Yorkies and toddlers

[deonk1]

I wasn't going to join in on this conversation, but I've thought of a completely different point which hasn't been brought up much here and I hope you'll consider it, as it wasn't something I thought of when I got Harley.

First I believe that any child can be taught how to respect animals, but it takes ALOT of time and dedication to teach this respect. I used to be a horse back riding coach, and have taught children as young as 2 how to care for a horse (obviously not alone) and 4 to ride (assisted). That iteself is a huge responsibilty, make sure you and your spouse are ready to properly socialize your child if you decide to do this.

Second, lets assume your breeder properly starts off the pup to not be scared, and it's your job to socialize the dog. Let's also assume that you are able to successfuly able to teach/socialize the dog to not be scared of children (not saying you can't do it, just saying it's a lot of work). When I bought my dog he was born in a home with a toddler, my breeder did not permit the child near the dogs unsupervised, but lets just say Harley came home well socialized to children and their loud noises, and fast actions. Harley loved kids. Fast forward 8 months....
we were at the groomers and I had him on the floor loose playing with my groomer's poodle (this is at a small specialty store and all doors were being watched and it was safe, or so we thought) well in comes another customer and her two children... the girls decided they wanted to say hi to the two unleashed cute small dogs, and without asking started chaseing the dogs. the mother in this situation did NOTHING to stop the children (who were about 10:eek). It took us a while to catch the two dogs and put them safely in the back room to calm them down until the girls left. From that day on Harley now growls and barks at children. He'd never bite but I avoid children at all cost, unless I can control the situation and I know the child.

So the moral of this story... even if you are able to successfully teach your daughter right and wrong, even if you successfuly socialize a wonderful puppy, some other idiot parent may not teach thier children how to approach an adorable puppy (and lets not forget any yorkie puppy draws more attention, their small their cute, and kids flock them) and THAT child could permanantly ruin your family pet.

I just ask that you consider what you will do if your kids behave yet someone else's child makes your dog afraid and defensive towards children. It only takes one incident.

[imdll]

As others have said, teaching children to respect animals and how to handle them properly is vital. Having young children and dogs is possible and there are members of YT who have yorkies and toddlers. It can be done but is an incredible amount of work and takes a lot of training one's children along with a crazy amount of vigilence and the regular training that comes with having a puppy in the house. Some people don't realize just how much work it will be until they are in the middle of it. Please consider the factors very carefuly before making a final decision. It is always tragic when a dog becomes injured due to the actions of a child or becomes a fear biter etc. No one wants to see something like that happen.

The ultimate size of the dog you are considering is also a major factor. The smallest dog we had when our children were young ended up only being 10 lbs full grown, she was a Miniature Schnauzer and was supposed to be about 15 lbs but that's not how it worked out. I don't think I would consider a dog of any breed that might grow up to be smaller than 10 lbs and truthfully 15 lbs is probably closer to an more optimum small sized dog for young children. A child does not have to be acting agressively toward a dog in order to hurt it or scare it. Many an injury has come from a dog being over loved so to speak or tripped over while playing.

I guess for me the bottom line is that young children and smallish dogs can co-exist in the same home but it is not something to enter into without a great deal of study and consideration of all that is invovled.

As far as the initial rough actions from your daughter toward the puppy it sounds quite similar to how some young children react to babies when they first meet them. Children of two require lots of teaching and only you know what your daughter's disposition tends to be. Just try to be as realistic as possible and if she tends to be a more physical child by nature then it wouldn't be wise to try and to teach her to be less physical while trying to raise a puppy at the same time. You however are the best one to be to make that determination.

Something else that just crossed my mind is that your daughter could become jealous of a new addition to the family and that is one more thing to take into consideration and to watch for.

I wish you well as you decide how to proceed and if this is the best choice for you and your family.

