What Age Is a Good Age for a Family to Adopt a Dog.

As a professional dog trainer (and a mom with two kids and a dog!), I would say that it can definitely work with a small child and a dog.

HOWEVER, you need to make sure that you choose a dog wisely, and are prepared for the constant reminders and watchfulness that are needed to teach a young child how to appropriately interact with a dog, and protect the dog from unintended injury/annoyance.

Only you can decide if you are ready for the added responsibility, but I would suggest calling a local trainer and discussing it with them (apdt.com trainer search is a good place to find one). Some trainers offer free or very inexpensive "matching services" where they go with you or help you to find an appropriate dog for your family. That is really the most important part of the equation, not the breed, or the age of your child. The dog itself needs to be right for you! Best of luck, and I hope you find what you are looking for :)

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We had a dog when both of our kids were born, he was a small sheltie that was about 20lbs. He was great with them. We just adopted a 70lbs Coonhound that we have to watch constantly around them for both his safety (toys), and theirs.

My niece is 3y and has no limits or fear with pets, which is not so good for the pets.

Since you don't currently have a pet, I think I would wait until your son was closer to 3y before making that commitment.
M.

1 mom found this helpful

Most rescues will not work with you until your kids are all 5 or older.

If you find one that will, make sure that it's standard practice for you visit the dog in it's current home & that they then bring it to YOUR for a visit before you ever say yes or no.

We adopted our dog when we just had one child, and I think he was 4 at the time. She has been great with all of the kids. But the first dog they selected for us couldn't calm down AT ALL during his visit to our home and we were so stressed out within that hour that we knew he wasn't "our dog."

Good luck!

We got our Sheltie when my daughter was just over a yr old. with a small dog you have to be very careful when you have a baby in the house they can be very rough and easily injure a small dog, they have small bones that can break easily.
You will have to separate them for a while until he learns that he can not play rough with a small dog.
Some places will not adopt a small dog or puppy out to a family with small children.

I've never been without an animal. I highly doubt I ever will be.

I had 2 dogs and a cat before I got pregnant and was told I should get rid of all of them before I had my daughter HA! My personal opinion, I think kids should be around animals at a young age. It teaches them love. I also think it helps w/ the allergy fact.

My daughter is 20 months old and even tho my dogs are older, they are still good around her. She gives them kisses and loves on them. However, she knows not to mess with them meanly.

We got ours when our son was three. Here are my pros/cons:

Pros:

-They are best of friends and like brothers
-The dog cannot live without my son and my son cannot live without the dog
-My son still takes an interest in the dog all of the time...he hasn't moved on to something else

Cons:

-It took quite a bit of time for my son to realize how he needed to be gentle
-My son still pounces on the dog daily (the dog loves it, but it freaks me out)
-My son has an interest in the dog, but cannot really help much with him, so that job is left to my husband and I

Honestly, I think it's just something you are going to have to decide on for your family personally. If I had to do it again, I don't know what I would do...I cannot imagine our family without our dog, but it may have been easier to wait. I hope this helps, and good luck!

It depends on your child and the pet you choose. My daughter at 2 is able to be gentle but my son was not very good at that. If I had not already had a cat I would have waited until my son was 3.5 or 4 at least. I was also bitten by a relative's dog when I was 3 even though I was not a loud or wild kid. I was very used to cats since we had them since I was a baby. I don't think I would trust a child under 4-5 unsupervised with a dog unless you had spent a lot of time teaching the child and training the dog first.

My understanding is that a child who grows with pets is more likely to be good to them and not abusive. I have also read that if a child is around dogs and cats from a young age he is much less likely to develop allergies.
We always had pets, and my daughter has always been good with our cats. I remember my brother was less than a year when we got our dog and they became best friends.
Personally, unless you're expecting your son to help with the dog (walking, feeding), I'd go for it. Just make sure it's a kid friendly breed.
S., mom to Téa, 19 months

Personally, this might not be popular with a lot of people, but I recommend age 5 at the minimum. Maybe even older depending on the maturity level of your child. Puppies need a lot more work than older dogs, since they need to be housetrained and supervised constantly. They often do a lot of jumping up and play-biting/mouthing, and that takes additional training to correct. Usually by age 5, most kids don't need constant supervision and attention so it makes taking care of the puppy easier. Also, at that age kids usually can be expected to have a better understanding of how to behave appropriately around a dog and the rules that need to be followed - no pulling ears, poking with sticks, taking toys away, getting in the dog's face while it's eating, running, screaming and chasing, etc. There are always exceptions - maybe a 3 year old would do okay with a calm, well-behaved, child-friendly adult dog - but in general I would wait until at least age 5.

