How Can I Make My Children More Comfortable Around Our Dogs?
With their loud barks and unpredictable movements, it's not surprising that many children find dogs to be frightening. This fear is particularly disturbing when children share a house with dogs. Parents must resist the urge to downplay their children's fear, since telling a child "Fido won't hurt you!" will not make the fear disappear. Getting comfortable around dogs is a slow process that can take weeks or even months, but the peace and happiness that everyone will feel at the end makes the process worth the effort.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Give your children some space. Keep dogs contained in certain rooms while children are around.
-
2
Surround your children with examples of nonthreatening dogs. Look through magazines and books about raising dogs with your children, and point out all the cute dogs you see and all the funny tricks that your dogs can learn. Rent movies about dogs and read story books about children interacting with kind dogs. Research each film or book before showing it to children to ensure that the dogs don't die in the end since this can cause even more trauma.
-
-
3
Buy stuffed animals that look like your dogs. Play pretend with the toys and your children. Organize tea parties with the stuffed dogs and tuck them in with the children at night. Use the toys to teach children how to pet your dogs. While your child rubs the toy's back, hold the toy in your hand and make it wiggle around so the child gets used to petting a moving creature.
-
4
Teach children how to treat the pets. When children pull on the dog's fur or run around the room, dogs can become agitated and frighten children even further. Ask your children to pretend to be dogs while you demonstrate how to talk to them. Explain that dogs often sniff people to get to know them so children are prepared for this.
-
5
Take children with you to walk the dogs. Walking behind the dogs lets children get used to being near them without the dogs paying too much attention to them.
-
6
Hold one dog while encouraging children to sit next to you or interact with the dog. Do this every day for as long as the children seem comfortable. When children start to show fear, put the dog back in another room. Once children have no problem with you holding the dog, let it walk around the room freely while children are present. Repeat this with each dog until children are used to all of them.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
