Getting Toddler to Play Nice with Dog

How old is your son? we have two large dogs and my 2 year old son gets over zealous, at times. We put him in time outs everything he grabs, hits, or drives them crazy. Whenever we take him from the time out, we call the dog over, have him/her sit next to him, and show him gentle touching. We tell him if he doesn't gentle touch, he will have a time out, and won't get to play with the dogs. It has worked very well.

I'm so glad you recognize that the best dogs can be driven to their limits. It's so true and so many dog bites result from children causing the dog to react.

I had this problem with my small pets and my toddlers but they quickly learned what was tolerated and what was not. They got timeouts...instantly, every time. I wouldn't let them touch a hot stove and I sure as heck was not going to sit by while they tormented my aging senior small pets!

You could try pet gates when you cannot supervise. Make sure the dog realizes she isn't being penalized. Again, any inappropriate behavior gets an instant time out and/or take away the toy.

Explain to your child why he can't do it. Tell him it hurts the dog. Show him if he hits a stuffed toy, it doesn't hurt...(just a thought) but it does hurt the doggy and we love the doggy and just like mommy doesn't hit you or you don't hit mommy, we also don't hit the dog. Tell him it makes the doggy sad and doggy deserves to be happy too.

My kids ended up being great with pets at a very young age. I will tell you that if one of my pets 'snapped' at my kid, well, I explained that is the pets way of telling him to stop; that pet doesn't like it.

Get those pet gates up too. Does pet like toys? Maybe involve son in supervised play time with pet too.

I'm glad to hear you want to stop it. A lot of parents ignore it and just think the kid should have the run of the house when it comes to the pet. Teaching them to care teaches them 'empathy' and understanding when an animal sad or happy.

Umm...I wouldn't suggest hitting him with the same objects with which he hits the dog, at the same force he uses to hit the dog...but that's just me. I don't hit my child.

Just keep telling him "gentle touches" "don't hurt the dog" etc. He's 18 months old--still pretty little, but he'll get it!

My dog will crowd around my legs or come to sit in my lap when he is harassed too much by the grand kids. I will hold and pet the dog and hold my grandkids hands. It calms the dog down and makes the kids treat him nicer. We tell the child to "pet Shadow soft" and it has started to work.

Good luck to you and yours.

I have this issue, my dog simply solves the problem by licking the child. She also drives them nuts. I have the kids on opposite sides of the car, and the dog will sit in the middle and randomly lick one of the children. Which always makes me laugh. Some dogs understand, I am constently telling the kids "soft touches" and they will pet her. I think she is more attached to the youngest as she feeds her food.

I would like to suggest that you will reach that limit really soon if you don't keep the two of them apart. Use baby gates or crates or whatever you need. This is a bite waiting to happen. Your son is too young to understand. You don't have time to wait this out.