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Any advice on how to get him to leave my poor dog alone?

Happy Friday ladies image

My ds is 8 months old and can crawl at a rate of knots :lol: I have a very large dog who is amazing bless him, but Dylan will not leave him be. Im constantly pulling him away from him, as when he goes near him he pulls at him, squeals at him and generally terrorises him in anyway he can.

Toby (the dog) is always given an escape route, either the back door or upstairs and is pretty scared of Dylan (we think its the fear of hurting him and getting told off.)

They do get on, Dylan has a tendancy to feed Toby, which goes down really well and if Dylan cries Toby is the first to run to him to check on him and always stops him crying. Its just I feel sorry for the dog, I know he wont hurt Dylan more the other way round but it would be nice if I could find a way for him to give him 5 minutes peace!

Any suggestions welcome ladies, before I find the dog on the doormat with his bags packed image

xxxxx

Replies

  • I wish I could give some perfect advice but have suffered the same problem. My beautiful, gentle lurcher (who you can see in my avatar) has been subjected to constant abuse from my daughter. When Abby was tiny Amber (dog) used to come in and carefully lie around her just out of arms reach but once Abby was crawling then she had to put up with all sorts.

    One of our rules is that Amber must not be bothered when she's in her bed. If she comes through to the living room then Abby is allowed to stroke/cuddle her but Amber must have a place which is for her only. When Abby was smaller we used a stair gate to stop her getting to the dog bed but now she is older (19 months) she is just told not to go there. It did take a number of "naughty corner" moments but does seem to be working now.

    I think it helps that Amber is a big dog. When she's had enough she can just get up and shake Abby off and trot back to her bed. I would worry more about a small dog that could be pinned and need to snap to get away.

    Anyway good luck. And isn't it nice to have a friendly dog for LO to grow up with? :\)

    H xx
  • Toby is wonderful and im sure that when Dylan realises that he isn't a toy they are going to cause me no end of bother being a terrible twosome image I just feel so sorry for him, he is so good and very very patient.

    We too try and make sure Toby gets his own space, he's a large dog and he too can get away reasonably easily as long as Dylan isn't blocking the door :lol: I think a stair gate maybe in order just to protect my dog!

    xx
  • Or a big playpen even? A big enough one so he can crawl around but the dog can have their space too? My friend has one that is literally the size of her free space in the living room lol so that might be a good option? Not to mention you'd have a roungh idea about where you left him haha x
  • This is interesting, as I too have a big dog. Jacob is only nearly 5 months, but already he sees the dog and just grabs her fur! (She is a malamute, (sled dog) so has long coat).
    I do think letting the dog have her resting place is a good idea too! Will try this in future, once he is crawling
  • I would love to say it gets better lol.

    My dd is 22 months old and although she doesn't do the annoying clinging on to the dogs any more she still tortures them especially when in a bad mood. If she has a tantrum about something she will usually lash out at the nearest thing.. usually me or the dogs. She also thinks its funny when they yelp so she has been known to grab there whiskers (are they called whiskers on a dog? lol) for a reaction.

    That said she also cuddles them, kisses them and tells them she loves them... she just doesn't understand she is hurting them sometimes but we put her on the naughty step when she does it so hopefully it will sink in eventually. xx
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