# Puppy and toddler???



## Christel (Aug 5, 2008)

We have recently purchased a Chesapeake bay retriever puppy and our one year old doesn't like him. He likes to bite when you try to pat him or if you are just sitting on the floor to his level he likes to just bite onto your hand, shirt, pants, arm, etc.. I feel that we cant have the puppy with our daughter with the fear he is going to bite her. I know he is teething so I need some help on breaking him of the nipping.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

How old is your puppy?


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## Christel (Aug 5, 2008)

He turned 9 weeks this past monday.


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## Allydog (Jun 14, 2008)

I have a 3 yr old and we got Ally at 8 weeks, my daughter wasn't yet 3....Ally is pretty good but did nip or scratch while playing...I had to teach my daughter how to play or not to play with Ally..like don't hold the dogs toys in your hand and taunt her...also, I taught Ally "leave it". Its like having 2 toddlers in the house...you have to watch both of them because they both are babies and learning. Ally is now 6 months old and I still have the occasional "she scratched me"...but its much better.


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## Christel (Aug 5, 2008)

My daughter is 13 months so she cant yet tell him no and push him down when he jumps on her. I just dont know what to do!


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## reinawolf360 (Aug 4, 2008)

Christel said:


> We have recently purchased a Chesapeake bay retriever puppy and our one year old doesn't like him. He likes to bite when you try to pat him or if you are just sitting on the floor to his level he likes to just bite onto your hand, shirt, pants, arm, etc.. I feel that we cant have the puppy with our daughter with the fear he is going to bite her. I know he is teething so I need some help on breaking him of the nipping.


buy him lots of teething toys, i know it is a bit wrong to spoil them but if you can or if you have a bit of extra money to throw about give him lots of bones, plushies, cow hooves, pig knuckles whatever you can get him and if he gets nippy with you pick up a toy and put it in his mouth and play for a few minutes till he gets tired. he'll eventually stop the biting of people.


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

I am a stay at home grandma to my 13 month old grandson. My puppy is 11 week old 30 plus pound Mastiff/Border Collie mix. He is in clicker puppy training class. One time when my grandson was in his walker (does not walk yet) my puppy thought his leg was a chew toy. He did leave some marks. He has not done it since. I heard you can use bitter apple if they try to put teeth on anything including skin. My grandson loves dogs and all animals. My puppy was also raised by a lady that had about 8 kids and tons of other animals simular to my animals. I am concerned because he is going to be so big but so far it is working out much better than I thought. The picture below was taken when we first got him. He was trying to get in the stoller with him. He later learned to get in the back of the stroller. He also helps push. He will out grow this soon. When we are out feeding the horses he watches my grandson. I know he will protect him. Maybe there visits together just need to be more supervised until they learn to like each other.


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## Allydog (Jun 14, 2008)

Christel said:


> My daughter is 13 months so she cant yet tell him no and push him down when he jumps on her. I just dont know what to do!


I'd get him in some puppy classes so you can teach him not to jump or nip at her...remember, he's a baby too and he doesn't know...puppies use their mouth just like toddlers do...except they have razor sharp teeth. And you just have to make sure you completely supervise them together.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

1. Get the puppy in puppy classes and ACTIVELY teach bite inhibition - see sticky at the top of this page.
2. The puppy and your daughter should NEVER EVER be unsupervised together. *YOU* need to be there and supervising closely in order to tell him "NO!" if he lays teeth on skin. 

I'd recommend play pens for both your daughter and your puppy- or heck, even just one good big exercise pen would do. Whenever one's in, one is out.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

reinawolf360 said:


> buy him lots of teething toys, i know it is a bit wrong to spoil them but if you can or if you have a bit of extra money to throw about give him lots of bones, plushies, cow hooves, pig knuckles whatever you can get him and if he gets nippy with you pick up a toy and put it in his mouth and play for a few minutes till he gets tired. he'll eventually stop the biting of people.


Do you have any idea how impossible it is to read that font color on at least some monitors?


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## Toby4Life (Jun 2, 2008)

It sounds like there is work to do on bite inhibition (not surprising considering his age). Until this is done and he can reliably play with adults without biting than I wouldn't allow any playing between your toddler and puppy. There can still be some limited, closely monitored interraction, but only when both are calm and there is no playing involved. 

You said your daughter is too young to push him down and tell him no, but it really shouldn't even come down to this. Until your pup is more reliable, I wouldn't allow any interraction where you aren't right there and able to speak/act for your daughter. 