[RachelandSadie]

yorkies are not really kid friendly dogs to be honest. i wouldn't bring a new puppy into an existing home with little children. i just wouldn't. i had the dogs first and have enough worry dealing with the possibility that the yorkies won't like the new baby. i can't imagine already having my son as a toddler and trying to add a yorkie with God knows what type of personality to my home. what if you end up with a yorkie that is a sweet puppy but came from a less than perfect breeder and ends up biting your children and hurting them. it's bad enough that you are going to have your work cut out teaching your daughter to "be gentle" to the dogs, but what if it turns around on you and the dogs are not being gentle with your child. what if they bite.

the ONLY dog that EVER trie to bite me in all my experience working for a vet was....badda bing A YORKIE!! they can be stinkers. cute but stinkers. and they are super hard to potty train so you have a crawling toddler in their pee and poop messes. and you have a possible biting or aggression issue, it's all just a mess waiting to happen. i would just wait. teach the little girl to be nice and play sweetly with animals first. once you accomplish this maybe start with a mid sized dog or larger breed dog to rough house with. save the yorkies for your kid's teen years when they are better suited for little dogs. little dogs shiver and shake and are afraid of too much noise and chaos and let me tell ya toddlers bring chaos. yorkies don't like that, they will chase, bark, bite, and be scared of all of that mess. just not a good combo sorry. good luck in a few years though. and good luck teaching her to be a nice petter

[Nicky08]

Originally Posted by TxVicki

Your 2 year old tried to kick and beat up the dog while at the breeders house? I am of the opinion you don't need to have a puppy this fragile in your home.
Please try and teach the child respect for animals.

I have to say that I totally agree... My one year old niece is awesome with my Nicky, every once in a while she tries to pick him up, but I tell her, "Be nice to puppy" she then just pats him on the head and goes about her business. Maybe just keep the puppy and child separate from one another, or wait till the toddler is older?

[sherile47]

Did anyone else notice the OP is no longer responding? Would you? First time on, asking for advice and his parenting skills get questioned because a 2 year old tried to play hard with a puppy? These responses are why I quit reading this site every day. Do you all really think they "allowed" the little girl to kick and hit the dog? Do you really think they just sat there and watched? Oh, and let's stop this breeder from breeding any more because she "Let" a baby kick a dog. Really? Do you really think everyone just sat and watched? I have learned so much from this site and that knowledge helps me care for my dogs every day. But really...


I'm out.

[concretegurl]

Originally Posted by sherile47

Did anyone else notice the OP is no longer responding? Would you? First time on, asking for advice and his parenting skills get questioned because a 2 year old tried to play hard with a puppy? These responses are why I quit reading this site every day. Do you all really think they "allowed" the little girl to kick and hit the dog? Do you really think they just sat there and watched? Oh, and let's stop this breeder from breeding any more because she "Let" a baby kick a dog. Really? Do you really think everyone just sat and watched? I have learned so much from this site and that knowledge helps me care for my dogs every day. But really...


I'm out.

It's not polite to attack people for giving their opinion...especially when they were asked to give it.

Really how about they just create a poll then & say vote with no comments since you feel you get to control the answers people give? When asked to give...

I don't get the logic, sorry.

I get responses I don't like, all the time.

I don't, didn't leave I just thought about the advice, suggestions, opinions etc and make my choices, stay learn enjoy, post etc.

[Rhetts_mama]

Originally Posted by ap7dgs

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. My family is strongly considering getting a yorkie. I took my family to a respectable puppy breeder in our area. My wife and kids fell in love with him. However, my youngest, which is 2 years old, tried several times to kick or beat him up. We really love this dog, but I'm just so worried that my toddler would do something to really hurt or injury him. Does anyone have any advice on how to introduce a Yorkie into a new home with toddlers? What are some tips for getting them to coexist peacefully?

Originally Posted by sherile47

Did anyone else notice the OP is no longer responding? Would you? First time on, asking for advice and his parenting skills get questioned because a 2 year old tried to play hard with a puppy? These responses are why I quit reading this site every day. Do you all really think they "allowed" the little girl to kick and hit the dog? Do you really think they just sat there and watched? Oh, and let's stop this breeder from breeding any more because she "Let" a baby kick a dog. Really? Do you really think everyone just sat and watched? I have learned so much from this site and that knowledge helps me care for my dogs every day. But really...


