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_awayoflife_
09-May-07, 15:30
well im looking for some advice about young children/babys and dogs?

just wondered different peoples views and stuff before i go ahead with anything.


thank you
x

Dadie
09-May-07, 16:00
I was always brought up with a dog in the house when i was 6months old mum and dad got a springer spaniel puppy we grew up together. He was the softest lump of a dog and would let me and my sisters do anything to him! He never bit or snapped or growled at us let my pet rabbit bully him etc..was my best friend until he died at 16 years old used to tell him all my secrets (he never told)

I now have a 10 month old daughter and a 5 year old chocolate lab which we got from balmore (got her before i found out i was pregnant) and she will let my daughter do anything to her pull her ears, tail, scream in her ears pull herself up on her crawl all over her etc but she is scared of other people not in "her" family

so i suppose you need to think hard on whether you really want a dog or not and to choose a gentle laid back anything goes type of breed not something highly strung or snappy

Good luck
take your time in deciding!

danc1ngwitch
09-May-07, 16:54
Basic, just remember it's an animal no matter how good it is. If you remember this all will be great x

porshiepoo
09-May-07, 17:45
I think it's a fantastic thing for children to be bought up with dogs.
Just be respectful of the fact that they are essentially and foremost a pack animal with pack instincts (no matter how long they've been 'pets' ) and not humans in fur coats and you'll have no probs whatsoever. :)

I do believe that it's important to establish hierarchy by having an assertive energy right from the beginning and even more so when there are young children involved.
Dadie obviously has all this sussed out and her dog knows its place within the pack family and is happy and confident within those boundaries.

Great books to try are 'The dog listener' (Jan Fennel) and 'The dog whisperer' (Cesar Milan). They give great insights into the mentality of how pack animals work and I believe everyone should bear this in mind if you're hoping to have a well balanced, healthy minded canine member of the family.
Having said that, I'm not a great fan of jan Fennels personality. I met her at Crufts with Paris and lets just say she let rip on us as she got the wrong end of the stick with regards to one of my questions. Certainly made the crowd stop and stare :eek:
I definately put Cesar's methods into practice and the difference if you already have an unstable dog can be immediate, I certainly witnessed that just from changing my energy from 'oh poops this is gonna hurt / be soo embarrassing' to a calm assertive energy. Like I said immediate.

Cinders392
09-May-07, 23:17
[QUOTE=porshiepoo;221414]I think it's a fantastic thing for children to be bought up with dogs.
Just be respectful of the fact that they are essentially and foremost a pack animal with pack instincts (no matter how long they've been 'pets' ) and not humans in fur coats and you'll have no probs whatsoever. :)

QUOTE]

Completely agree. With children and their tempers, growing minds one swift kick to a loving family pet could have bad consequences!
For both child and pet!

golden
10-May-07, 10:54
I do believe that it's important to establish hierarchy by having an assertive energy right from the beginning and even more so when there are young children involved.
Great books to try are 'The dog listener' (Jan Fennel) and 'The dog whisperer' (Cesar Milan). They give great insights into the mentality of how pack animals work and I believe everyone should bear this in mind if you're hoping to have a well balanced, healthy minded canine member of the family.

I definately put Cesar's methods into practice and the difference if you already have an unstable dog can be immediate, I certainly witnessed that just from changing my energy from 'oh poops this is gonna hurt / be soo embarrassing' to a calm assertive energy. Like I said immediate.


Sorry to put a dampener on this but please don't use Cesar Millans techniques - google him and see what you get - basically he's been charged on quite a few occasions of animal abuse, plus plenty of other stuff he's now given ALL of his dog pack back to the American Human Society. A hell of a lot of trainers say his training is dangerous to both dogs and humans.... please research him before using any of his techniques.


On a positive note AWAYOFLIFE, congratulations on asking questions before getting a dog, especialy when you have children. All I can say is go for it ! It's a fantastic thing for children to be bought up with dogs.
Carry on with you're questions and research first though, a good place to start is : www.dogpages.org.uk (http://www.dogpages.org.uk) you will find plenty of information there and you can post anything you want ( plenty of positive dog trainers/behaviourists post on that site )

Again congrats and I hope you and your family will enjoy your new doggie ( when you get one )

Golden

porshiepoo
10-May-07, 11:28
[quote=golden;221655]Sorry to put a dampener on this but please don't use Cesar Millans techniques - google him and see what you get - basically he's been charged on quite a few occasions of animal abuse, plus plenty of other stuff he's now given ALL of his dog pack back to the American Human Society. A hell of a lot of trainers say his training is dangerous to both dogs and humans.... please research him before using any of his techniques.

