We’ve all seen the pictures on Instagram and Facebook; even commercials with major brands. Dogs snuggling close to babies, licking them in the face, lying with them on the couch. This is a problem. It’s not a small problem. Let me say this very clearly for the people on the back: dogs are not to be trusted with infants!
It is my professional opinion, after roughly 20 years in the business, that all dogs are dangerous to babies. I’ll say it again: ALL DOGS ARE DANGEROUS TO BABIES. For the sake of this article and future arguments on the topic I’m sure to have, let’s agree that any human being under the age of 18 months is a baby.
I’ll start with the most innocuous and seemingly benign stories and we will escalate, don’t worry.
You might say to me, “Our dog is friendly and loves everything that breathes; he would never bite our child. He just licks his face, that’s all.” (I don’t believe you, but I’ll humor you). Even if your dog never bites your child, there are still risks that I wouldn’t take.
Number one: dogs eat shit. They eat literal shit. Could be rabbit poop, horse poop, other dogs’ poop, their own poop. I’ve even seen them eat toddlers’ poop.
As your baby has only been alive for a few months, she does not yet have a very good immune system. What do you think bacteria from rabbit poop could do to your child’s eye? Pink eye Blindness? It’s not out of the question and not worth it for a cute social media post.
Also, dogs’ nails are filled with dirt and bacteria. So are their coats. Even if your dog just steps over your baby and scrapes her skin a little bit, there’s a risk for irritation or infection. Again, babies have a weak immune system and dogs are filthy!
You are also teaching your dog that it’s ok to encroach on this baby’s space, making future conflict more likely and the understanding of the infant’s rights unclear.
Another important element is that people are unaware of their dog’s true intentions or feelings. Including me! All I can do is predict a likely behavior based on previous experiences, and having more experience makes me a better predictor. That doesn’t mean I know what my dogs are thinking.
People will often think that their dog will be good with a baby and then not know until it’s too late that it wasn’t.
Though I don’t know for sure, I believe the main reason that dogs and infants shouldn’t mix is that dogs do not perceive infants the same way as they perceive adults. The way that dogs behave around babies is more how they behave around a small animal. They’re not treating it with the respect that they have learned (hopefully) to treat adult humans.
The next big issue is resource guarding (a behavior where a dog attempts to assert its ownership over something). People often will call this kind of behavior jealousy or something similar, but good dog trainers typically refrain from that type of anthropomorphism. The resource in this case, would potentially be the parents. There’s plenty of food, no need to fight over that, they’re not competing for water, but likely the parents are spending much less time with the dog 1-on-1 and that’s making the time that does get spent together more valuable.
Picture this: dog and one parent on the couch, snugging/petting the dog. The other parent comes in carrying the baby and hands the baby off to the other. Dog knows for sure that he will not be touched anymore. The parent has become a scarce resource and will potentially be fought over (but we all know that babies can’t fight back). This quickly becomes the dog snapping or growling at the baby, maybe even biting or attacking.
Resource guarding with babies only gets worse and harder to deal with when the child becomes mobile. Many dogs will guard bones from each other, but not from adults. Those same dogs may guard a bone from a child who crawls over to it. Resource guarding frequently leads to bites. I have had hundreds of clients talk to me about this over the years. Babies crawling toward a bed, near a bone, near a food bowl, near a crumb on the ground, anything. The dog doesn’t respect the baby and will guard anything from her.
The most frustrating thing to me is a client with a dog who they know “gets a little crazy” or “is excitable and sometimes nips” or “is hard to control” and they still have the dog loose around their kids with no boundaries in place. They have somehow just accepted the risk of injury and potential disaster–why?
Usually, no one except the parents thinks this is acceptable. It must be a kind of “too close to see it clearly” type of situation, or they are blinded by their love for the dog. The grandparents or friends often say, “I wouldn’t do what they do; I don’t trust that dog.” Often, it’s easier to see from outside.
But it’s my job and my place to let you know.
What you’re doing is not safe and I do not recommend it. In fact, I think you’re putting your child and potentially others at risk. Teach your dog boundaries before something bad happens.
These are people who will tell me about how their dog tackles the kids in the backyard if they are “playing too much” or that “she does that herding thing where she bites their legs when they run.” My advice: DO THE HUMAN THING AND DON’T LET THE F$@KING DOG BITE THE KIDS!
Obedience training will help you manage your household, but when it comes to kids, you’re going to need physical management too. Gates, crates, and time away from each other. This is a formula for all dogs, even the super mild-tempered, friendly dogs. It just has to be that way. Remember that dogs have been in houses for less than a century. Most dogs in the world still live outside. Don’t act like the dog is a human. Treat it like a dog. They need to know the kid is off limits. Period.
With my son, I introduced him to my dogs very slowly. When we brought him home from the hospital, I placed his car carrier in the middle of the floor and “drew” a 3 foot circle around him.
If the dogs broke the line I charged them and shooed them back as if my son was poison. After a minute or two they walked away or lay down to wait for me to tell them what to do.
I maintained a 3 foot barrier at LEAST for 6 months. I also put the dogs outside, used their bed commands, and gates when needed, to create more space. I started to allow them to get a little closer when my son was around 6-12 months old.
But I never let them approach him directly.
I would hold my son and also put my hand and arm in a place that was giving me leverage on the dog. I would never give them the ability to have time to hurt him. I started letting him touch the dogs during that time, but only on their sides and back.
By this time, my dogs did not care about him at all. He was not providing them with anything positive or negative so they just ignored him.
The high chair and dropping food changed all that. Suddenly, the dogs were interested in him. They lay at the foot of the high chair waiting for dropped morsels and crumbs. There were many. They came to see him as a potential source of food, just like the other humans in the house who feed them. A huge turning point for my personal feelings and trust was when I saw Rhino, my 11-year-old Belgian Malinois, standing with his head under the high chair. He had my son’s foot on his face and was rubbing it back and forth. You see, Rhino likes to use people’s hands and feet to pet himself–if you aren’t moving, he’ll move for you! He was doing that with my son for the first time. For me this was a small sign that Rhino understood that the human child was in fact a person and could provide him with things like food and scratches.
Remember though, my son will not be able to provide correction or punishment for many years. This relationship will be mainly positive reinforcement and maybe corrections by me for my son in proxy.
Make it simple: keep infants and dogs separate.
