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Introducing an overly friendly 7month old puppy to active kids?

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  WateryTart 
#1 ·
Hi guys Bane is 5 months now and we are going back down to the NYC to meet the family for Thanksgiving! He will be 7 months by then and wondering on some advice to keep him calm in the wake of running kids. Should I leash him to me the entire party? Or should I have him stay at a dog hotel/boarding instead of bringing him? He is known to try and jump on little kids unfortunately and has made a kid cry at my community apartment two times. (She was sitting on the ground in the dog park at our apartment community to be fair) [its more like a small fenced in yard but it works!] and another time at a puppy socialization party (before we knew over socialization could be bad) where a mom brought her little girl and she was walking around in the large dog play group. (again not sure why the mom let her). He was okay with another little girl from the community who wasn't afraid of him (the other two were) and she would actually play with him gently, i've never seen him so calm around a little girl that was pretty much his height. (He was leashed at first and when he seemed calm we let him go and kept a very close shadow to him)

Any extra tips on him not jumping in general would be great too. (He doesn't jump on me or my bf often as he knows not to, he mostly jumps on other dog owners of his playmates and most of them know to push him off and ignore him) There are a few community members who say "its fine" and we now cross the street and distract bane with his stick and basic commands to avoid them.

His heckles go up so easily but when he calms down he is a lot more polite and has better manners. The initial greeting however not so much.

NOTE: The party is a 6 hour drive from where we live and we would be gone for almost 4 days!
 
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#2 ·
Hi guys Bane is 5 months now and we are going back down to the NYC to meet the family for Thanksgiving! He will be 7 months by then and wondering on some advice to keep him calm in the wake of running kids. Should I leash him to me the entire party? Or should I have him stay at a dog hotel/boarding instead of bringing him? He is known to try and jump on little kids unfortunately and has made a kid cry at my community apartment two times. (She was sitting on the ground in the dog park at our apartment community to be fair) [its more like a small fenced in yard but it works!] and another time at a puppy socialization party (before we knew over socialization could be bad) where a mom brought her little girl and she was walking around in the large dog play group. (again not sure why the mom let her). He was okay with another little girl from the community who wasn't afraid of him (the other two were) and she would actually play with him gently, i've never seen him so calm around a little girl that was pretty much his height. (He was leashed at first and when he seemed calm we let him go and kept a very close shadow to him)

Any extra tips on him not jumping in general would be great too. (He doesn't jump on me or my bf often as he knows not to, he mostly jumps on other dog owners of his playmates and most of them know to push him off and ignore him) There are a few community members who say "its fine" and we now cross the street and distract bane with his stick and basic commands to avoid them.

His heckles go up so easily but when he calms down he is a lot more polite and has better manners. The initial greeting however not so much.

NOTE: The party is a 6 hour drive from where we live and we would be gone for almost 4 days!
Questions - What is the weather (temperature) in NYC going to be like? Do you have a good crate system that can be secured in your car? Can your vehicle be parked (with windows/back hatch open), in a safe place? Or will your car be parked on the street or out of your line of sight?

If (and only if!) the temperatures are going to be predictably cool, and your vehicle has a good crate system, and your vehicle will be parked where you can check on your dog often, the visit to see the family shouldn't be much of an inconvenience at all. Simply crate the dog during times when he isn't being exercised or closely supervised.

If you'll need to keep the dog in the house (or apartment) 24/7, and there isn't much space, or if you can't bring a secure crate, I might re-think bringing the dog. Personally, I prefer bringing my dogs to all family gatherings.... but I'm not offended or bothered when they need to stay in the vehicle for periods of time due to fearful kids, elaborate meals in crowded houses, relatives with allergies, etc.
 
#4 ·
It definitely going to be cool in the city, my parents live outwards more in the Queens area and have their own house, fenced backyard, and driveway so if I were to crate him there is definitely a safe place he could stay. Thank you, i will keep this in mind! :) Seems logical I have a RAV 4 I'm not sure if he current crate will fit in the back as I never tried crating him in the car. Will look into crate systems.