Absolute tosh! Where did you get that info from???
Please don't assume that I would do anything as serious as training my dogs without researching the methods thoroughly and being comfortable using them beforehand.
Just out of interest have you tried the methods yourself or are you just googling his name and going by what the few 'anti cesar milan' people say? For every person against his methods there is a hundred for them.

The biggest thing of his methods that people don't like is his flooding technique or the showing the belly technique.
If you look at these methods through human eyes and human psychology then yes, they seem cruel. But our pet dogs are not human and to treat them this way can be crueler than any of Cesars methods.
Dogs don't think the way we do, they don't dwell on the past or fear the future. If they have a fear of something it's usually not the thing that terrified them at the time that is the problem but the way we reacted to their fear. This is well thought of well before Cesar came on the scene, but never gained any credence because we, as humans, want to treat our pets as our children.

I for one have put my dane to the ground to assert my dominance when he kept attacking from behind. While I wouldn't recommend any old Joe bloggs do this without the confidence of knowing they can win, it only needed to be done twice to my dane. What happened after? This dane was relaxed, calm, never attacked again and was rehomed to a healthy family. (this was a dane I bred, sold and took back as the owners couldn't control him).
Don't get me wrong wrestling him to the ground and waiting for his submission wasn't the only thing I did, I also asserted myself as the dominant pack leader in many other ways but the crux is that these methods do work and are not cruel - not in the eyes of a dog anyway.
I never once had to resort to physical violence of any kind.


Surely we all want our dogs to be happy and healthy in mind and still be fully aware that they are canines and not humans?

These methods are not for everyone - granted. But neverthe less it doesn't hurt to have some understanding of canine psychology (From any source not just Cesar) and be aware of just how different it is from our own?

brandy
10-May-07, 17:27
we have decided to get a pup as well, my boys being 4 and 2 1/2 and a bit *G*
the main problem im finding is that rescue centers do not like to rehome dogs with young children in the home.

so we have decided to go pedigree, and get a lab or very similar.

i have called several rescues, and was told flat out that either they prefer not to rehome with young children, or just said .. sorry we have stopped letting dogs go to homes with young children.

porshiepoo
11-May-07, 12:10
The only option then is to buy but a pedigree will cost.

I know of someone who will be looking for homes for some pups in a few weeks (about 6or7 wks), they're black lab crosses.

Not many choices left really if the rescues won't rehome to families with young kids. :(

cuddlepop
11-May-07, 13:21
Have you looked at private ads in local shops etc.Over here there's usually someone looking to home a puppy or young dog.
Like Porshie say's its going to cost for a pedigree pup.Chocolate labs recently were going for £350,localy.

Dadie
11-May-07, 16:29
What are the black labs crossed with? I may be interested in another dog Poppy still seams to still miss our old spaniel...

brandy
11-May-07, 17:45
where can you get a choc lab for 350? the prices i was looking at was about 500

cuddlepop
11-May-07, 17:52
where can you get a choc lab for 350? the prices i was looking at was about 500
Over here in Portree they were selling them for £350 not that long ago.
The advert's appeared a few times so I'm assuming there breeding them .

porshiepoo
11-May-07, 19:14
What are the black labs crossed with? I may be interested in another dog Poppy still seams to still miss our old spaniel...

Hmmmmm, thats the thousand dollar question. I think she's some sort of collie mix but not the working type of collie (the black and white ones) she's alot lighter than that. I think she's rough coated too.
The pups are 5 black and 5 cream. Only just been born though. (A week ago)
Excuse my vagueness but this is a friend of my daughters and it's been a while since I've seen the dog. This wasn't an intended mating either, the bitch escaped the garden and was 'had' by a local labrador. :eek:

porshiepoo
11-May-07, 19:16
we have decided to get a pup as well, my boys being 4 and 2 1/2 and a bit *G*
the main problem im finding is that rescue centers do not like to rehome dogs with young children in the home.

so we have decided to go pedigree, and get a lab or very similar.

i have called several rescues, and was told flat out that either they prefer not to rehome with young children, or just said .. sorry we have stopped letting dogs go to homes with young children.

Why not look at other breeds too and try the rescue centres for them as well? Retrievers are great with kids.

brandy
11-May-07, 19:21
i have done, ive called several.

blondscot
11-May-07, 22:38
If you keep your eye on the press and journel i have seen lab pups for sale there for £250, balmore may home a dog to you if they have pups!!