Puppies and young kids, can it work?
One of the most common family dynamics I see on a weekly basis, is the young puppy / young kids household. I usually see the puppy around 4-5 months old, just out of the super cute stage, and starting on the super naughty stage. It’s usually biting the kids, bouncing off everyone, picking on the youngest, pinching food off the kids, ripping clothes, and knocking the smaller ones over.
Mum and Dad have decided enough is enough, and the choice is either train, or re-home. Responsibly, they’ve chosen to train. So for the next 10 or so weeks, we train to walk nicely on a loose leash (yes, past ALL the distractions), no jumping up, no biting, off leash recall at the beach etc. And it’s fantastic for them!
Below is one such story written by a client of mine, who decided to start training from the day the puppy came home.
“As a busy mother of 4, just the thought of bringing a new puppy into the home strikes fear into the heart! I approached this thought cautiously, realizing how positive this experience could be for my children and particularly my 12 y/o old son, whilst understanding that the puppy, at the end of the day, is another responsibility and concern for me. The question was: How can I integrate a puppy into our daily routine with as little disruption as possible?
This is when I spoke to Melissa. I realized that with her support and a little bit of consistent effort, I could manage the “event.” I say event, because that is how it felt to me. Even still there was an equal amount of trepidation, as there was joy, at the thought of extending our family with a puppy. It was a big decision and after weeks of consideration and then searching for a puppy, we found one and it was time to bring him home.
We arranged to have Melissa there when we arrived home. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that she was, because as to be expected, we had a typical 8 week old puppy on our hands, all feet and mouth, jumping and biting. Just what you would expect……right! Wrong, within less than 5 minutes I no longer had that kind of puppy on my hands! And with just a small amount of reinforcement, that training has stuck with him.
My 12 month old can now sit on the floor with him and cuddle without being smothered with puppy love. I am sure this will make a huge difference to her experience and enjoyment of growing up with a puppy and soon to be medium/large dog in the house. It was just so beneficial to start his training from the moment he walked into our home. The rules were set; and there was no opportunity for him to develop poor, dog to human, social skills. We also set ourselves up with some toilet training guidelines.
Melissa followed up with a visit the following day where we quickly went over yesterdays learning and then addressed his appalling eating habits. Having come from a large litter he was quite accustomed to jostling for his food and was quite defensive of it already. With so many children in the house and so many more coming through it was really important that he didn’t become possessive and aggressive towards food. Within 2 minutes we were able to slow his eating down! It was incredible! He went from frantic to controlled, just like that!
The following day we had another follow up, where we discussed more eating habits and training, where we can teach him to leave his food when the children are close by. I didn’t even think of that! As I am writing this one week later, I can say that not only will he leave his food on command, but he will wait on his bed til he is fed and most importantly my 12 month old can sit on the floor right in front of him and eat without being accosted. Alby just sits there and watches her eat. I can’t believe the transformation.
I would not have thought that a 9 week old puppy could have had such composure. Having all those social skills put in place we then left it a few days to let Alby settle in. He was probably more than a little shell shocked by all the sudden changes! On his 4th day in the house, Melissa came to go through leash training and recall. Now the real doggie training begins. We are doing sit, lie down and stay. Come when called. Fetch and drop the object and we are playing tug, tug with a particular toy. That is enough for us now. It sounds like a lot when I write it all down. But the whole family has some involvement in it and it really only takes about 5 mins or less when ever we can think of it.
Toilet training is going really well, apart from his first night I haven’t even had to wake up to any messes first thing in the morning, and it only took 4 nights before he could hold on til early morning before asking to go out. Day time toileting is still a little dependant on how conscientious I am, but if I can leave the door open for him he will take himself out to the toilet.
Of course he is teething and is allowed to have free play time in the back yard. So we have that puppy behaviour to contend with; as he possibly chews and digs his way through the backyard. However, I am yet to have that conversation with Melissa, perhaps she has some sort of miracle to deal with that too!! 3 training sessions was all it took to take all my fears of living with an outrageous puppy away and have been resolved within a week.
Melissa has a great understanding and empathy for the puppy and puppy owners alike. She is quick and effective, with lasting affects. Her skills have not only made a difference to our puppy, but to all of our lives. We still have a puppy and we will have further training sessions to head off or deal with growing pains but for now we have a happy, well adjusted member of the family that we can all enjoy! The cost has been put down to part and parcel of buying a puppy and it has been worth more than gold. Thanks Melissa.”
-Allison Robinson, Happy Client
"These posts are written weekly by myself, often inspired by the clients we see daily at Clever Paws, right here on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland."
