8 week old puppy and toddler
 

Hi there!
I'm brand new here looking for a little advice. We have three children, the youngest is almost 2. We brought our little GSD home today. I just want to be sure that our toddler becomes and remains dominant over the dog. Any hints and tricks would be helpful. I know how quickly the dog will be bigger than her!

An young puppy isn't going to be dominant. My concern would be to carefully watch the toddler so that the puppy's ears, tail don't get pulled and so on.

I would keep the dog on a leash- my pup loves to bite- he's rough and doesn't yet understand gentle.

Hi there back

Dominance means literally, I will wipe floor with you should it go to that. Something rarely necessary.

Almost two year old's..... dominate nothing but a diaper :)~

If you did you homework or bet the odds or got lucky with a stable well bred GSD, then dominance by a toddler, an impossibility, will not be the course of action.

If you have to and the pup does not get it or is too young... yet, keep um separated. No hard corrections for the first two weeks at the very least of bringing that pup home. All happy, happy bliss bliss. Grow into corrections from there.

Right after potty outside, teach that pup easy and leave it. Easy if it needs help understanding a weaker pack member and not getting that its not a chew toy. Leave it for when the "DoMiNaTe" mistress (YOU) of the house (hope I got that right) lays down the law on what that pup will or will not be allowed to do.

Also yank on and make fun for the pup all tail pulling, ear grabbing pinching and such. Teach um that's amore... and fun, just in case.

Most children cant dominate a gsd let alone a toddler, and perhaps you cant either. Most GSD dont need a heavy hand in order to get them to do what you want them to do. But understand your law (after you create a bond) or lack there of.. is what will shape your experience with that pup. Follow through 100% of the time. Ever watch super nanny...Great dog training works on kids to.

Best of luck

JD

8 week old puppy and toddler
 

Thanks for the responses! I guess now that I think about it, making a two year old dominant does sound silly. I just want to keep her safe while Eivy is figuring out her place. We had a beautiful Czech shepherd that had major dog aggression and I have a little residual anxiety knowing the damage a GSD can do. I want to be sure I do things right while she's still young to avoid any future issues.


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To put your mind at rest, dog aggression isn't the same as human aggression. A dog can be dog aggressive and okay with humans or human agressive but okay with other dogs. Also some dogs (and hopefully your pup will be that way) naturally love children even though they may not like adults.

A lot of dog psychology experts say that the whole cesar millan "dominance" thing is old-school and incorrect/counterproductive. The GSD isnt going to recognize your toddler as dominant over them, but just has to be socialized appropriately and trained to be calm around them. IMO its probably better to use positive training to reward the GSD with treats and praise each time they are calm around the toddler.
Also, keep the GSD on a leash/crated when they are around the toddler to make sure that mistakes don't happen in the first place. The puppy can start having more and more supervised contact with the toddler as they become better trained and more accustomed to the toddler's presence, so that the puppy doesn't get too excited about them being there and get bitey with the baby.

I grew up with a male GSD, my mom rescued him before I was born. He was very gentle and protective of me, but would never listen to my commands, even when I was a teenager. He would just ignore me. But he would also sleep in my room, and "patrol" the hall outside my room every night. Its like he always thought of me as the baby.