I also got a puppy when my son was very young (9 mos. in my case) and I didn't allow them together unless I was with-in arms reach and even that was very limited until Toby (the dog) was more gentle with us. Don't allow the dog to do anything to you that you wouldn't allow with your daughter. Eventually he'll be able to differentiate and he'll know what he can do w/ you that he can't do with the baby, but he's too young to expect that from yet. 

The above post about "two toddlers" is right on, the difference is that one has claws, razor sharp teeth, and boundless energy. Your first goal needs to be to teach your pup how to act, but don't forget to teach your daughter how to act as well. Good Luck!!!


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## Christel (Aug 5, 2008)

My daughter is very scared of him and I have never let the pup near her unless I am sitting next to her so he cant get her. He is a very smart pup (retrieves a ball and stuffed bird) knows how to sit. After he has played hard with my husband I try to have Felicia pet him while he is calm. She will touch his tail and that's it.


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## Allydog (Jun 14, 2008)

thats a great idea to have her pet the pup after he's tired....my nephew who is also 3 is afraid of Ally too....what I do is make sure she is on a leash when he is around..then I so get her nice and tired and have her lay down..then my nephew will pet her. If the dog has jumped and nipped at her its going to take her time to trust him. Give both of them time....I'd keep them seperate for now until you get the pup into puppy classes...I wouldn't push your daughter to pet him..let her see how you and your husband play and pet the dog...she'll come around.


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

Is this the only dog your daughter is afraid of?

My grandson was afraid of our goats for awhile. I just left him near the goats everyday where they would talk to him but they couldn't touch. He now pets then and does not act afraid. Give her lots of time. Wait until she has a desire to know him better and get him in puppy class as soon as he is up on his shots. I love my puppy class.


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## Christel (Aug 5, 2008)

Yes and I think she is only afraid of him because he is very jumpy and likes to try and get at her every chance he gets. We have a 5 year old Chihuahua and she loves her. She goes to daycare every day at my mothers and they have two dogs as well that she is not afraid of. They are also a Bassett and Pekinese and older so they are not as energetic.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Your pupy is just being a puppy. And being that toddlers are prone to "patting" instead of "petting", the dog sees her jumping around, playing loudly as toddlers sometimes do...your pup sees this as a littermate or playmate. Pups love that kind of thing. But your daughter doesn't want to, and shouldn't be (and you indicate she's not), the plaything. But the puppy doesn't know this yet.

So, until you get the pup into some obedience classes and just the mere fact of getting a little older and learning new boundaries, I would keep your daughter and the dog separated. Perhaps you can have limited exposure to your daughter withthe pup sitting on your lap so you have total control if the pup gets overanxious. 

And I also second Dogstar's suggestion of using the sticky at the top of then training page section on bite inhibition.


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## reinawolf360 (Aug 4, 2008)

RonE said:


> Do you have any idea how impossible it is to read that font color on at least some monitors?


oh...im sorry  ill choose another color next time


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I recommend black.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

Christel said:


> We have recently purchased a Chesapeake bay retriever puppy and our one year old doesn't like him. He likes to bite when you try to pat him or if you are just sitting on the floor to his level he likes to just bite onto your hand, shirt, pants, arm, etc.. I feel that we cant have the puppy with our daughter with the fear he is going to bite her. I know he is teething so I need some help on breaking him of the nipping.


This is a 9-wk. old BABY, and the behavior is NORMAL. Unfortunately, the time to have learned how to effectively raise a puppy and deal with normal behaviors, like mouthing/nipping, was BEFORE you brought a puppy home! But, now that he's there, you will need to learn how to train him, and teach him manners. Enroll in a puppy class, and learn how to work with your puppy. 

Your 13-month old daughter shouldn't be playing with the puppy at this young age unsupervised. I greatly limit the contact of young puppies with young children, and teach them how to appropriately touch and interact with the puppy, concurrently working with the puppy. Raising a puppy is a huge committment of time, energy, effort, and patience during those first two years. I hope you've got a crate and are crate training this puppy! Chessie's can be a challenge, so you might want to enlist the help of a trainer to get you on the right track.


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## colliemom (Sep 1, 2008)

*Please Rehome the Chessie!*

Dear Puppy and Baby Mom,

I was raised with Chessies, but we got one just like your biter two years ago. He was a biter from the day we got him, and growled at the vet at his 9 week puppy visit. We tried puppy class, bitter apple spray, advanced training and agility, everything. The first trainer we tried said it was a problem with his bite inhibition; the behavior progressed instead of getting better. Our little guy slowly became more aggressive in puppy class until I couldn't bring him, then began biting people he knew. Finally I could not take him out leash walking without him trying to lunge and attack. At the age of two we had to euthanize him at three vets' and the Chessie rescue's recommendation. 

