Starting a home daycare and have a black GSD!

[Sadie0804]

We currently have a 8 month old all black female GSD named Sadie. We have a 17 month old son and I watch a couple kids from home with her here too. She's never once been aggressive or irritable around them. When she initially meets ppl she is a little timid, not mean just nervous. Anyways, today I'm having a woman and her 13 month old girl come meet her and see how she interacts with her. Her bark is intimidating and I'm worried the girl will cry and be scared at first. It's something we have been working on in her training class but I'm still nervous! She is coming here in about an hour - any advice??


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[Capone22]

If I ran a home day care, the dogs would be put away while any kids are here. It's a liability risk and I think it could make many potential parents nervous. It should be treated just as if you had a job outside the home. Dog in the crate while you work. Let out to play/potty while they nap maybe, put back in until everyone is gone. I wouldn't even bother introducing them, except to explain to parents that you have a dog and that although she is friendly, their children will not be interacting with the dog, ever.

[RocketDog]

Totally agree with Capone22.

[HEINOLFGSD]

Originally Posted by Capone22

If I ran a home day care, the dogs would be put away while any kids are here. It's a liability risk and I think it could make many potential parents nervous. It should be treated just as if you had a job outside the home. Dog in the crate while you work. Let out to play/potty while they nap maybe, put back in until everyone is gone. I wouldn't even bother introducing them, except to explain to parents that you have a dog and that although she is friendly, their children will not be interacting with the dog, ever.

I agree 100% with this.

[Sunflowers]

How are you going to get insurance ?

I, too, agree with the others. No dog around the little ones.

[Liesje]

What state are you licensed in? I would go by the rules of your state or whatever rules were agreed to when your daycare was licensed.

Michigan (page 13 talks about animals in the home):
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dh...4_212611_7.pdf

[Sadie0804]

Not licensed yet but the rules here just state must be up to date on shots and deemed non aggressive by vet, which she has been I grew up with GSDs and my mom ran a home daycare from before i was born, never had any issues. We introduced Sadie to the little girl today and she was delighted to meet her. No problems whatsoever. Sadie is not crated anymore so I don't think that would be a good idea to do to her for the time I have kids here. She will be supervised at all times and obviously never left alone with kids bc I will never be leaving kids alone! I know it is a potential liability but she has been raised with my son and is so gentle, never mean or aggressive. She has an intimidating bark and that's why I originally posted- was to get any tips on trying to calm her bark down today. But it's okay, everything went great! Thanks for all the advice!


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[sit,stay]

I think having your young dog loose and interacting with young children like this is just asking for trouble.

OP, I understand that you don't want to crate your dog for the hours that you will have day care children in your home. And I know that you are sure she is safe around the kiddos. But even the remotest possibility of something going wrong is too much of a possibility. All it will take is a scratch, not even necessarily from your dog, to cause a world of trouble. The liability is staggering. And your dog could easily lose her life as a result. It takes one second for your back to be turned, dealing with one child, for another child to trip and fall on your sleeping dog.

Please, please rethink this decision.
Sheilah

[StellaSquash]

is there any way the dog could be confined to another area of the house during daycare hours? I totally see where you're coming from, but as a parent, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my small child in the care of someone with a young dog. If you had a separate daycare area of the house that is closed off by a door, then perhaps the dog could have run of her part of the house during daycare hours?

[LoveEcho]

Originally Posted by sit,stay

I think having your young dog loose and interacting with young children like this is just asking for trouble.

OP, I understand that you don't want to crate your dog for the hours that you will have day care children in your home. And I know that you are sure she is safe around the kiddos. But even the remotest possibility of something going wrong is too much of a possibility. All it will take is a scratch, not even necessarily from your dog, to cause a world of trouble. The liability is staggering. And your dog could easily lose her life as a result. It takes one second for your back to be turned, dealing with one child, for another child to trip and fall on your sleeping dog.

Please, please rethink this decision.
Sheilah

This. If a child comes home with any sort of injury, even if not caused by the dog, you're opening yourself up to "the dog did it" and it's not so easy as you saying, "oh, no she didn't." It has nothing to do with whether or not the dog is safe, it's whether you want to open yourself and your pup up to that liability. Crating her won't hurt her in any way, emotionally or physically, and she's already crate trained. If you don't want to crate her, then keep her in a separate part of the house.

For what it's worth, I would not want my child in a daycare with any kind of dog interacting with the kids. Just too many unknowns. So, not only are you opening yourself up to a monumental amount of liability, you are potentially losing clients.