Puppy Training With Kids

[Dawn and Molly]

Our loveable double doodle, Molly, is 9 weeks old.  We have been going through a lot of the normal puppy things with her.  We have noticed that there is definitely a "family order" going on.  My youngest (our 6 year old) is having some problems.  We are trying to teach her to stand like a tree, be firm with her "no bite" command, and also be consistent with the same things we are doing.  She is trying, but Molly seems to think she is her litter mate :)  I understand that we need to have patience, consistency, and keep up the training (for our daughter and Molly).  I wanted to know if anyone has read any books, articles, or seen any videos that they found helpful?  We are going to put Molly in a group training class after she has had her shots, but looking for some insights now.  My daughter broke my heart tonight when she said, "I am just not good with puppies."  She is an animal lover and is starting to become a little afraid of the nipping (which is probably adding to the problem).  

[Dawn and Molly]

This picture is so cute!  Congratulations on your new puppy.  I imagine it is kind of like how you feel after you "forget" the hard work of the terrible two's with kids, and you are ready for the next one. :) I also wanted to let you know that I had my daughter come in and try what you said (totally ignoring her).  It was tough for her to do, but it seemed to work.  Five minutes later she was petting her calmly without any extra excited nipping.  I will make sure I check out the Doggy Dan videos for sure.  

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

That's terrific! The hard part is keeping it up! We have really tried to implement that rule with our whole family where no one gives Rooney any attention when we first interact with him after being apart but it's hard to do sometimes! It's easy to forget when they are being so cute! But I really believe it's a good practice because it also helps prevent separation anxiety or other problems dogs can develop when they think they are the center of the universe.

Doggy Dan's Five Golden Rules can be tough to implement because they sometimes go against what we want to do with our cute pups, but in the end they really help and I believe make for a happier dog. He does a good job of helping you see that a dog does not want to feel like they have to be in charge all the time and that they are actually happier and more relaxed when you put boundaries in place that let them know the people are the ones in charge and they can just chill! 

It's always a work in progress!! Rooney is far from perfect but he's a wonderful family dog!

[dal]

Hi again!  Oh my gosh, I could have written this post last year.  I think if you search, you will find my frantic posts about how to get Cooper to behave better around my 6 year old (at the time).  So I have three kids who were 6, 10 and 11 when we got Cooper.  I had to get a trainer to come to help me learn how to get Cooper and my 6 year old to be able to be in the same room together.  My son was scared of the dog because the dog would jump on him constantly, paw and nip at his glasses etc.  It was the jumping that I needed to stop.  Is that the issue in your house too?  So here is what we did - if my son was in the room, the dog was either on a leash with me or was in his playpen or crate.  When I was training Cooper, I would have my son walk up to him and I would immediately say sit then I would treat Cooper if he sat.  I never let him jump on my son when I was holding the leash.  It was just constant "sit" treat, "sit" treat.  Then one day, out of the blue, he did it on his own.  Sat and looked at me before I could give him the command.  He never jumped on him again.  It was honestly weird how it clicked one day but it did after constant practicing.  It took 2-3 months.

It broke my heart too that my son was so excited for the dog and then felt afraid and didn't get to enjoy him much in the beginning.  But now, they are seriously best friends.  My son takes naps on Cooper and Cooper can't get closer to my son when they are in the car etc...

Good luck and let me know if you want more info on how I trained them both to behave appropriately around eachother.

[Dawn and Molly]

Thanks so much for your reply.  I decided to watch some of the Doggy Dan videos and he has had some great insight too.  I appreciate everyone's advice.  I also just feel better that others went through some of these things in the beginning and it all turns out great.  I am so glad that Cooper and your son are best friends!!!

[Jana - Lilly's owner!]

I want to learn how to get my child to take naps!  Can you help with that, too?  ;)  Thanks for the great advice - our puppy comes to us this Friday and it's supposed to be my 7yo daughter's.  Good to know what to expect.