Babies and Staffies

pollyanna24

We have a 2 1/2 year old staffie. We also have a 8 month old daughter.

I never saw this as a problem as staffs are supposed to be great with children, but our staff is petrified of our baby and we don't know what to do.

The dog will go up to our baby and happily smell her and let her tug her ears (gently) and touch her fur, so I don't think it's as bad as it could be, but sometimes, usually when our little girl is in her walker and wanders around the downstairs of the house, the dog is shaking with fear.

We do our best to stop our baby bashing into the dog all the time, but the dog seems to have this thing about being under our feet (as if this will stop her being scared) and of course where we are, is where our daughter is as well. Last night, we were eating dinner and the dog was at my bf's feet literally shaking. We also think she is scared of our little girl vocal abilities as we all know 8 month babies like the sound of their own voice.

I don't want to get rid of the dog as I know in a year or so, they will be the bestest of friends (although bf thinks it will be worse as the dog won't be able to get away from our little girl - at the moment, she jumps on the sofa when she has a bit of sense to get away from her), but apart from praising the dog and fussing over her so she knows she hasn't been forgotten about, I don't know what else to do. I'm scared that one day she will bite in her fear (at the moment, she has shown no signs of this and is childhandled all the time by toddlers with no fear of her biting them - but it's our baby she seems most scared of).

Sorry for waffling on.

Hintza

If dog is scared you will have to be very very careful here. Hopefully it is the stroller that is frightening the dog. Don't put the child in the stroller unless the dog is locked away would be my advice. But you have to be sure it's not the baby otherwise you know what you really should do.

nibs

I wouldnt think twice - the dog would have to go

Tigsteroonie

Sounds to me like the dog is scared of the walker/stroller, not the child.

pollyanna24

nibs wrote: »

I wouldnt think twice - the dog would have to go

Bit harsh. The dog hasn't done anything wrong. She's just scared. She hasn't even shown any sign of doing anything wrong. Does this mean that children and dogs just shouldn't mix?!!

pollyanna24

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

Sounds to me like the dog is scared of the walker/stroller, not the child.

I hope so. Like I said, she's fine with our baby. I have no problem with the dog coming up to her when the baby is lying on the floor learning to crawl. No problem at all. Our dog is used to kids, lots of them, and loves them. She just doesn't seem to know what to make of a baby.

mrcol1000

nibs wrote: »

I wouldnt think twice - the dog would have to go

What a load of rubbish. Had the dog shown any kind of agression to the baby then I would agree. But the dog is scared of the baby. I can well imagine it as depsite the bad image Staff's have they tend to be little scary cats. Mine jumps about 20 foot in the air when I sneeze so a noisy little baby must be as scary as hell.
Please don't get rid of the dog as its obviously showing what a soft silly little animal the dog is and put yourself in its shoes. Its suddenly got to share the nest with a noisy thing that seems to grow bigger every day.

I would ignore the fear and try and find a game which the dog baby and you can play (obviously without putting the baby at risk of being hurt by an over enthusatic dog) or some kind of reward just so the dog associates baby=good

consultant31

I think it's probably the baby walker that's causing the fear, it can't be the baby since the dog allows baby to touch her.

I would let the baby in the walker when the dog is in another room or out in the garden. This phase shouldn't last long as baby probably won't want the walker more than a couple of months.

Keep an eye on things as frightened dogs can nip.

Curious_George_2

Hintza wrote: »

If dog is scared you will have to be very very careful here. Hopefully it is the stroller that is frightening the dog. Don't put the child in the stroller unless the dog is locked away would be my advice. But you have to be sure it's not the baby otherwise you know what you really should do.

i agree,
its easy to say this as its not my family pet in question but please remember that animals can attack when they are frightened, even if its completely out of character...

mind you i dont like staffies anyway and wouldnt have a scatty one thats been acting strangely anywhere near a child of mine

lisawood78

Dogs are often scared of what we would think as the silliest things, we have 2 Danes and one is terrified of a dog toy in the shape of a pig. It honks like a pig rather than squeaks and she will run away from it and hide.
Big stupid animal, but we love her.
Hope you can sort this OP, does sound like a fear of the walker to me, rather than your baby.

sparkle03

Hi There,

I have two staffies Brandy at almost 3 and Roxy at 18 months (see picture ) I also have a six year old and an 11 week old.

Roxy and Brandy are brilliant with Joshua he can walk them, (with me of course) wrestles them (into wwe big time) and just generally rough play. They adore him and him them. So when you say they will be best friends in a year or so your right! We have such fond memories of when we got Brandy and Josh was a toddler! Some brilliant Youve been framed moments too!

Now we have Lexi, when I brought her home from the hospital I was petrified that the dogs wouldnt adjust, so we introduced each of them to the new baby and they were fine with her. Then OH went back to work after 2 weeks paternity and I was again petrified of the dogs going near her and wrong of me I know I didnt let them anywhere near her - she was always in her pram/moses basket/ my arms etc.
Now Lexi is a bit older and she lies on the floor and Im more confident with handling all three in the same room. Obviously they are never left with any sort of access to her! Baby gates and shut doors and all that

But anyway I am digressing, Roxy isnt really interested in her she just passes her by and leaves her to it, but Brandy wants to be protective of her and is interested in seeing who this little person is, but I think I have kind of scared her, I had been telling her for 2 months to 'stay away from the baby / not near the baby' etc and I think she is just learning how to be near her.
Could it be that your dog doesnt know if he is allowed near your daughter? Hope you understand what I mean as I fear I havnt explained myself v well here!

Im sure things will work out though, some basic ground rules for both your dog and your daughter? I know she is young but I dont think she is too young to be told to 'leave the doggie alone now he's had enough' It takes time but Im sure it will be fine. Some dogs are scared of hoovers some of fans it seems yours is scared of the walker. My Brandy is scared when Josh plays with his remote control car so Brandy either goes to the kitchen or Josh goes in the garden.

Sorry not been much help just wanted to reassure you, Lol I dont even know if I have done that though :rotfl: Good luck anyway! x