Luna's tiniest buddy

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

It's been a while since I've been active here!

We have a very active (now 1.5 year old) toddler who absolutely LOVES her doggie.  A while back we had trouble with defensive behavior from Luna, but with consistent training they are now best buds.  This brings me to the trouble (and part of the reason they are best buds)!

 

Our little one has decided that she should share ALL food with Luna.  Dinnertime and snacks.  It's not good for Luna's waistline, our floors, poor mommy who has to make extra snacks because she gave half to Luna.. you get the idea.  Luna hasn't had any digestive issues (thankfully) from the sharing, but I've had to lower her daily kibble intake a little bit.

 

Here is evidence of Luna enjoying the fact that our little one has hands and can open containers.  She found a box of shreddies that I had been snacking on...each had a mouth full of shreddies before I discovered the shenanigans.

 

Gating Luna off outside the kitchen when we are eating dinner seems to help... but at snacktime she is too busy to sit and eat, she's usually carrying a bowl around while she plays.  These days she's pretty much always eating (growth spurts...), so I don't really want to separate Luna from the family anytime she is snacking.  Luna would spend half her day away from her family.  Little one is pretty good at telling Luna "NO!" if she doesn't want to share (and Luna is pretty good at not "stealing"), but if little one is in a sharing mood then I can't usually stop her in time.

Any suggestions?  Should I just let it go and let them enjoy their snack sharing? :p

[Adina P]

It will be a little hard at first, because it's a change.  But since you'll be offering her frequent regular eating opportunities, it's not really keeping her from eating as much as she needs and often enough.  You're just being strict about structure, not her actual eating. 

You'll have to find the right phrasing that she can understand but when she begs for food between eating times just respond with: "We'll have some food at snack time!" or "Dinner will be ready soon and we will eat then."

My opinion is that the only time to restrict a food or control the portion for a child is when there isn't enough or it is too expensive and there needs to be enough for everyone (etiquette).  Or if it's dessert served with a meal.  I always use the example of the $9 pint of raspberries out of season ;-)  It's nice to be able eat as much as you want and they are healthy, but it's not fair to everyone else if you hog the whole pint.

So scarcity aside, I would put out more than you think she'll eat so there will be some left over.  Then you know she got as much as she wanted/needed and she stops because she's responding to her stomach/hunger/fullness rather than because there wasn't enough.

Every 2 hours is not too far apart.  So even when she wants a snack, it may or may not be due to hunger.  She probably is NOT hungry 30 minutes later.  And if she has to feel hunger for one hour, it's really okay.  Hunger is not a wrong feeling and you're not making her go hours famished. You ARE providing.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My kids had some snacks sitting in the high chair, but other times I did let them have healthy snacks in a little paper cup.  We always had dogs roaming around and I know they got their share of these, and it never seemed to hurt them.  As long as it was something "healthy" and not happening constantly (Cheerios was the favorite) I don't think I'd worry.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Oh, the cheerios... Sometimes she "accidentally" (I'm not sure it's an accident...) dumps her bowl on the floor and a certain orange "vacuum" comes.  Sigh. 

I think I will have her snack more in the high chair which should alleviate some of the problems.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's another thought. At some point I'd guess your DD is going to enjoy having grapes and/or raisins for snacks, and certainly those are very healthy beneficial snacks for kids. If this habit of snacking while playing and sharing all food with Luna continues, along with Luna's expectations that she gets part of any snack the baby is eating, that could be a big problem. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I don't let her "snack on the run" with anything that could be toxic to Luna, definitely a recipe for disaster.  

I'm hoping she will be able to understand soon when I ask her to not share with Luna - her receptive language is getting better quickly.  I may just need to be really vigilant and consistent with catching her trying to share and maybe it will sink in.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thanks for checking in, cute photos!

[Kris and Sawyer]

They are both adorable! No advice here... I have a husband, 16 yr old, 15 yr old and 12 yr old and they are all equally guilty of "sharing". My husband is the worst. I cut back on kibble. And Sawyer has a stomach of steel, thank goodness.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

The only suggestion I can think of is not letting your toddler (who is adorable by the way) walk around with her snacks, but limit eating times to her high chair in the kitchen.

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

No suggestions here but they are both adorable!  Glad they're such good buddies! :)

[Terrlyn]

How did you overcome the defensive behaviour with Luna?

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We did systematic desensitization training in stages:  (Any stage was put on hold if Luna showed signs of distress - looking away, lip licking or warning growls)  As soon as Luna demonstrated she was fully comfortable with each stage we moved onto the next.

1. Dog and baby are not allowed to touch.  Dog may approach baby, but baby may not reach out to touch dog.  Dog gets a treat if she willingly approaches baby and shows interest.

2. Take control of baby's hand to touch dog's flank lightly (showing gentle petting technique), praise dog and offer treats every time baby touches. 

3. Allow baby and dog to interact (supervised) - but only when dog is standing, not sitting or lying down (it's more threatening).  Only allow dog to approach baby, not the other way around.  Give dog treat every time she approaches baby.

4.  (This is our situation now) - Allow baby and dog to interact, baby is allowed to approach dog but baby is removed if she gets too rough (smacking instead of petting nicely) or dog is getting annoyed.

They are pretty darn cute together now - little one kisses Luna on the nose... Luna likes to follow baby around as she plays and play "tag" with her.

[Terrlyn]

Thanks for the reply! Good to know some tips in advance before I start having children. I always worry about how the dynamic between them will be.