I'm out.

That's your definition of "playing hard" with a puppy? Wow.

[imdll]

The first post from the OP was pretty short and maybe didn't describe things the best. I can certainly understand members feeling some initial apprehension. Then the OP went into more detail and seems to describe a decent teaching moment that sounds like it was handled well. Yet after describing things better and indicating a change in the behavior of the little child, the OP gets blasted and told they should "consider parenting classes" and their breeder is obviously not a "reputable breeder" and needs to stop breeding "IMMEDIATELY"! (There are other comments but these are the high points or low points as the case may be.) Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions and passing snap judgements.

Gee I wonder why sherili47 says she pretty much chooses not to read on here anymore? Sure glad we could give her more reason not to come back. I wonder how many other members have decided to quit coming on here because of the atmosphere sometimes?

If indeed "we are being played for fools" then maybe we could try not playing the part? If there is any suspcion we are being played then maybe we should do what we can to avoid providing the obvious payoff? People wouldn't find it fun to lay bait if there wasn't a payoff. Remove the payoff and I suspect most false posts would magically disappear.

OP, if you are genuine and not playing people for fools, your error came in not using the very best words to describe the situation in your initial post. It seems that people must choose their words very carfully or risk getting hammered. Sadly even after you did explain further you were already doomed from your first post. Apparently no explanation can change your initial choice of description, because there's no digging out after you've been tried and convicted on your initial statements.

For those who think this happens on every board. I have actually seen boards where you can't predict with such certainty that someone will be attacked if they describe something that concerns people. There actually are people who can express concern without attacking or calling into question a person's parenting skills or condemning a breeder willing to give a family with children a chance to show over time that they can provide a safe home for one of their pups. Believe it or not.

[concretegurl]

A reputable breeder would not sell a pup to someone who came into their home with a 2 year old


who then tried to kick & beat up their puppy.

Enough said.

[KazzyK810]

Originally Posted by concretegurl

A reputable breeder would not sell a pup to someone who came into their home with a 2 year old


who then tried to kick & beat up their puppy.

Enough said.

I got my first yorkie when my son was a few weeks shy of his 3rd birthday, and my daughter had just turned 5yrs old. My breeder (who had young kids of her own) required meeting the kids in her home before even considering placement....and it was no 20 minute visit where you might be able to keep your kids behaving with their best manners, but rather a 3 hour long afternoon visit. She saw how my kids were on first impression and how they were a hour or so later and my youngest how he was when he was starting to get tired and cranky. It wasn't just a case of whether I wanted one of her pups, but was also whether she wanted one of her pups raised as a member of my family.

[Rhetts_mama]

*Number of dog bites that occur in the US each year: 4.5 million, 1:5 of those bites are serious enough to require medical attention.
*Odds of a child being bitten: 3.2:1
*Of the dogs that bite, 77% were owned by the family or a family friend.
*Highest incidence of bites occur in children between the ages of 5-9, with the median age of all dog bites being 15 (boys have the highest rate).
*In children under 4, 47% of the time the attacker was the family dog.
*Children seen in the emergency department were more likely to have been bitten in the face than an older person (77%).

Source: CDC

So, who gets the blame? The mean old dogs, of course. Heaven forbid that we as parents ever admit that our children aren't the angels we make them out to be or that we aren't as vigilant as we claim we are. We aren't about to admit that yelling at a child once to not do something around a dog isn't a "fix" to the problem. Is it the fault of the child? Not really. They truly are missing the portion of the brain that allows them to control their impulses and forsee consequences. Instead we dump the dog at a shelter or pawn it off on someone else so we don't have to work on the real problem. So, who's really to blame? Bet you don't like the answer to that one.

