Shippo's Good With Kids Now

[Cheetah]

I just got back from running Shippo, and more people stopped me to ask to pet him (as usual), and kids this time. He did great with them. I remember back when he was 7 months old, and we had that incident with the crazy little girl, but it's good to know it never phased him (I found out recently that he was never socialized with little kids at a very young age when he should have been).

We were out running, and two little kids stopped me and asked to pet him, so I said yes, and even though they did it totally wrong before I could show them the RIGHT way, he was still just fine! He even gave them kisses and did some tricks for them. The little girl begged me to let her walk him, but I said no (I don't let others walk my dogs). The girl apparently has a chihuahua who she can't even walk lol...

Even though the walk took a lot longer than expected, and I froze my butt off because it quickly got dark and windy while I talked to these kids, it was enjoyable lol, and Shippo made some human friends. >^_^<

[Dillydoodle]

Cheetah, that is awesome! I think as Dillon matured, he got better with kids too. Glad that Shippo's experience yesterday was so good. I am not surprised that everyone wants to pet shippo, he is so beautiful and that coat on him! well, everyone wants to touch it I am sure!

Dillon's problem is that he is just too exuberant with new people. He wants to jump and lick and especially with kids that are hyper or squealy. We had a bad incident with a neighbor kid who has no dog experience, i tried to show her the right way to pet a dog as she would beg to pet Dillon every time we passed.. so after trying multiple times to show her the correct way, she just wouldnt do what i was asking, instead she would jump at him with her hand out and then jerk her hand away and then put her hand out, and poor Dillon was losing his MIND, he thought this was part of some game and she was just teasing him. I explained it to her, she didnt get it. Finally one day she was doing the jerking hand motions and not petting him, and poor dillon was being choked to death on the leash ( me standing on his leash to keep him from jumping up on her. She turned around and started back to her mom and I grabbed dillon's leash ready for us to walk off, and she whipped back around and dillon jumped up on her and his head met her chin and she was more scared than anything but of course, she ran to her mom crying. Thankfully her mom saw the whole thing and knew it was not Dillon's fault or mine and the little girl was not hurt but that was the last time she tried to pet dillon... which was JUST fine with me, funny thing, he has met about 10 other kids, ranging in age from a tiny baby all the way up to teens, and he has done just fine with all the rest.. it is just this one kid.

I think that your letting a lot of people and kids pet Shippo is a great thing-He learns social skills. Does he tend to jump up? that is my biggest issue with Dillon. Gus, is mellow, he just sits and lets you pet him...he is safe around any age...young and old as he will be calm to be petted.

Emilie

[corgimom]

Cody loves little kids - we have four right next door ages 11, 9, 6 and 3 and they all love to visit Cody . The 11 year old is very calm kid and Cody loves to interact with her ; the 3 year old is another thing. This kid loves to pretend he is a dog and I have to remind him to not growl or bark in Cody's face as that gets Cody overly excited. They have never owned pets; so I have to correct the kid with the hope that the mom will eventually get the hint.

Cheeth,

I am glad to hear you had a positive experience with Shippo and the kids; I think it is a good thing to expose them to as many different people as possible and especially the little ones.

[Jespah]

My two adore children - especially Jemma, if she can hear a little girl somewhere she will drag me to them! We have kids in our building so my dogs have always been around them and are very good. Jemma jumps a lot and I am constantly trying to keep her off, but she gets so excited, she doesn't know what to do - like Dillon.

It's good for the kids and the dogs to be socialized together.

[Cheetah]

I think that your letting a lot of people and kids pet Shippo is a great thing-He learns social skills. Does he tend to jump up? that is my biggest issue with Dillon.Emilie

Ever since he was 12 weeks old, I discouraged jumping up simply by totally ignoring him, and giving him lots of love as soon as those paws hit the ground again. I instruct all my guests, and anyone outside the house petting him, to do the same. If they can't do that, they can't pet him.

Every now and then he'll forget and START to jump up, but if I let out an "AH AH!" he remembers again. That doesn't happen very often anymore. >^^;<

[Fluffypants]

Jackie is a jumper too, like Dillon & Jemma. She gets so excited. She never jumps on me, because she knows it will get her nowhere. But she jumps on others because they reward her for it. Cheetah - I think you need to give me lessons on how to make people listen to me. All I ever get is "That's Okay." and "She's so cute." and "I like dogs."

[Cheetah]

You just go "No, it's not okay," and tell them it's a part of your dog's training and that it's very important to you. If they cannot accept that and pet the dog ONLY when it's on the ground, then they just don't get to pet your dog. Simple as that. >^^;<

I usually warn people of my dogs' rules before they even try to pet them, so there is less confusion. >^^;< And besides, if they're petting your dog without warning (them asking you) then they've got no business petting your dog in the first place lmao...