Toddler & Pup issues....any suggestions?

One thing I never EVER do is allow my kids to think that going near a dogs food or wter source is okay. Put the bowl in a crate or inside another room...do NOT let your baby get into that habit. I would say MOST bites are by a family dog in the home, and over some resource be it food or toys or such. PLEASE do not allow this. My kids learned this as 18 month olds from being told no...being picked up and removed...and distracted with something else to do. Yes I had to do this it seemed hundreds of times per day...but my 5 y/o can now TELL you why you never approach a dog while it is eating, ever. The 3y/o still needs to be reminded...he will also learn this tho.
 
Your dog may never have a problem...but as they get older dogs can change, and do you really want that on your hands?
 
Put the bowl in a crate or in another room or gate off the room you have it in.

I will ask for back up on this but I do think BC's/Herding dogs can have issues with resource guarding as well if not trained otherwise, due to their herding heritage...perhaps spiritdogs, dogslyfe, or one of the other BC knowledgeable folks can help out with that. I saw in your sig the dog is partly BC...

Thank you for the info and yes i totally understand how important this is...would never want my baby girl hurt

We had a veritable MAZE of baby gates up at our house during those days! LOL....I think we kept the gate people in business. They really do work tho...better for kids than dogs I notice as many dogs on the forum have figured out how to outwit them haha!

Bump...didn't want this important subject to get missed [] 
Anyone else have other ideas to add as far as logistics for the bowl?

I wholeheartedly agree with Gina. I have 4 sons ages 8-2 years, and 2 dogs. I actually do not let the dogs free feed. I feed them in the mornings in the laundry room with the door closed or outside since they prefer that in the mornings. Since you have a puppy I recommend feeding her 2x-3x a day in a separate room with the door closed. As for the water dish, I think that teaching Sara to leave it alone is the best thing to do.

I also recommend puppy classes. The trainer should be able to give you advice on how to teach Tink not to become a resource guarder. I think that for your family that would be second best thing to do. Since Tink is so young and is willing to learn the rules of the house, this is a great thing to do now. It will help if she ever gets something that she should not have.

I understand that constantly keeping an eye on Sara to teach her to stay away from the dog toys and dog dishes is tough in the beginning, but it is the best thing for her safety. Better to prevent than have something else happen.

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

We had a veritable MAZE of baby gates up at our house during those days! LOL....I think we kept the gate people in business. They really do work tho...better for kids than dogs I notice as many dogs on the forum have figured out how to outwit them haha!

Oh Gina my mother would have had a fit over that. We had a baby gate to the kitchen and a gate on hinges to Shannara's food area in our old apartment. My mother couldn't wait for those to come down. With a toddler and a crawler the gates were necessary.

--Sara

We have two different issues with the dogs and food and the kids. The older terrier is food aggressive and the kids are taught to stay away from him, in fact he's often fed in his crate, but with Gracie, she never showed any issues and from the start we have hand fed her, all of us, including the 20-month-old, so she knows NEVER to be aggressive with humans and food. She's not that food oriented, so she could care less. Reasoning is: you can't watch everybody all the time, and having a dog that IS used to people petting her when she eats, or eating out of your hand, she's much less likely to get aggressive if the kids happen to reach in while she's eating. I still reach into her bowl while she's eating, she just thinks I'm adding more stuff. But again, we have two different sets of rules because we have two very different dogs, so the kids learn that dogs they don't know, they have to treat "as if" they're like our terrier. As for the water, it seems to go in cycles, one week I can't keep the baby out of it, the next three she doesn't pay any attention to it at all! I just tell her we don't play in the water and move her away from it, but rarely do I put the water up because I tend to forget I've put it up.                                                       

ORIGINAL: saveastray2day

We have two different issues with the dogs and food and the kids. The older terrier is food aggressive and the kids are taught to stay away from him, in fact he's often fed in his crate, but with Gracie, she never showed any issues and from the start we have hand fed her, all of us, including the 20-month-old, so she knows NEVER to be aggressive with humans and food. She's not that food oriented, so she could care less. Reasoning is: you can't watch everybody all the time, and having a dog that IS used to people petting her when she eats, or eating out of your hand, she's much less likely to get aggressive if the kids happen to reach in while she's eating. I still reach into her bowl while she's eating, she just thinks I'm adding more stuff. But again, we have two different sets of rules because we have two very different dogs, so the kids learn that dogs they don't know, they have to treat "as if" they're like our terrier. As for the water, it seems to go in cycles, one week I can't keep the baby out of it, the next three she doesn't pay any attention to it at all! I just tell her we don't play in the water and move her away from it, but rarely do I put the water up because I tend to forget I've put it up.                                                       

We have that same diversity here. Shannara is a food guarder and Bubbles is fine with everything. We taught Shaun to allow us to take away toys and such. We forgot about the food though. Anyway, we kept the rules the same for each dog. They get fed somewhere else and nobody bothers them while they eat. We had to teach to stay away from water bowls because we have cats too. So, we taught our kids to stay away from their dishes and litter boxes.

I think for safety, that the kids need to be taught the same rules especially since in OP case, Sara is so young.

--Sara

Thought of something else...be a bit of work tho lol!
Do you have a room, say a mudroom/laundry room...where you could put the bowl in then close the door and maybe either do a dog door into the room, or a "hook and string" rig where it opens JUST enough for the dog?

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

Thought of something else...be a bit of work tho lol!
Do you have a room, say a mudroom/laundry room...where you could put the bowl in then close the door and maybe either do a dog door into the room, or a "hook and string" rig where it opens JUST enough for the dog?

We did this for our first cat. We used a hook and eye lock and a spring.

--Sara

Once we took the gates down...I think it took a SOLID WEEK for me to stop raising my leg WAAAAY up at the doorways lol!

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

Once we took the gates down...I think it took a SOLID WEEK for me to stop raising my leg WAAAAY up at the doorways lol!

ROFL!! Me too!! I am only 4'11, so my mother wouldn't even watch me climb over them whenever she visited. She kept envisioning me falling over and breaking my neck on the tile floor. We had them up for over 4 years before they finally got taken down. I have to admit that I was happy to see them go as well.

--Sara

Wow, just the thread I need. My little one is *trying* to crawl, so it won't be long! Better stock up on baby gates!