on the subject of kids and bites

[daisy]

After reading the article posted about preventing children from getting bitten I have some concerns.
Our puppy is 6 months old-a lab/pyr mix. Our sons are 3 and 5.
The 3 yr.old has some learning to do still about how to treat a puppy nicely. I never leave them alone (well except maybe to go to the bathroom, but that site said not to even do that).
So the other day we were all out back. The 3 yr. old ran towards Toby (the pup) and raised his hand to him, but did not hit him. Then he stood staring at Toby and took off running and making a growling type noise. Toby chased him, then jumped up nipping his ear and simultaneously knocking him to the ground. My hubby just said-well he asked for it-meaning our son.
But after reading that article I wonder if I should be really worried about this. It's not the first time he has been knocked down by the dog or nipped at hard enough to leave a scratch. It had gotten better, but now seems to be escalating again.
I am worried that something worse could happen, but don't know what to do. I am having a very difficult time in general making my 3 yr. old listen. He is just being very stubborn and willful. No amount of punishment seems to matter, and I am now afraid he is just going to make the dog mean. I am worried we made a bad choice by getting a dog at all. 
Does anyone have any advice? Is puppy biting indicative of future problems?

[doggylover]

From a puppy's/dog's perspective what your son did was a direct threat.  I don't think you necessarily made a mistake getting the puppy, but it does mean you are going to have to be really vigilant in your monitoring of their interactions.  You will have to be all over your 3 year old and your puppy, both, so they can both learn how to behave.  I certainly don't envy your position.  You have a LOT on your plate. 

[Kiahpyr]

Kitana is 7 months old and is a very mouthy puppy. I have to be very careful when she is playing and/or chases my daughter cause she will grab her with her mouth. My daughter is almost three. I think it is a puppy thing and not necessarily a picture of things to come. Pyrs are very stubborn too. I would keep them separated when outside together. When you see something starting up between them to jump in and stop it right away.   

[PennyK]

My son is 5 and Teddy constantly tries to stand on him to show his dominance, whenever Zane is playing on the floor, Teddy goes over, pushes him over and stands on him.  He doesn't bite, but this behaviour still has me worried.

Zane has got a few nips - but just when he's getting Teddy riled up.  Most of the time Teddy is pretty good, but he's getting to be a big fella...

[NoDogNow]

Well...I think the only dog I ever had as a kid that DIDN'T bite me at some point was Nicki! (Of course, we had yappy chia-rat-terrier dogs that are bitey anyway, not big sweeties. Mom was not a fan of big paws when her kids were little.)

Was it a deliberate CHOMP on the ear, or was he playing/snapping at your son, and the ear got in the way, do you think?  If you corrected your pup when it happened, and stay vigilant, I think you can correct this in your puppy. 

But you're going to have to restrict the 3 year old.  He needs to learn that playing with the dog is absolutely a privelege for HIM, and if he can't obey the rules, he can't play.  You'll have to send him in the house or find a time out space he can't escape from.  Julie used to put a short chain around the porch post, and when one of her kids misbehaved outside, she'd put the kid in time out on the porch step, and chain their overalls to the post so they couldn't move.  That way, other people could continue to have fun and play outside together, but the small miscreant had to just watch and suffer until their time up was out.

Shouldn't your 3 year old be on a NILIF plan?  

[brandon]

Seems like a fun way to educate your children on how to behave properly around dogs.  If they were cheaper I would buy a bunch of them and hand them out.


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[daisy]

Thanks for the replies.
He definitely has never seemed agressive around the kids, just playful puppy biting, but he doesn't do it to the adults anymore-he did a little at first. I guess I am just getting paranoid and second guessing my decisions.

And yeah, the 3 yr. old really needs a little NILIF!

Oh and today Toby decided to start humping the kids!!! I have no idea where that came from, but it was ironic as I was reading the "humping" thread in the Golden Retriever forum last night. What's worse is my 5 yr. old thought it was hilarious and backed himself up to Toby to see if he would do it again!!    When I told him Toby is NOT allowed to do that to them, he wanted to know why and what was Toby doing? 

It can be really hard to watch all 3 of them every second they are together.

[Yaz]

Well, we have a four year old boy, two year old girl, 17 month old boy and an eight month old, 125 pound Saint Bernard, so I can completely understand your concern with your kids and puppy. In the past four years I have raised and fostered four puppies, with no dog bites occuring to the kids, so I can share with you how we raise our pups, using Gershwin our current Saint as an example:

- Gershwin is not allowed on the bed or couch. Period. Nothing that elevates his position in our home so he is higher than the kids.

- From eight weeks of age, Gersh was corrected if he mouthed a human. Some people feel that a puppy should learn how to mouth a human gently, but I strongly feel that the rule should be no mouth on human skin, EVER. It took some time, but by seven months, he stopped attempting to mouth my four year old son  when they would be running outside together.

- The  children will give Gershwin basic commands  "sit, down ", and when he obeys them they give him a treat. It is quite funny to hear my 17 month old saying  "dooowwnn " to Gershwin in the exact same no nonsense tone that I use.

- When we are all outside playing, that is when Gerhswin had the hardest time controlling his urge to run and knock over my four year old (who is a very high energy boy), but when he did that, we put him in a puppy time out, by leashing him and making him  "settle " for 10 minutes while the kids ran around. As soon as he was out of the time out, if he tried to jump on them again, he was put back into it. Again, consistency is the key with that and now at eight months, even though he can be full of beans and want to play, he seems to know that the only object he can run and pounce on is his giant rubber ball.

Hope that helps a bit!

[daisy]

Thanks Yaz! I like the idea of a puppy time out. Out side is when he has the hardest time. I already do all of the other things you mentioned so that makes me feel good. After I went to training classes I taught the kids the proper way to give commands. And he never