How many times have you heard on the news after a bite incident that the dog never had done anything before, that he was very sweet and gentle with the kids? Or something from that nature. It may be great for years; it only takes one fraction of a second to get ugly! Was it the dog, the kid or something else that provoced the incident; i don't care. The but that doesn't change the fact that that incident is very sad.


Johan

Ben just loves children, and whereas he can be rather rough with us adults, he's very, very gentle with the kiddies...

Kids and dogs are a fantastic combination under supervision.

It's always sad when a child is bitten by a dog...sad for both parties, but how many of these incidents are due to lack of care by the dog's owner or child's parents, keeping dogs and children apart is not the answer, it would only lead to more children with a terrible fear of dogs. Owners and parents need to learn to be responsible and children need to learn how to behave when they are around dogs and this won't happen if dogs and children are kept apart.

As a trainer I love getting kids involved with training the dogs,

I most often use clicker training with kids to begin with as its a very hands off approach,

Im sure susan will know this little darling {who handles sibes}

we met up at a fun show and having just met my rottie that day she asked if she could enter her in the KCGS, they did so well together and got the award with no problem what so ever.

It's wee Kayleigh, a wee gem of a girl and what a brilliant handler. It was great to see her win the CC at midland counties last year, she really puts us oldies to shame with her handling skills...she does really well working the dogs in harness too.

Truely a natural doggy person.

yup, I thought you would know her well,

shes one very talented young lady,

This was back in 97 when holly was but a pup, think she was 11ish months old, holly hand not been trained for the GC as such,

kayleigh just wanted to have a go with her, she flew it, bless her,

I didnt know she took the CC at midland counties, Im so pleased for her, this young lass will go far in the dog world,

here is her doing some healwork with holly. kayleigh's a wee natural at obed as well,

Yes, of course it's very sad when things go wrong but I have just started letting my son walk home from school on his own and frankly he is much more likely to be involved in an accident crossing a road than he is to be hurt by one of our dogs. So should I never let him out on his own? Will I still walk him to school when he's 18? What will he learn from that?

A while ago there was a thread on here about someone who was bitten by her dog when it had a bad dream. What are the odds of that happening? So I thought about it and decided it was worth the infinitesimal risk and I would still allow my dogs to sleep on my bed.

We take risks and make judgments everyday, so I completely disagree with your sweeping statement that kids and dogs don't mix.

To get back to the OP (finally ) Pepper taught my kids to have a healthy respect for dogs! She was a very excitable, nippy puppy so they quickly learned how they needed to behave around her to keep her calm.

Just today when we were walking the dogs my 6 year old said she would like to have a dog day so her friends could come and learn about dogs, how to treat them and not be nervous of them. A lesson she would never have learned herself if it wasn't for the dogs we share our home with.

J

Hi Lauren It is lovely to see dogs and children together but as small children don't always understand the importance of respecting a dog space I think as good owners we have a duty to protect our dogs from over enthusiastic children .

There is a lovely article here on just this subject by one of our members ..

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=10261

When I arrived home from hospital with my son, my then dog Bunny aged 15 was very excited by the new arrival, she licked him whenever she got the chance and decided it was her duty to watch over him so she lay under his crib whenever possible and vetted anyone who came near

Hi as previously mentioned children have to be taught how to treat animals with respect, i think having animals is good for children but i would never trust any dog 100% and would not leave children unsupervised with any dog including my own.

i think children and dogs can be great together, but i would never leave a dog on their own with a child. when i had sam i would bet my life that he would never have hurt my nephew but i still wouldn't have taken the risk leaving them alone together. thats just sensible though, i dont think anyone should leave any dog alone with a child, more through not being able to trust the child to be gentle with the dog though. i do think some dogs have a sense to be more gentle with children though. im glad jake is getting to grow up around children so he will maybe get to tolerate them lol and that my nieces and nephew get to grow up with him so they can learn about dogs and learn how to care for them and respect them.

lauren