Dog Community

Who here has kids?

Posted : 3/28/2007 1:48:10 PM

If you do, I have a few questions for you!

1) How do you keep your dog from sharing his/her bones with the baby? I have Tojo trained to leave Isaac's toys alone, but Isaac isn't trained to leave Tojo's toys alone and Tojo let's Isaac steal the bones right out of his mouth! I seriously doubt raw bones are as good for babies as they are for dogs.

2) How do you keep the kid from playing in the dog's water dish? As it is, Isaac has a penned off play area in the living room where he spends all of his free time, but I don't imagine this will work forever as he won't be as easily contained in the future.

Unforunately, babies aren't trainable like dogs are (yes, even my shiba inu is more trainable than my son!). Any other tips not pertaining to my questions would be great, too.

WynterandJody

Posted : 3/28/2007 1:52:07 PM

I dont have kids of my own, however I babysit my one year old Niece three times a week. When she comes over I put all of my puppy's toys on her bed when my neice even starts getting close I tell her no... she keeps going of course but after a couple times of picking her up and saying no! She gets it... she tests my boundaries just as much as my Corgi does.

Melissa Mendoza

Posted : 3/28/2007 2:06:55 PM

I have 2 kids ages 4 years and 20 months old. I don't have to worry about my 4 year old with the water dishes or the toys because she leaves them alone. My 20 month old though is another story, If she she's the food/water dishes she goes and transfers all the food into the water and then steps in the water dish, so now I feed the dogs outside or in a seperate room with a baby gate up so my daughter can't get into it. With the toys, we are still working on that, I have the kids door closed so the dogs can't get in there and take there toys but my youngest still takes toys away from the dogs sometimes, its an ongoing battle/ Thankfully my dogs are VERY good with the kids and don't mind sharing there toys with the kids, lol.

jeano

Posted : 3/28/2007 2:08:53 PM

My son is all grown up....but I just came by to say HI! I haven't seen you post for a while and I've always loved Tojo! [

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jenhuedepohl

Posted : 3/28/2007 2:18:17 PM

I'm better at training dogs than babies, too! We gave up on bones when babies were around. The dogs only got them when babies were in bed or away from home. We've never had a problem with food because our dogs only get fed twice a day and eat their food in seconds.

Water - well, good luck on that. I kept a bucket outside for when they went potty and one downstairs in the basement where they ate. The basement stairs were already babygated to prevent falls so it made a good area for the off-limits stuff. That limited the dog's access to water to times that I was downstairs, but it didn't seem to be a big issue. Between potty breaks and trips to the basement laundry room, nobody ever went thirsty.

Michelle

Posted : 3/28/2007 2:58:08 PM

With Tookey, he only gets a bone when he's separated from everybody because he gets aggressive, so that's not an issue. Gracie doesn't mind sharing, so I have to tell the 2 year old that she needs to leave Gracie's toys alone, just like I have to tell Gracie to not eat the kids toys! As for the water . . . I've given up on that one. Some days that's the only way my kitchen floor is clean is because the toddler is playing in it! At least she doesn't try and drink out of it like her older sister did when she was 2!

Jennifer Goble

Posted : 3/28/2007 7:24:26 PM

I have no idea on the water either. Its a constant battle between putting the water dish on the deck, gating off the kitchen and forgetting and finding the toddler splashing in the bowl. I make sure the toddler is gated out of the kitchen when feeding, just to be safe and not risk food aggression.

Daisy doesnt play with any of her toys, so the toddler bringing the dog her toys is cute, but ineffective. Ocassionally the dog tries to chew on one of the toddler's toys but a quick NO from me and she stops.

But i cant wait to be able to leave the dogs water bowl in the kitchen with no gate.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 3/28/2007 7:42:48 PM

I don't have kids, but I have multiple dogs[

] I feed bones in crates. Nobody steals a bone, from anybody. Alternatively, you could feed bones outside, if you have a fenced yard, or behind a baby gate or closed door.