Son Rough with Dog

The trouble is that if your son plays too roughly with the dog and scares her or injures her, she could begin biting defensively, and then she (not he) will be really out of luck. If your son's best friend were a person, that person could get up and go home. Your dog won't have a home.

Your little boy might be considering her more a toy than a living thing.

Consider that you have two children (at least) - one four-footed and one two-footed. You will HAVE to supervise them when they play. It might also help to play with the dog yourself, and to take her for walks, as a way to model the right behavior.

Keep on showing your son how to treat her gently and how to play with her properly. *Expect* him to follow your lead. He just may not be listening to you!

Talking to your vet about this might give you some more help. Vets love to educate children (and adults) about the right ways to love animals.

I'm so glad you care about this.

Don't leave them alone together. Once you see the play escalating, separate him from the dog. He may be getting overly excited when playing with her, so put a stop to it before he forgets about self control and is rough.

Never leave them alone.
I take it she is a small dog? THey are much more sensitive to little kids, big dogs can't get hurt as easily and are more tolerant.

He is also a boy, they have so much energy!!!
Show him how to pet the dog, sit with her and pet her nicely.
Put her in a cage or let her have a cage so she can get away from him.
Have him be in charge of feeding her and getting her water.
Be consistent with his discipline, we also used TO.

If she bites, which she might, find her another home. Some types of dogs are not good with children.

Dogs tend to snap before they bite someone they love. Tell him if he hears a growl or a snap his dog is going to be getting back at him for rough play.
Pups play with each other in this rough manner and they bite each other gently. We don't. If he crosses a certain line with him she will treat him like another dog.

At that age, I kept an eye on my daughter and our dog when they played. If she started getting too rough, I told her that she was playing too rough and that she needed to leave the dog alone for ahile and go do something else.

Watch your son carefully and when he starts to get rough give him a warning. If he doesn't listen give him a time out. If your dog is big I would be extra careful because if you child hurts the dog, he could get a bite. Since this is a new habit, it should be too hard to stop it!

Blessings......

Mine likes to play with the dog a lot too except our dog is big and I always worry. My friends daughter got bit by their relatives dog and it was a good dog. No one was watching ( they found out later they were in the shower and left the boys in charge). Don't know if she did something to initiate it or what. After all they left her on the steps with the dog. Maybe it was trying to stop her from falling. Anyways she has a scar and was hurt bad so I worry too.