want a dog to join you right at this particular time but with three children under 7 and no knowledge of the dog you're considering taking in or of its background or how to train it and correct any problems, it would be safer, better and the most sensible thing for everyone if you gave this one a miss.

 

[eingana]

Hi cutiekez

I home check for a number of rescues and if I'm checking a home with adult occupants only then my first priority is the dog. Will it be safe, looked after, trained, disciplined, exercised, socialised adequately?

However, as soon as there are children in the mix, the dog is not my first priority. The most vulnerable part of the whole interaction is the child(ren) and therefore they become the priority.

You don't say whether you are dog experienced or whether your children have much in the way of first hand experience around dogs, nor how old your little ones are. My big question that comes from this, is:

'How would your children deal with being knocked off their feet repeatedly by the dog?'

A happy and healthy dog, even one with well trained manners, will knock children over on a regular basis. My dog Molly (she's the one over there<<<) adores children and is inordinately careful around them, but her tail when she's happy would knock over a toddler, and neither whippets nor staffies are known for being calm when they're only big puppies. Staffies are great at taking adults' legs out from underneath them if they're playing and not paying attention.

If your children aren't the sort of children who take all the knocks happily and with good spirit, picking themselves up even after banging into things on the way down, then as far as I'm concerned that's a big no straight away.

You can have a happy dog and normally happy children in a house together all learning manners and how to behave towards each other, with lots of rules followed about never leaving dogs and children together and all that jazz, but if the children become afraid of a normal dog behaviour (like running around the house) then it just won't work.

My very best advice to people who have children is to wait. Wait until all of your children are of an age to be able to follow your house rules on how to be around the dog. Most children can start to follow this from about 7 or 8, and at this age they're a lot harder to knock over both in weight and balance and are more aware of their surroundings so can remove themselves from the path of a running dog, for instance. The ability to follow house rules is important in heading off behavioural problems, when to leave the dog alone, when not to pick dropped food up or take the dog's toys- these things all minimise the chances of the dog harming a child.

I don't think that you are even specifically looking for a dog that's good with children- first of all you need your children to be good with the dog and you need to have a house layout and rules which you can robustly apply to make sure that the dog never gets the opportunity to NOT be good with the children because the first time you find out the hard way that a dog has a temper is one time too many as far as I'm concerned.

I trust my dog completely around children. That doesn't mean that I would ever leave her alone with them though, and my current house is unsuitable layout if I had a child here full time to keep dog and child separated when my back is turned. If I went upstairs I'd have to take either dog or child with me every single time, because there's no way to separate them other than that. My house has nowhere that the dog could call her own and where she could escape when she's tired of being petted in order to chill away from the children (and this is a key coping strategy for the dog BTW- it's not optional). Does yours?

Is there a reason why it has to be now? Why not in a couple of years?