You and Bane might both have a better time if you could board him and visit by yourselves.That's a lot of sitting still in the car on top of a lot of excitement at your destination.Then you'll be tied to each other for two days straight to keep everyone safe from your amped up pup?Sounds stressful to me.
Haha that's what I was considering! I don't mind being strapped to him but more than likely he will mind being stuck to me when he sees all the fun going around with the kids he would definitely want to join in. Just wasn't too sure if 7months is too early to board him. (We are already boarding him during Christmas for a few days as the cabin my family rented out wasn't so pet friendly as we thought and another time in April for an entire week for a cruise) Which is why I don't want to overly board him (is that a thing?) or maybe it will get him use to the boarding place I choose and make him less stressed when I do have to leave for a week. What do you guys think? I was considering rover.com or a facility that has boarding packages where you can add training and other stuff to spoil your pup. These are probably the only times in the year we have to board him otherwise we are home all the time it just so happens to be holiday season and hate that there aren't more pet friendly places we could bring him. (Especially since we aren't the ones planning them)
 
#3 ·
You and Bane might both have a better time if you could board him and visit by yourselves.That's a lot of sitting still in the car on top of a lot of excitement at your destination.Then you'll be tied to each other for two days straight to keep everyone safe from your amped up pup?Sounds stressful to me.
 
#5 ·
I don't think that's too much boarding.You have to do whatever feels right for your particular dog.My thought was four days of being mostly crated and leashed for a rambunctious puppy may make for a miserable time for all.But you know your dog best not us:)
My dog would not do well being boarded.He doesn't like strangers and I know he would be very stressed.So he goes where I go.My other two ( non-Gsd) have been boarded and do just fine.
 
#6 ·
Thank You! Are the dogs that you board females or males that are neutered? Was trying to look for boarding that didn't require him to be neutered can't seem to find any, not sure if they exist. (At least for now he is young enough to not require it but around Christmas and next year he isn't so lucky)
 
#7 ·
With strange/unknown kids running around I'd agree that boarding is a good idea. Your pup will want to chase or herd them, you will be constantly on alert. To prep your dog for boarding I would try boarding for the day or overnight so he becomes familiar with it. I like to board at our vet because I know someone is there 24 hours a day (its an emergency vet practice) and everyone knows and likes Molly. This gives me peace of mind in case our dog became ill. She gets no training and not a lot of exercise, but I've seen some boarding places that overbook and put dogs in dark sheds or garages. Where ever you go, definitely check it out well in advance.
 
#9 ·
Yes we are considering two possible places, checking out the first one this weekend :) Thank you will definitely research more about that.

Do you have any close friends that your dog knows that could stay at your house and dog sit him at home while you're gone?
Unfortunately my friends that live near me are still college students (I just graduated) and I don't really trust them with my puppy :( one of my neighbors volunteers for the ASPCA and was considering on asking her too but didn't want to over burden her since she already has a dog and cat that she cares for herself. (Which I think Bane would love since he is already best friends with her dog) but may cause her not to enjoy the holidays just as much.
 
#11 ·
Hmm.

I didn't board when my puppy was that age. I refused to board her at all for anything until she was old enough to be spayed and her stomach was tacked. The plural of anecdote is not data, but I'd heard enough stories of people losing dogs to bloat while boarding them that I chose to draw that hard line. The other nuance to boarding is that not all kennels are okay with intact dogs older than 5-7 months (I've seen the limit set at different ages), so that's something to consider also. My dog was spayed/tacked at 15 months. That's a long time to not go to gatherings, and I know that won't work for everyone. I have a very patient husband and family! Plus I was lucky nobody died.

If you are able to board an intact 7mo, you are lucky in that you have plenty of time, so you can find a kennel, start bringing your pup there for short periods, and work up (maybe half days of daycare, then full days of daycare, then an overnight dry run or two). He could be an old pro by Thanksgiving.

My dog loved kids and would never be aggressive with them, but I didn't trust her impulse control. She was still jumping and pawing at my husband and me at that age even though she knew better (you could watch the wheels turn, she was trying so hard not to jump and it was like she couldn't help herself). Because she doesn't live with kids, she wasn't getting the training in how to behave around them on a daily basis. Now, at 2, she's fine and I trust her off leash even if my friends' little kids are tearing around the yard. At 6-9 months, I wouldn't have allowed her near running-around little kids unless she was wearing a leash and a prong, and I'm imagining some verbal corrections still would have been needed. Taking her to a gathering like that would have been fun for exactly no one.

You might look into an in-home service if you can find one. We have a local dog-walking service with staff who supplement their income by doing in-home dogsitting. I know of another service that offers in-home 24/7 care as part of their business. We haven't used either option because our dog adores daycare/boarding so much and we haven't had to, but it's nice knowing they're out there in case we ever need to use them.
 
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