First, I don't know whether or not you received any advice from any source that there 'might' be issues
before bringing a Yorkie puppy together with a small child, and I am not a breeder or any kind of 'expert' either, so have no comment on that at all since it is kind of a 'moot point' now anyway and easing the tension for all concerned is the important part so you can avoid danger to both Yorkie and child. Since neither has the age/wisdom to understand the perspective of the other, I couldn't guess if 'complete confidence' is in your future or not, either...at least not until both child and dog are considerably older.
Since your baby is a Yorkie/Poodle mix, I will say that I had such a mix from when I was a very young/pre-teen, and had a child born when my dog was much older than yours is now. I had absolutely no issues whatsoever...my dog LOVED my newborn from the beginning.
It has been my experience with all dogs and cats I have had, that the
adult animals recognize
babies, even of other species. However,
babies of one species DO NOT recognize
babies of same or another species. I say that knowing my first child as a 6-month-old would point to other young children saying, "Baby, baby" when
he was the younger child...LOL, but with all my baby
animals, they saw other
babies as "
equals"...not as
babies like the adult animals did.
I can also tell you that when I only had two Yorkies, both loved children for the first couple of years and strange children could run up to them, shreiking, pet them, hug them, kiss them...whatever...with no issue until
ONE CHILD in particular decided to hide and jump out repeatedly, shrieking at my Yorkies in the cart. My Brody baby was completely unnerved by this behavior and I had no control over that boy of about 7-10 years old...it happened in a place of business, and I never knew 'when' the kid would pop out again either. I could not get him to come meet Brody, and no way to diffuse the situation except to remove Brody from the store. Brody has never been completely comfortable with
all children again. Sometimes he is fine, but sometimes he takes an immediate dislike...you can see his body language change even before he starts growling, and I have to be extremely careful. He even takes an extreme dislike to some adults now, and I watch his every move around all strangers even though he is fine
most of the time. I tend to pick him up out of the cart in a store any time anyone approaches so I have control. So,
if there was a 'prior incident' that set your puppy 'against' your grandchild, I am guessing resolving it may be more difficult...dunno.
The only possible suggestion I could make would be what I would try. Like you, I would also ask the child to mostly go about his business quietly and calmly and largely 'ignore' the dog to help the dog understand there IS NO THREAT, not move suddenly, or shriek unexpectedly, etc. as young children normally do..difficult for one so young. I would also try to minimize the dog and grandchild being alone...meaning 'without
me present'...until the dog is much more adult at least. In the meantime, since I do mean several years, I would look for a way to 'convert' any 'aggression' into a 'play play' state
for the dog.
I would definitely simultaneously work on "leave it" and "stop" and "no" and "stay" and "come" and any other command that I could use to separate dog from child...especially training when the child was not around, and also training with the child present but without '
using' the child 'for' training...using a treat or other 'desirable' object but with the child nearby somewhere...just not involved. Then, if the dog became aggressive toward the child at any other time...since I would
always be present and
watching, I would see if my commands ("leave it" etc. would 'translate' for the dog into
NOT proceeding with the action toward the child and, if so,
profusely reward the dog for it. I would reward the child
later with an explanation right then, since I could speak to the child right then and 'promise' the treat for later....yes...a little sneaky...LOL
I would not have the child give the dog a treat as a conversion...I think it would be too rewarding for the dog for 'unwanted'...and downright
dangerous...behavior and reinforce the 'aggressive' behavior. But, I think, if appropriate, I might 'arm' the child with a toy that the dog has never seen, for example...that the child could 'produce, squeak, and toss gently away for the dog, saying 'play play' to distract the dog and diffuse the situation...I would have the child do this when the dog was NOT being aggressive, too. NOTE: Saying this, I am thinking of my Brody, since we have a new grandchild on the way ourselves, and Brody LOVES toys, but, while I do not think he would be 'jealous' IF my grandchild had one of his
toys, he KNOWS all of his toys and he LOVES
NEW toys!
Bear in mind that for this to have the slightest chance of working IMHO, I would, many times a day, constantly reinforce the 'training' by doing the same thing for the dog myself without the child anywhere around.
Again, I am
no expert on any matter...these are just what I would try, should I find myself in the situation you are facing. I do hope, whichever method you choose or route you take, that your whole family ends up in a safe and loved experience. It is not fair to child or dog for either to be 'banished' or 'harmed' over it.