My 4 year old daughter and the new landshark. Any thoughts to protect her hands?

[Mog]

Hi all,

I want to say thank you to everyone for all the great advice that they have given and I'm so glad I found this site; the resources and articles are great.

I do have one question that I haven't been able to find an answer to and was wondering if anyone might have a suggestion.

I have a daughter who just turned 4. We're bringing our landshark (Maximus) home next month. I've done my best to explain to my daughter about the way puppies explore with their mouths, showed her videos of puppies playing with each other and explained that we are going to have to train her, so that she understands she can't bite humans hard and that it's going to take a while before she learns.

I honestly haven't had a pup in a long time and don't remember how difficult the mouthing phase is. But all the posts I've read here, brought back both good and bad memories

I really want this to be a positive experience for my daughter. Being that her hands are more puppy sized, I already see this is going to be difficult. I want her to be involved with the pup as much as possible, but want to minimize the battle scars.

Does anyone know if they make something like the cowhide work gloves for kids? Something that might make it easier for her interact with the pup, while protecting her at the same time? We'll be working on bite inhibition from day one, but know it's going to take time...

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I've tried searching, but all the keywords I've used come back to basic training, kids and pups, etc...

Alex

[Jag]

I don't know, but I'd wonder if gloves like that would encourage the pup to bite on them. I had 2 shepherd pups when my youngest was really young. If I remember, there were a few times with the second one that he cried because the pup latched onto him. It wasn't that bad, though. I used baby gates to keep the pup safely away from the kids until they learned. He was 15 when I got Grim... and let me tell you, Grim was a BITER! Way worse than any other shepherd I've had. Even at 15, he was wary of Grim's mouth. He still played with him (more than I thought he would) but learned to be quick and keep his eye on Grim's mouth! You'll have to see how much of a landshark your new pup is, then assess if you want your child interacting with the pup at that point. Keep in mind, with a small child, it's not just the hands! Faces, neck, etc. can also be a 'target'... and ANKLES of everyone in the house! We wore long pants, socks, and shoes around Grim for a couple of months!

[Malika]

I have a thirteen week old and my hands hurt and from time to time, she is biting my hands HARD (during heavier play). I'm teaching bit inhibition, and it's working, but ****, landshark is right! Add on that my hands are dry from the extra hand washing leave a tough combination. Good luck! Maybe someone has a better answer that I.

[Bear GSD]

I think I would definietly explain to your daughter that the puppy will try to bite, but explain to her that she needs to try and trade her hands with a toy, prefferable a longer toy to keep the puppy's distance from her hands. Also explain to your daughter about "yelping" when the puppy makes contact with his teeth have her "yelp" and turn away. If he gets really bad you might want to utilize the flirt pole to keep a safe distance from hands and feet.
I think I might agree with Jag in that the leather gloves might encourage the puppy to bite. Also like Jag mentions utilize a baby gate to close off an area where your daughter can retreat if your little landshark is persistent.

[OffgridAlex]

I'm not sure gloves are going to help, if the puppy is anything like mine he will jump and knock her down, nip at her legs, feet, bum, grab on to loose clothing and pull etc. The puppy will recognise a younger member of the family and think of her as a littermate Our GSD was much worse biting the kids than us.

With my 3yr 10 month old and 1yr 11 month olds we basically had to keep the puppy under leash control the whole time,if they were stroking him we would be holding his head etc.

I understand wanting to bond your daughter with the dog but for us a few bad experiences with the dog did more to break that bond that having no contact at all would have.

We have had him for three months and he is just getting to the stage where he can be free around the kids provided he is in a calm mood. We still have the occasional incident though

[Mog]

Thanks for the replies. You're probably right about the glove encouraging him to bite.

I've been teaching my daughter how to use the flirt pole, how to play tug properly by pulling gently and letting him "win" and have the tug. We have a couple of long rope toys that will work to keep give a little distance between them as well.

My daughter is really excited and I don't think I could keep her away if I wanted to She already told me that she wants to hold him on her lap on the way home from the breeder (It's an hour and a half drive, so don't see that happening) and that she wants to sleep in her sleeping bag next to his crate at night when he first comes home. But she did say if he bites too hard, she wants me to train him before she plays with him again

OffgridAlex, it's good to hear that you can have your pup around the kids at 3 months... I have shared custody. The first week, we are both going to be home with him for 5 days to get him accustomed to his new home and to bond with us. After that, she will only be with him every other weekend and on Wednesday evenings. So... she's have some time with him, but I'll have a lot of time with him alone to work with him and on bite inhibition inbetween. So hopefully it won't be as bad as if she were at the house 24/7.

[OffgridAlex]

ah how sweet, She is going to have great fun.

I think as long as she is forewarned of the biting and also the clumsiness they will be fine, just make sure you are there when they are together and tell her not run run in front of the puppy not to touch while it is eating etc.

We had my boys wear wellington boots around the house at first, they protect toes and ankles from puppy bites completely.

[Mog]

Maximus won't be out of his crate unsupervised. Especially when my goofball is with him.

I was thinking of teaching her to hold his collar in one hand, while she pets him with the other, this way she can control him if he lunges. I think she's mature enough to do that... but would I be doing something wrong by teaching them this? When she's petting him, I was planning on holding his collar regardless, just so he doesn't nip her on the face.

What are Wellington boots? I think boots are a great idea, but with the warmer weather coming up, I'll have to look for something lightweight for her.

[hotrod2448]

Probably best if you keep the leash. I think a 4 year old would have a very hard time restraining a lunging puppy, especially if the puppy is lunging at her. My 14 week old can already pull enough that my wife occasionally really needs to work to restrain her and kids don't have much of a reach to keep the pup away.

Wellies= Rain boots.

[Mog]

Thanks, wasn't sure how hard a pup can lunge at 8+ weeks. I'll make sure I have his collar when they are interacting in close range to one another.

Rainboots will at least save her toes from being victims