Forum home Babies Baby

Dogs - unreasonable?

My dad has a dog who he loves to bits. He is a softie (the dog that is!) black lab and won't harm a fly but he's very big for his breed and just wants to jump on Gabe, he also 'play bites' which is fine but don't want him doing this to Gabe!

Tbh I'm panicky about dogs around Gabe and I don't like it. I know other people have dogs and babies but I don't think I would be comfy with it - just my personal threshold...I do love dogs though!

Anyway I always make my dad bar off the front room so the dog can't come in. He has the run of the rest of the house, so its not like he's being shut outside in the rain or anything but my dad still moans!!! He sees Gabe once a month for a few hours but he's more interested in the dog! Am I being unreasonable to expect him to put him out?

Replies

  • I think its fine not to want your dads dog bouncing on your LO but please be carefull not to make Gabe scared of dogs as they can be mans best friend. Maybe if you ask your dad to keep the dog out until Gabe gets bigger and of course never leave a Lo alone with a dog how ever soft the dog is. x
  • we have a dog- he's a staffordshire bull terrier so comes with a bad reputation. diesel is the softest dog you will ever meet, he gets beaten up by the cat and wouldnt hurt a fly!
    he is a dog tho and regardless of how nice he is i worry about him around evie even tho in my heart i know diesel wouldnt do anything.
    when our little niece whose 3 comes over, we always lock diesel in the kitchen because he is a big dog and shes not used to him.
    i think any responsible dog owner would do the same. your dad should do this anyway when the baby comes over like tallkatie2 says its polite! xxx
  • Hey,

    I think you need to get a balance of introducing Gabe to the dog plus teaching the dog how to treat Gabe and having a space where you can go without the dog.

    My mum has 2 cocker spaniels, one is a show breed, is very lively likes to play, chew etc. The other is farm breed and is very gentle and generally much calmer.

    The dogs are kept in the kitchen (large with sofas) and garden most of the time anyway. We take Louise to see the dogs as she has to get used to them and vise-versa - they need to learn how to behave around her. My mum will be having Louise 1 day a week soon so it is necessary but I would do it anyway if that was not the case. Louise is not scared of the dogs, she wants to stroke them and play with them.

    We would never leave Louise on her own with the dogs and always watch them really closely around her. I go over there to walk them on my own with Louise and it has never been a problem. (although I have to do one at a time as 2 plus Louise would be too much! lol)

    They do not go in the living room with Louise though so there is that space for us away from the dogs for her to get on the floor and play and if the dogs get too over excited.
  • I dunno - we see the dogs at my oh's nans and Gabe chases them around in his walker but they are little, all really old and fat and used to babies so they don't bother me as much. Gabe does like dogs but I personally am not comfortable with it at all so I won't be exposing him to my dad's dog in particular, till he's a bit less vulnerable. I don't have anything against people who do let dogs around their children but both me & my OH are very worried about it.
  • I think you are fine to ask for the dog to be put out. There is a happy balance to be struck, the problem is that babies and toddlers do have a habit of getting in a dogs face, pulling at their fur, and generally being quite rough. My sister has a dalmation with a lovely temperament and he is very well trained - he has been trained not to take food from children even if offered. I still wouldn't leave him alone with Neve or out of arms length with him, what if she poked him in the eye or pulled his lip (which she has done before!) and he reacted? I think a lot of problems are caused when people forget that their dogs are just animals and place too much trust in them.

    Don't worry about the dog fear thing, when Gabe is a bit older you can sit him on your lap and teach him to stroke a doggy nicely, most kids love dogs.
    x

  • I don't think you're being unreasonable either and I'm a dog owner!!
    I'm not 100% happy with Poppy being around other peoples dogs in their houses because she's so boisterous around them, she thinks that because Howard (our dog) doesn't mind her climbing on him that all dogs won't and of course it doesn't work like that and she is too young to understand properly.
    I would try hard not to make Gabe wary of dogs as they really can be very nice together!!
    xx
  • I don't think your request is unreasonable in any way, shape or form. I too would think it quite rude if I was visiting someone with LO and their dog wasn't shut in a different room at the first sign of anything more than giving the baby a sniff.

    I love dogs but as you say, we all have limits of what we're comfortable with and that's mine.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions