Any of you have rotties and small children?

[Rottnlove]

I'm just curious to know how many of you have rotties and little children? I've got 2 little boys, ages 17 months and 6 years. Anyway, I'm doing my research. I want to know how it's going with your rotties and children. I need to know what I may expect if I adopt a rottie into my family with little kids. I plan to have another child in the future, not sure when though. I know many of you have babies and rotties. I want to make sure I make a good decision when the time comes. :D Any advice or thoughts on this would be very beneficial! :)

[whitney greenway]

I have one Rottweiler, cat and a six year old child.

Camden is a rescue dog.

We will have had the Rottweiler two years in August.

He has been very good with my child, but is not good with other children.

I have to keep him crated when Slade has her friends come over.

He is not a children friendly dog. That is just my situation.

Good luck with the research!

[LisaCass]

Hi there!

I am relatively new to Rotties, but not children...and not working dogs. I have Jack Russell Terriers, and I was given LOTS of negativity when I began my quest for a breeder. I had to really search and it was a lot of waiting for just the right one. I needed a dog with a proven temperment in their breeding history, as well as a breeder that would sell to someone with young children. I finally found the perfect person and the perfect puppy. I shipped from Michigan ( I live in Florida) because that was where the puppy I wanted was from. With hard work and dedication it has paid off. Now I know JRTS are less than 1/4 the size, but they have high prey drives, LOTS of energy, and do NOT tolerate being annoyed by kids.

The bottom line for me is, I trained my kids to be dog-friendly. They know how to approach a dog, when not to approach a dog, and that it is UNACCEPTABLE to pull, pinch, or otherwise mistreat the dogs. On the flip side, my dogs are NOT allowed to mouth my children, and they are crated when we eat. I never, even now, leave my kids unattended with the Jacks. They know that just as my dogs aren't to play with their toys, unless they are playing WITH the dogs, their toys are off limits.

It has been a tremendous amount of work, but it has paid off. I have a smooth running home with kids and dogs getting along well. They are so very patient and gentle with Mac, and he is getting the idea that mouthing is not allowed. Now if I could just get the point across about the kids' toys...(and shoes...and so on...) :)

I know it may be different with a larger dog, and JRT temperments are a bit different, but, they are high-energy working dogs. I am sure some of these strategies will help!

;) Lisa

PS. my kids are 5 and almost 4. They were 3 nd 18 months when I got my first Jack.

[Terrie]

First and for-most NEVER leave kids unsupervised with the dog. Their size alone is a good reason.

I don't have kids of my own but my nieces, nephews and friend’s kids are always over:), at least one kid a day. My 2.5 year-old male is fantastic with kids. But........I have trained him to always be gentle no exceptions! No mouthing, no jumping, no stealing toys and no pushing over. He’s to the point where he just lies down when kids comes over. At the same time the kids have been taught to “be nice to the Payton”, no pushing, no pulling, no hitting, only gentle petting, no running and no screaming. All the kids who walk in my house know my rules about Payton and they follow them very well. Both the kids and Payton know that if these rules are not followed Payton will be put in another room. I do this not because a dog bite could cost me a lot of money and the life of my dog but because if anything ever happened I would be absolutely devastated.

I baby-sat for a couple who had 2 big rotts(each 120+ lbs.) and 2 small children. The dogs, a mother and son, were fantastic also. They helped the kids learn to walk, sit-up, they slept outside their doors at night and were the best of friends until the end but they were never left alone.

As I have learned time after time on this forum training is the key to a happy relationship.

Good luck:D

[Homerhomer]

2 year old male rottie and a 7 year old child. The dog just loves children but that doesn't mean that he is ever left with them unsupervised regardles if it's just with my son or with other kids.
Most dogs don't view children as the leaders of the pack, that's one of many reasons why so many bites happen.
Nothing wrong with having kids and dogs, just have to be extra carefull, dogs are dogs not babies, they think like dogs not like humans and they act like dogs not like humans. The kids that come over often are used to Homer and like him a lot, yet when they start running and I see that Homer wants to join them I put him in the crate.

[MybabyZeus]

IMO, to have a dog and children in the same house and expect them Never to be alone together does not seem feasable. We have 3 rotts, two kids. My children are 7 and 9 and we have a huge family, believe me, my house is kid central. We've had rotts since the children were babies. It would be more realistic to say don't leave your untrained/unsocialized rott around your untaught child. I'm not going to lie, it is hard, hard work.

You have to train the dog while teaching the child. It takes tons of patience and it can become REALLY repetitive. BUT, if you hang in there, your work will pay off. My children were taught right from the start what was unacceptable for them to do to the dogs (push, pull, ride, hogtie, paint or anything else they can think of. Eventhough my son actually decided the other day that he was going to do my oldest males hair. And yes, he looked real cute with the GEL in his hair but it meant an immediate bath (right after I showered of course) and giving up what I thought would be a nice quiet night on the couch. Kids! you gotta love'em.

One thing that help alot was that the dogs were never allowed in the kids rooms. And everyone was involved in training.

[Gryphon]

I have two little girls, 10 & 8 and two big dogs, Gryph the Rott and Cliff the Anotolian. We have never had any problems with the bunch of them living together but as others have said, they are NEVER left unattended together, NEVER!

My dogs would not hurt the kids because frankly, they don't seems to care if the kids are there or not but I do worry about the kids doing something stupid around the dogs (or other animals as we have many) whether it's intentional or accidental. As they say "Shtuff Happens" and I am not willing to take the chance by leaving them unattended.

Training is something that must happen though for both the dogs AND the kids. My kids have chores to do that involve helping with the animals and I think that has helped a lot in terms of them learning to have respect for the animals and how the animals react to them in different situations.

I also think it has been easy for us as we have two little girls and they are not the type to want to play hard with the dogs like little boys would tend to do. (I know, that's a sexist remark, but I think it's true)

[whitney greenway]

Gryphon,

Not a sexist remark at all! We have one girl.

I feel the same way. Also as everyone has said, mine is never left unattended with my child.

Nor, is my cat. He is the one to worry about.

Beautiful, but psycho!

I really need to post a post a picture of Nigel soon.

[MybabyZeus]

I'm not trying to be cynical here, But I have to ask. How do you guys work that out? I mean, is everyone in the house always in the same room? I find it nearly impossible to Never leave the dogs alone with the kids. Maybe you guys could give her some pointers on how exactly to accomplish that. I mean what about when you use the bathroom, or shower, or just walk out to take the trash outside. Really, you NEVER leave your kids alone with the pets. I'm stumped here. It just seems impossible to me.

[Wyzz Kydd]

We have a two and a half year old male Rottie (not fixed). One child in the house, a boy 16. The Rottie views him as an adult and knows the boy is higher in the pecking order than he is, so no problems there and no need to be worried about leaving them unsupervised. There are quite a few smaller children in the neighborhood ranging in age from infants to teens. Several of the smaller ones (I'm guessing between 6 and 11 or 12) like to come by and play with Duncan. He loves kids and has never shown any aggression toward them.

Having said that, I would never allow them to play together unsupervised. Although he is trained not to jump on people he will jump around them and might knock one down. Additionally, many of the children get excited, run/flap their hands in the air and do other things that tend to get him excited. Never been a problem yet, but I will always be present to ensure it does not become one. I like having them over, it is good experience for Duncan, keeps him socialized.

[2rotties2luv]

The dog can be crated when you can't supervise. When my daughter was very little, I used to take showers, take the trash out, etc. while she was napping or sleeping at night, and the dog would be in his crate.

When my daughter was older, the dog was restricted to downstairs, with a baby gate across the bottom of the stairs so he couldn't follow my daughter up to her room. I always encouraged the dog to stay by me and would crate him if he wanted to follow my daughter and I had to be elsewhere (cooking, talking on phone, etc.) The dog would be leashed or crated if my daughter had friends over.

I always found it the easiest to keep the dog close to me (on a leash if necessary) - that way my daughter could have more freedom in the house, and I could still keep my eye on the dog. Don't get me wrong, they had plenty of opportunity to play together and interact, but always under my supervision.

The dog usually followed me into the bathroom too.......:D

[Gryphon]

Originally posted by MybabyZeus
I'm not trying to be cynical here, But I have to ask. How do you guys work that out? I mean, is everyone in the house always in the same room? I find it nearly impossible to Never leave the dogs alone with the kids. Maybe you guys could give her some pointers on how exactly to accomplish that. I mean what about when you use the bathroom, or shower, or just walk out to take the trash outside. Really, you NEVER leave your kids alone with the pets. I'm stumped here. It just seems impossible to me.

Wow, I guess I never really thought about it... the dogs are always with me... they follow me from room to room where ever I go. Some times we use the baby gates to keep the dogs out of parts of the house. It has just become a way of life to always have the pups around and not leave the kids with them unattended.

:D:D:DYou mean other people have more freedom than that and still have a Rottie?:D:D:D

[Soapie&Buddy'sMom]

This is going to sound really bad, but based on my own experience, I would never leave a child alone with any dog. I was a terrible kid - very bratty - and I did things like shut the cat into the kitchen drawer and hit the dog. I don't remember how old I was, but I remember doing it so I must have been at least five or six. So although I certainly don't think every kid is as bad as I was, I know it's possible and I would never take that chance.

[bosco]

I have 3 rotties and 2 children ages 6 and 7.My dogs are good with my children and so far all kids that have been to our home.However,they are always supervised and if one of my children cries for some reason,my female is first on the scene to see what is going on.My daughter enjoys putting dress up clothes on the dogs and they don't mind a bit.Two of my dogs have been raised with the children and the last is a rescue we have had about a month,but he is great with them.

[whitney greenway]

Mine sticks to me like super glue. He follows me eveywhere. If something happens that I/we need a time out, he goes in his crate. Or into the backyard for some exercise.

He has never been left alone with my daughter. I have never worried about anything happening, but I just feel better safe than sorry.

My child is an animal person. Never done anything to harm any animal. But I learned about not leaving her unattended due to my cat. He is a very agressive to anybody for no reason, we all have the scars to prove it.