[gracielove]

I would be more concerned about why my 2 year old would want to kick and hurt a little puppy. That is bad behavior even for a 2 year old. If the breeder still wants to sell you that puppy after your child tried to harm it that breeder is not reputable. Right now it sounds like your home does not need a pet of any kind. You might work on teaching your children how to be kind and respect all life forms.

There is a lot of time and training that goes into raising a puppy. It would be very difficult for you to keep that puppy away from your children in order to protect it and the puppy would not get the care it needs to be properly socialized and trained.

I also had small children when I had a small dog but the young children were not allowed to touch the dog--period. As they got older they were allowed to touch the dog only when I was there to help them. I was a stay at home mom. Animals are not for the children's entertainment and every child should know that. Pets should never be considered toys for kids. I have seen far too many families get pets that they have to dispose of later because the animal has bit or scratched the child. Of course an animal that has been hurt by a child will try to get away or protect it's self. Every family is different but it sounds like this person has issues that need to be dealt with before they bring any puppy into their home.

[chachi]

Originally Posted by imdll

The first post from the OP was pretty short and maybe didn't describe things the best. I can certainly understand members feeling some initial apprehension. Then the OP went into more detail and seems to describe a decent teaching moment that sounds like it was handled well. Yet after describing things better and indicating a change in the behavior of the little child, the OP gets blasted and told they should "consider parenting classes" and their breeder is obviously not a "reputable breeder" and needs to stop breeding "IMMEDIATELY"! (There are other comments but these are the high points or low points as the case may be.) Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions and passing snap judgements.

Gee I wonder why sherili47 says she pretty much chooses not to read on here anymore? Sure glad we could give her more reason not to come back. I wonder how many other members have decided to quit coming on here because of the atmosphere sometimes?

If indeed "we are being played for fools" then maybe we could try not playing the part? If there is any suspcion we are being played then maybe we should do what we can to avoid providing the obvious payoff? People wouldn't find it fun to lay bait if there wasn't a payoff. Remove the payoff and I suspect most false posts would magically disappear.

OP, if you are genuine and not playing people for fools, your error came in not using the very best words to describe the situation in your initial post. It seems that people must choose their words very carfully or risk getting hammered. Sadly even after you did explain further you were already doomed from your first post. Apparently no explanation can change your initial choice of description, because there's no digging out after you've been tried and convicted on your initial statements.

For those who think this happens on every board. I have actually seen boards where you can't predict with such certainty that someone will be attacked if they describe something that concerns people. There actually are people who can express concern without attacking or calling into question a person's parenting skills or condemning a breeder willing to give a family with children a chance to show over time that they can provide a safe home for one of their pups. Believe it or not.

Blah blah blah

[Ringo1]

Absolutely do not get a yorkie puppy. Your child is not ready and you are setting up both your child and the puppy for failure and disappointment.

My breeder also required meeting the family members in the house and would not sell to a family with young children. Mainly because yorkies are so fragile; a quick read thorugh the Sick and Injured forum will give you that information. Their fine bones break easily.

When the time is right - I'm thinking a pup that has some sturdier bones and whose tempermant is suited to a rambanctious child.

To those who think this is the meanest forum in town - you are wrong. I belong to a parenting forum that would knock your socks off.

[gidget529]

Originally Posted by McheleM

Tried to PLAY HARD? The kid tried to hit and kick a puppy, several times.. A small yorkie puppy, who probably weighs a pound at most. That would be the equivalent of a 250 pound man hitting and kicking a 100 pound man.

Jeffrey Dahmer used to mutilate dogs and cats for fun. Look where that got him.

I know what you are trying to say the relation between a 1 lb dog and a 2 year old. Actually, the average weight for a 2 year old is around 30 pounds. Therefore, it is an even greater difference. It is a 30:1 difference. It is like a 100 lb girl (don't I wish I was one) being hit by a 3000 lb man. You are right, the proportional difference is great.

Please feel free to help my wording or grammar at any time - it needs it.