5mo DD and dog

[Stevie]

I have heard conflicting advice about this,
Should i be a germ-a-phobe when it comes to my DD touching my dog, many mums that i have spoken too that have dogs all have told me that she needs to get some germs to build immunty ect..
DH feels the same and isnt too concerned and he says she needs to get used to him,
im not worried about him hurting her, im ALWAYS there when he's there but i do worry aboiut the germs, but i dont wanna be constantly cleaning her coz i know thats not good either..

[feeb]

I was only cautious of germs from dogs when DS1 was to young to move (rolling started 1way at 5 months) or put things in mouth, DH regularly makes comments about dogs licking DS1 but I think I would rather a dog that loves him and puts up with him by licking him than one that is snappy.
As kids get older everything still goes in mouth for a long time So personally I would let your DD and dog develop a great friendship.

DS1 is 20 months old and never really been sick apart from colds and croup. He cuddles them, leans on them etc. Dogs not interested in DS2

[AndiE]

Hi Stevie-anne,

DH and I have two nutty, licky jack russells. We've always discouraged or stopped any sort of a lick-fest (or face licks ) but I think the dog needs to have some supervised access to the child because both are part of the family and the dog needs to understand that the child isn't competition - or a toy - for the dog iykwim.

To this end, we let the dogs give our bubs the odd a lick on the arm, leg etc - washed off afterwards. Our DS1 never suffered for it - he didn't get sick till he started daycare at 13 months . Snotty, sneezy kids seem to be worse for my DS1's health than the dogs.

So far the dogs aren't too fussed with DS2 ... maybe the novelty wore off after DS1 "grew up" .

[Stevie]

DH and I have two nutty, licky jack russells.

hehe this is what we have but we only have one lol.
Milo is really good with her, she can pull at his tail/ears/skin in general lol (all supervised of course) and he doesnt even care, he rolls onto his back and throws his head back, i think he knows that he cant hurt her.
Of course i will never leave them alone together, but i do want them to get a bond together and so i try to have him around her as much as possible (he's an inside dog ) she's only just in the last few weeks noticed that he's there and as soon as she spots hm she doesnt keep her eyes off him, its so cute.
When she starts crawling thats when ill worry a little more, coz it wont be him going after her ill have to worry about lol

[Olive]

when it comes to dogs its what they lick before they lick you *shudders* that and the things the sniff then shove their nose in your face *shudders again*

[AndiE]

Out of our two jackies, one is happy to be crawled over, the other not so happy. Think it all comes down to supervision. Our most tense time was when DS1 was starting to walk and pull himself up on things - he scared the older (now-5yo male) dog a couple of times and got snapped at. Other than scaring the crap out of DS1, and us, no damage was done and we took "supervision" to a whole new level! There's no issue now.

Our 3yo female dog (for the record, both dogs are "fixed" up) is much more easy going though she doesn't appreciate her ears being pulled. It all depends on the dog's temperament, and it sounds like you've got a sweetie.

Olive - I don't disagree with you about what a dog has licked, but when you have an inside dog and it's part of the family, I think it's impossible to stop any and all licks - sometimes your back has to be turned for 10 seconds . They've all got to learn to get along and respect each other as part of the family. Teaching a child hygiene is obviously part of the mix when you have a dog .

[AliBaby]

I have two inside dogs. A jack russell x shihtzu and a poodle x shihtzu.

In regards to the germs thing, we always exposed DD to the dogs. No licking on the face but they could lick her leg. Its there way of showing affection and I didnt want to rouse on them for being nice to her. Once she started moving and putting everything in her mouth, I stopped bothing so fussy about the dogs and germs. She is quite a healthy child and I am a believer of not wrapping in cotton wool.

With behaviour, the poodle was so close to DD when she was a bubba. Would sit outside her room when she was sleeping, if she cried he would start howling and come and get me to tend to her. They had a beautiful bond. At first my Jack russell tended to leave her alone. With her out of control movements he preferred not to be on the recieving end which was fine.

Now DD and the Jack russell are really close. He tolerates all sorts of things and in fact enjoys it because he loves games. Before we had DD we would always play with him quite roughyl but friendly because he likes it, ie, you can pull on his tail and he isnt phased, pull at his ears, fur, etc. (not in a mean way-I would never hurt my dogs but he likes the play).

I know people say never trust any animal with a baby but I would trust my dog, I honestly dont think he would ever hurt her intentionally, but I do not leave them alone as sometimes when he is playing he is so excited and thats when an accident could happen.

I think looking back I was more concerned about him destroying her toys! We have lost a few over the years to his jack russell ways but he is such a good dog.

[skybie]

Hey chick, im one of those mums who lets their kids touch and eat anything (well excpet poo!)
DD1 was very well known for her love of cat biscuits! pmsl. i would randomly through the day wipe her hands but was never like OMG she touched the dog, or dirt or anything. busted her one day eating a leaf..was very cute!
the only thing i dont let our dogs do is lick faces, thats a no go here.
Do what u feel comfortable doing, if u want to wipe her hands after touching things, then do it! she's your baby hun and even if u do this, she will build an immune system

[AnyDream]

:yeahthat: I think it's important to keep your dog healthy, make sure they are wormed for parasites & treated for fleas & ticks & washed regularly, but beyond that I don't think germ-paranoia is useful.

We discourage face licking and encourage handwashing before handling food/eating but that's kinda it.

Skybie - just watch the leaf eating - its cute until they suck on a poisonous one (my 4 yo dd did that one time) OMG scariest phone call to the poisons info centre ever - glass of milk fixed it luckily, she never tried it again LOL.