In my experience people seem to think they need to get a puppy when the kid is 1 or 2 so they can "grow up together" but waiting until your child is 5 or 6, and getting a dog that might live as long as 15 years, will still allow that to happen.

Just for the record, I had my 2 dogs before I had my daughter. The dogs are now 8 and 13 (both pugs, a very family-friendly child-tolerant breed) and my DD is 3. She's always been good with them and seemed to understand from day 1 how to be gentle around them.

We have a one year old and a smallish dog. I make it work, but it is work! A toddler and dog should NEVER be left alone together. A toddler can not be expected to act appropriately with a dog w/o supervision and dogs do what dogs do if they are threatened (ie snap and potentially bite). This means separating them when you have to go to the bathroom, answer the door, get the phone in another room, get a drink etc which is a pain when they are both playing contently and you have to disrupt at least one of them.

Most toddlers play way too rough with animals and are too young to understand that they are living beings who feel pain. I would consider waiting til he is at least 5.

The other thing to consider is all dogs need a daily walk. When will you walk the dog and who will take care of your son when it is too cold and miserable for him to go outside, but the dog still needs to go out?

I love my dog, but it is a lot of extra work (if you want the dog to be behave properly) when you have a toddler.

If you don't think your son is mature enough for a dog yet....don't do it. Wait.
It really all depends on the dog and on the kid.
I've known situations where things worked fine and I've known situations where the pet had to be re-homed because the kid or kids were down right cruel since they didn't understand the animal was a living thing that could get hurt and perhaps hurt back.
Have you had your child around other pets? Have you taken him to a petting zoo for instance? Is he terrified of animals or does he show absolutely no fear and grab or tug at them?
Either end of that equation might not be good.
Waiting until he understands things a little better might be your best bet for everyone concerned.

Best wishes.

I have always had a dog and/or cat in our home. My daughter was a newborn and we had our pup and then kitten and we never had a problem with her, the problem we had was the dog was not learning how to go to the bathroom outside and destroyed everything he got a hold of. When our daughter was a year old we purchased a Bichon Frise pup, surprisingly she did really well and Prancer worked out to be a wonderful dog until he passed away. You may need to teach your son and the pup to get along but they will become like siblings. We have had a number of dogs over the years, I have even bred Samoyed dogs while pregnant with my son, Justin, and delivered the pups, one of which we kept; the pups were born on January 2nd and my son was born April 2nd and let me tell you mom and pup did not leave my son's side except when he went to school, etc. Currently we have a 10 year old German Shepherd and 2 year old Black Lab, our youngest son and our Lab are more like siblings than you can imagine and boy do they argue like brothers. LOL I say go for it, get your son that puppy and enjoy!!

I vote for waiting a little while longer. We are huge animal lovers too & have had our dog for 8 years - she predates all 3 of our kiddos. That being said, I have had to curb my "Ellie Mae" (Beverly Hillbillies) tendencies since I can't have more than 1 non potty trained being in my house for the sake of sanity!! No more animals (particularly puppies) for us until our youngest is older. Our 5 year old is now taking an active role in the care of our dog & really understands how to play with her. Our 3 year old can still be a little unaware of herself (as all 3 year olds are) & tends to get in the dogs face and such. The baby is still to small to even know we have a dog! If your son can understand the boundries needed & you get a kid friendly dog then it may work but I'd still wait at least a year. In the meantime get him around dogs as much as you can so he can begin to understand & have fun with them. Hope you find something that works for your family!

My son is 28 months and he is a nightmare with our pets. (I just asked for help with this) I spend most of my day ensuring my pets well-being. I talk to him and he understands and I try to set a great example but he still likes to play rough with them and does not understand. Luckily my pets are tolerant, for now, but I worry how they will react every time I can not get to them when he is interacting roughly.

I would say wait another year and re-evaluate his maturity level.

It does't matter the age of the child. It is your responsibility to care for the family pet. Two year old kids are not mature, by the way