My puppy and my friends child.....

[RR_lover22]

No Problem I hope it works!

[BullyLover]

Thanks again Mojo...that is pretty much the same situation I am going through. I am going to give it one more try....talk with my friends and their girl try RRs suggestion and hopefuly it will work out...if not I wont be bringing Stoli back over there until late March or April.

Good looking dog you have there mojo...does he always have his tounge out? lol Yours too RR....beautiful...looks like a champion!

[PFC1]

Just my two cents, but I think it is okay for the child to play with the puppy, supervised.

Absolutely do not let the child do anything that will actually hurt the puppy. I think everyone agrees with that. If the child will not respond to simple commands at all, then that would not be a child I would trust to not hurt the dog. As far as doing things that annoy the puppy, such has handling the puppy's face, I would be a little more tolerant, as discussed below.

Puppies generally have pretty good tolerance for play. As part of the socialization process, it can be very beneficial to handle all parts of a dog when they are young so that they will not be too upset by it when they get older, and have to endure uncomfortable or unusualy treatment by the vet or the groomer. For this reason, I purposely handled my dog's feet (which initially he didn't like at all) and put my hands in his mouth to check his teeth and run my fingers along the gum line. I held his muzzle shut for short periods of time (not forcefully, of course). I have also read places suggesting you should also handle the dog's genitals, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. All of these things are things that he was likely to encounter by the vet and a groomer when he got older.

I would first do all of these things frequently yourself to help socialize the dog and get it used to such handling. I would also closely supervise the child's play. I would say you should instruct the child not to do these things. Hopefully, the child will respond, at least for the most part. If the child does not obey one hundred percent of the time, but is pretty good, I would not get too concerned, assuming your puppy seems to be tolerating the contact okay. You should be able to tell if your puppy is enjoying itself.

All this being said, at eight weeks, your pup may be a bit too young for handling by the child other than letting her pet the pup gently while you hold it. When it gets to be closer to 12 weeks, a little more interaction might be in order.

[casablanca1]

Originally Posted by BullyLover

My puppy is an American Bulldog, Stoli, and she is 8 weeks old. I just got her over the weekend. The past couple nights I have brought her over to my friends home for TV night....we have gotten together for a couple years now to watch 24, and American Idiots....er....Idol. Anyway thier daughter, who is 4, goes absolutly balistic over the puppy. My question is....is Stoli to young to be around the 4 year old? The child pokes her, of course we tell her not to but she doesn't listen to her parents very well....and of course she is only 4....she also grabs her paws and manipulates them....puts her feet and hands in her face and taunts her...and basicaly just torments her.....My friend thinks it is good for her so she can get used to it....What do you "PROS" think? Thanks

I'm not a pro, but the situation described doesn't sound sensible. Maybe exposing the puppy to a child is a good idea, but not while the adults are distracted by television.

[PFC1]

Originally Posted by casablanca1

I'm not a pro, but the situation described doesn't sound sensible. Maybe exposing the puppy to a child is a good idea, but not while the adults are distracted by television.

Agreed.

[mojozen]

Originally Posted by BullyLover

Thanks again Mojo...that is pretty much the same situation I am going through. I am going to give it one more try....talk with my friends and their girl try RRs suggestion and hopefuly it will work out...if not I wont be bringing Stoli back over there until late March or April.

Good looking dog you have there mojo...does he always have his tounge out? lol Yours too RR....beautiful...looks like a champion!

Ah thank you! Mojo is my dork boy... Usually he's hard to get pictures of, if i bring the camera out in teh apartment he turns his head the other way. I have to do crazy things to get his attention like stick stuffed animals on my head, or sneak up on him, or balance a treat on my camera. If he has his tongue out he's generally in the middle of play.

I dont have nearly as many recent photos of him... but i am thinking of doing a post of my 4 favorite pics of mojo if anyone would be interested in seeing him.

Thank you once again for the compliments!!

[BullyLover]

PFC1: Thank you for your insight. I am going start doing the handling tonight. My other American Bull and her got along so well I want to do everything possible to ensure that she has the same relationship with Stoli.

Casablanca: Thank you too for your input..I also completely agree..The child is only 4 so she doesn't watch 24 with us....and I don't watch a whole lot of American Idol....And with Stoli being so young I don't take my eyes of her for a second.

Mojo: I would love to see some pics.

[mojozen]

Originally Posted by BullyLover

Mojo: I would love to see some pics.

If you'd like to see the pics i posted you can look here.

[juliefurry]

I don't see manipulating the paws and feet as bad, unless she's forcing them in a way that they shouldn't be going. I did that with my dog's paws and I also played with their ears too when they were puppies to get used them used to the vets doing it. Although if she is doing so in a manner that could hurt the puppy's foot or ear than yeah I would definetely not let her do that. I would take matters into your own hands, if the girl gets rough then I would just go and say "you need to be gentle with Stoli, here lets try doing this instead" if it gets worse then remove the puppy from the situation and hold your puppy for a few minutes so the little girl realizes if she is rough with the puppy than it gets taken away. I have to say my stepson is HORRIBLE with dogs he just turned 6 and he hits and pulls on them to the point where I need to have the dogs with me constantly. He's used to little dogs and he doesn't understand that if my dog (who is A LOT bigger than the dog he is used to tormenting) decides to bite it'll be a lot worse than he thinks. I have been saying no if he is mean to her and then redirecting him to an ok activity to do with her (petting, playing fetch, or brushing) and if that doesn't work than the dog goes into another room for a few minutes and me and him discuss what he has done to make the dog go away. You could try doing something like redirecting the girl to a more appropriate activity though first and that may do the trick.

[BullyLover]

Thanks for your first hand input Julie.....I am not really worried that she is hurting Stoli (well...okay kinda worried...lol)...it's that Stoli is trying to bite her when she is doing it...and that is what worries me....I don't want Stoli to think it's okay to do that. We need to have a serious talk with the child. I guess from what you have said about the problem with your son, who is two years older than this girl I need to take care of this right away so it doesn't continue and turn into a very very bad situation.