[Jasiu]

We have two rather large dogs (a German shepherd and a boxer). The dogs are very gentle and friendly, and like playing with children. We have our friends with children (who range from 2-12 yrs old) over to our house fairly often and sometimes it has taken a while for the children to feel comfortable around our dogs. Does anyone have experience with introducing family pets, especially larger dogs, to your children? We realize that a lot will depend on the child's personality and age. We are waiting for a referral of one or two sibilings under 7 yrs old.

[momraine]

When we got our daughter she was very young, but what we did and plan to do again - was to start with pictures. We will bring pictures of our other children with our dogs. Perhaps if you have a close friend with a young child or neice or nephew, that loves your dogs you can take pictures. We plan to put pictures of our pets in the album we will bring our son. And the captions Kasia wrote for me will go under them in Polish and English. We figure if he has been looking at the pictures of the pets for a few weeks, he will be a little more comfortable when he meets them. I am also adding pictures of close relatives (the ones we see often), the house, his room, the school, our church, Etc. I also want to bring a poloroid camera, and we will take pictures of him with his caregivers and friends. (he is six so we are sure he will have friends) and give those to them to keep, we will take the same pictures with our digital to have them for us to keep, and we even take two with the poloriod and let him add them to his album. (we can leave blank pages) We will add (maybe letting him tell us what to take pictures of, or helping to take the pictures) pictures of his orphanage, his school, his town, etc. So his book will have pictures of his old and new home both.

[hybell]

Both of our dogs have had kid exposure on a regular basis. The lab thought we had made all of his dreams come true the day we brought our son home. The smaller retriever was less than thrilled. For her (the smaller dog), having family or friends over was completely different than bringing a child home for good. In addition, our son had no experience with dogs. He wasn't afraid, but his first impulse was to jump on them and ride them like horses. There was no comparison between the neighbor and family kids, and an overstressed PI child with sensory issues.

We also did a picture book with a pictures of our yellow lab and Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (smaller, more active retrieving breed). He was very excited and asked incessantly about his "pies."

We brought him home first, and the dogs came home from the kennel the next day. If I had it to do over again, I would have waited at least one additional day. I was just too tired for the hullabaloo caused by one hyper 4 year old with no sleep, and 2 very excited and friendly retrievers.

The lab did great, but my son was hesitant with him because of his size. He fawned over the smaller dog who, although she's great with the neighborhood kids, couldn't believe we would sink so low to bring one home. She growled, but never bit. We hired a trainer from the humane society to do a consult, and this helped greatly. We also crated the dogs more, and resurrected our baby gates on occasion.

A year later, my son has figured out that the dogs have different preference levels for play. He uses the lab for a canine pillow, and is quieter and more hands off with the smaller dog. Like everything else, it's a learning process.

[lastpaige]

I’ve got a monster Golden Retriever (100#), and a miniscule Italian Greyhound (10#). The majority of the problems that children have with them is being overwhelmed by the size of the one (Golden Retriever) and not understanding the barking of the other (Italian Greyhound). If you run, the Italian Greyhound thinks you’re trying to play tag and she’s it – therefore she must bark and chase you. If she’s on the back of the couch barking and wagging and you’re at eye level with her that can be a bit much!



Most children don’t have a clue how to manage or read dogs, so upon first visit to my house they get the canine rundown. The big one is following you because he wants to be friends. As soon as you pet him a bit, he’ll know you’re safe and he’ll settle down. The little one is afraid of you, but if you run, she thinks it’s time to play tag and will bark, “Tag, you’re ‘it’!”



So, I figure I’ll take note of the quirks of our dogs, and work this information into the photo albums of their new home that I’ll take to the children. While were in Poland for weeks, I’ll talk about how I miss the dogs and what they are like or would be doing if they were with us right now. We'll also discuss what is appropriate and what isn't appropriate behaviour with the dogs. When Piotr comes home (while I’m still in Poland with the children) he’ll bring two small blankets or towels back that we’ll have used on the children. They’ll get tossed in the kennel of the IGH and on the Retriever’s bed.



I love Heather’s encouragement to get a few days at home before bringing the dogs in, what a bit of wisdom. We’ll take that to heart and try to get a few nights of sleep in before out dogs rejoin us.

Now that I think of it, I think we'll bring the dogs home one at a time . . . less over-stimulation.

Well, that's how it plays out in my happy little world. We'll have to see what happens in reality!

[Jasiu]

Thank you for advice. We were planning to take an album of photographs and maybe a few children's books featuring dogs to get the child thinking about them. We thought it was a good idea to bring the dogs in a few days later, something we did not think about.

We are mostly concerned about the initial contact. We expect that everything will go well later as both dogs seem to be great with children. Depending on the age of the child(ren), we will need to set some limits. The dogs have very different personalities and will require different approach. The shepherd is very calm and friendly, loves to play in the yard and retrieve sticks and balls. He doesn't care for snuggling. The boxer is much more hyper and intense. She is more dominant and generally loves people and physical contact (interestingly, our dogs get along great with each other and play together a lot). While the shepherd is great with children of all ages, we have noticed that the boxer gets a little nervous around children under 2 years old.

We hope our children do not have a dog allergy, as our dogs are such an integral part of the family.

I am attaching a photograph of our dogs, Pasha (the shepherd) and Zoe (the boxer). Best wishes,

[suzynfm]

One thought that I had was to see if I could find a stuffed animal that looks like my dog and take it with me, so that the child will have a visual and we can talk about it and how to act around the dog. Of course this is a long way off as I am at the start of the adoption process.

[hybell]

We bought a stuffed yellow lab for our son and took pictures of each of our family members holding it for my son's album. We then gave him the stuffed animal and the album for him to hold on to between trips.

I definitely recommend buying two (at least) of the stuffed animals, however. We brought the second with us the on the second trip, and sure enough, the first one was no where to be found at dom dziecka. That's ok - I imagine he's still keeping someone company at night in Poland

[yusen]

Jasiu


Your dogs are adorable..
When we were in Poland recently,, there were many dogs of all sizes out there,, when my children were walk past them, they wouldnt even bend down to pet them noe did they comment on how cute this one was to the next one was,, This makes me a bit concerned, because we are closing in on going back to Poland to bring the children home and I have a small "Eskipoo " part Mini AMerican Eskimo and part poodle, I wonder how they will react to my little baby,, I know given time they will fall in love with him as we have,, but he is older and I worry about him snapping at them,, or that they will step on him,, all sorts of concerns are in my head..,, But I can say I am not giving up my Doggy "Rogi" and I am not giving up my 3 beautiful " Polish Angels ""

[yusen]

Here is my furry Baby< "" Rogi ""

[Jasiu]

Rogi looks very nice. Did you tell your children about Rogi and show them photographs of their puppy when you were there?

Originally Posted by yusen

Jasiu


Your dogs are adorable..
When we were in Poland recently,, there were many dogs of all sizes out there,, when my children were walk past them, they wouldnt even bend down to pet them noe did they comment on how cute this one was to the next one was,, This makes me a bit concerned, because we are closing in on going back to Poland to bring the children home and I have a small "Eskipoo " part Mini AMerican Eskimo and part poodle, I wonder how they will react to my little baby,, I know given time they will fall in love with him as we have,, but he is older and I worry about him snapping at them,, or that they will step on him,, all sorts of concerns are in my head..,, But I can say I am not giving up my Doggy "Rogi" and I am not giving up my 3 beautiful " Polish Angels ""