I understand the advice the other folks are giving you-- nipping and biting is normal. But in a Chessie it can be a sign of worse things to come. Go to the Chesapeake Club of America web page and look at the breed health survey on one of the link pages (hard to find, but it's there): 20% of the dogs have significant aggression problems and epilepsy/brain damage. 20% of Chessies do not make it to age 5, and 10% do not make it to age 2. The breed is ruined; it is not you, and this is not normal. While this is very sad, it is worse to put a helpless child in danger. Please do not have this dog around your baby. 

The best chances for your Chessie's survival and life is to call a rescue group right now, so they can retrain him and rehome him in a place without a child, and hopefully his problem (incipient canine rage syndrome) will not progress. If he is unadoptable, he is young enough right now to be at home with an experienced Chessie handler for as long as his health lasts. When we euthanized our dog, the aggression was accompanied by kidney and liver problems-- highly unusual for a 2 year old dog, but consistent with the Chessie club's statistics of early death. This means we had no recourse in terms of using pharmaceuticals to treat him and euthanasia was our only option. There are major illnesses in the breed, and their problems are understudied. 

This biting Chessie is not a nipping doodle or beagle or collie. Please do not keep this dog around a baby!

note: since CRS is a brain problem, training reinforces the disease and speeds up the progress of the aggression. There is a great deal of research on CRS in Britain; in the US it's more commonly known as "aggression" or temporal lobe epilepsy. If your pup exhibits compulsive tail chasing or other weird behavior, you've definitely got a sick pup on your hands. You are in a potentially tragic situation and need to call Chessie Rescue and rehome the pup. 

I unfortunately expect heckling on this board because there is a pernicious theory that there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. Our first Chessie lived to 18, our collie mix to 14, and we have two lovely collies now, who are so friendly it defies words-- they are marvelous with all children. With our poor baby Chessie we received a lot of abuse from ignorant humans-- umpteen Dog Whisperer tapes, harassing remarks, and abuse from relatives and friends who assumed that we had never heard of bitter yuck spray, training academy, or other normal training techniques. This heckling made us feel overguilty, spending thousands of dollars on training, boarding, vet visits, all the while attending to a very sick doggie who could not be cured, only loved for the short time we had him. In the end, rescue told us to euthanize him, three vets told us to euthanize him, and the amateur experts who said it was our fault were a source of great pain and annoyance. May you be spared anything similar. 

Do not fall prey to this heckling from inner or outer voices. The disease is in the breed, and it is new. There is a novel theory that Chessies were bred to guard the catch (translation: they're supposed to be vicious dogs), but I never heard this before two years ago, and my aunt bred Chessies for twenty years. Surely all must admit that it's abnormal and tragic for 20% of a breed to die by age 5. Your Chessie's best chances of happiness are to be rehomed with Rescue, either in permanent foster or in a home without a child. 

_*Your one year old knows something and is trying to tell you!!!!!!!*_

As for pups, please choose a gentle, nonbiting breed when you have a child. Certainly look up "canine rage syndrome" and stay away from spaniels (Cocker and Springer), Dobermans, Chessies, German Shepherds, and the other breeds affected. This does not mean every line within a breed is affected, or even that all Chessies are affected (only 10-20%), but it is safer and better to find a breed with no strains of aggression in it at all. 

This experience can be positive in the long run. My gratitude for the Chessie Rescue groups' help in making that awful decision has made me get involved with rescue myself. I'm still traumatized by knowing that this can happen to anyone's dog, not just a proverbial "bad owner." I work with gentle breeds and collies (noted nonbiters!). You will be better and stronger for rehoming the pup now-- while it still has a chance to be medicated, monitored, maybe even cured. Science hasn't caught up with the breed's aggression but maybe it will in your pup's lifetime. Please do not wait for the pup to hurt your child or someone else's. Be a hero and rehome it, then get a gentle dog that your baby likes. Kids know.... 

Godspeed, 
CollieMom.... and ChessieMom forever


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

*Re: Please Rehome the Chessie!*

I absolutely love Chessies but they are definitely not like other retriever breeds. While the worst case scenario that Colliemom posted is unlikely, it is defintely true that Chessies take firm, fair, consistent handling and training. Get that puppy into puppy classes asap (positive only at this stage of life) followed by classes that use positive methods and corrections at the appropriate time (during the proofing stage of training something).

To the OP: I'm curious as to why you chose this particular breed?


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