06/12/2021
Well said. Children need to be trained how to treat an animal. Otherwise any animal can snap.
In rescue it feels like we’re always looking for the right things to say to applicants with young children, or applicants with children that haven’t had any dog experience. Dobies and Little Paws Rescue in California hit the nail on the head with this informational post about the importance of boundaries. We get a variety of Dobermans coming in, whether they be owner surrenders or from local shelters. Sometimes we know zero history about a dog and sometimes we do. We do our best to understand each dog prior to placing them in a home and we will always act on the side of caution when assessing a dog and what environment their forever home should be.
Dobies and Little Paws Rescue:
“Are they good with kids? Another common question we get. We might sound like a broken record but the answer is “it depends”. Again, most of the dogs we take in are from shelters with absolutely no history. We don’t know if they have lived with kids and we don’t have kids at the rescue to introduce to every dog. Generally, we start by eliminating dogs that have bite histories or who are far too physically overwhelming. Otherwise, whether a dog can be good with kids or not often depends on boundaries, training and the environment. Most cases where dogs have failed with kids (in our experience) involved an invasion of boundaries. A new dog is sleeping, resting, eating, chewing on a bone and a child approaches. The dog growls, snaps or bites and it’s over. We’ve had some dogs nip kids because they fell on them when asleep or the adults let the child ride the dog like a pony...yup, that irresponsible act actually happened. Does it make those dogs bad with kids? Not necessarily, but boundaries were crossed and most of the time crossed way too soon. When it comes to dogs and children it is absolutely important to create a home environment that sets them both up for success and if you don’t know how then please consult a trainer. Dog trainers are not just there to help your dog but to help you create the mental and physical space to make everyone feel comfortable. It’s unfair to ever expect a dog to “put up with” anything a child may unknowingly do. There are always exceptions to the rule and we get pictures proving that but please be safe. We do try and label dogs for “adult only” homes or recommend “no small kids” if we ever have concerns.”
*Featuring our little friends Nolan doing obedience training and Vienna doing agility with their resident dog Fawkes*
📸: Alanna Westfall
