Pets and children

[RCT]

OK first let me say, I love my dog, Max...he is a great dog.....I also love my kids...they are great kids....but for some reason Max and ds are too rough together...dd and Max are great...don't rough house at all...can sit together nicely all day...but ds just antiganizes the dog....dog then nibbles ds....not good....ds screams and runs...dog...runs after, and jumps on ds.....argh...how can I stop ds from doing this...dog has no problems behaving with dh, me or dd....only ds...and its getting annoying...I have to put Max in the kitchen if I am doing something that I cannot supervise them together.....any hints or advice?

[Ryleigh]

sorry no advice, but hope you can work it out.
It sounds like Max associated ds as being a toy. Maybe if you could get ds to stop rough housing with him and do quieter things together,(snuggling under a tree) he would learn to calm down. it would likely take time though. Maybe they could go take some doggie school class together.

[Diane]

My sister had a cat that was like this. The cat was always okay with her dh, oldest ds and her... but not with her youngest son. He'd tease and poke the heck out of that cat to the point where every time the cat saw him, it would lundge out and attack him. Then my nephew would scream and cry, running away and making a big deal about what the cat had done to him. The problem here was that my sister always blamed the cat... never her ds. One day someone left the back sliding glass door open and the cat made it's escape and never came back. I have a feeling that your dog is looking at your ds more as it's playmate... someone to rough house and have fun with. I don't want to sound mean or too harsh but I don't think that this behavior is going to end until you get your ds to stop antaganizing the dog. Obedience classes might help... but until your ds stops, I'm afraid that the dog won't either. Good luck... I know can just imagine how frustrating this must be. Hope you find a solution real fast. :)

Diane... :wave:

[Amy]

I agree with everyone else. My brother's dog was like that with my dd. She totally saw her as a playmate and played rough because dd prompted her to play rough. Dd knew she was the cause of all the scratches, so she didn't complain and had a ton of fun. If your son complains about the nips and scratches, just explain actions and consequences with him.