I remembered reading a great blog piece about this. I think someone here had originally linked it but I can't be sure.

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Good Dogs Don’t Bite Children, Do They? | Dogs and Babies

Posted by: Madeline Gabriel (on her blog)

"Instead, the calls usually start off with, “The bite came out of the blue! He was always so good with the baby,” followed by a list of all the various things the dog has put up with without apparent complaint."


"What we forget is that all dogs, even good dogs, have limits to their tolerance. Every action by a child that surprises, frightens, annoys, hurts or otherwise bothers a dog is, essentially, a withdrawal from that “bank account” of goodwill. At some point this balance dips low, maybe on a bad day or maybe after an on-going history of incursions. Bam! That’s when you see the growl or snap or bite."

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Great article. So true. Thanks for posting.

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Solinvictus - this is one reason I "preach" teaching soft mouth. IMHO one can never inhibit the tendency of a dog to bite, it is in their nature. But if the dog is not otherwise aggressive, teaching soft mouth can save future stitches.
Since we have little grandchildren, I have come down to Rose's level, blew on her nose and ears and taught her how to respond to it appropriately. Little kids are closer to the teeth than we are and they breath heavier than we are, are louder than adults are.

I was once sitting on the floor with a 6 month old Brady and my four year old daughter. Out of the blue, Brady growled and snapped at her, actually leaving a mark. I could not understand why, they were both right in front of me. Totally out of character for Brady, and my daughter always had huge dogs and cats, and was always very good. I asked her what she did, and she said nothing.

The next day I dropped her off at daycare, we are very close with the family that owns the daycare, the owner is like my kids second mother. She calls me up that day to tell me that Alyssa told her what she did ( I guess she felt bad ) and was afraid to tell me. She had tried to pick a boogie out of Brady's nose. No wonder why he snapped! And this all happened with the two of them sitting 5 inches from me! She probably has always seen me cleaning the pets eyes, ears, etc and thought nothing of it.

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I have also been told by behaviorists that dogs have a hard time reading body language in children under 12. I am sure that can be confusing for them too.

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That's one of the best articles I've read...because it makes you think. I just posted it for a member on my other board that lets his kids interact with their dog in ways that are not appropriate. This dog weighs in at about 110 lbs. at only 8 months old. His small kids hug him and kiss him on the face all the time. I cringed when I read that. Scary situation that could go ugly in a matter of seconds. So thank you so much for posting this, I hope it gets through to people that think their dogs will/should put up with anything from their kids.

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Karen, Chance, Lucy and Savanah RB



“Everyone needs a dog to adore him, and a cat to bring him back to reality”

Thank you for posting this. Can we make it a sticky in the puppy section? Or somewhere? I'd love to see all parents of small children who get a puppy or an older dog read this.

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This is great. I definitely needed to read that with this baby on the way. We probably would have gone into this with the assumption that Koda would tolerate it all but we will make sure to keep those tips in mind and use them!

Thanks so much!

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This has got me thinking. Maybe I act inappropriately to Bear!!

I love hugs and kissing him on the snout. I sometimes ruffle the fur on his head. Maybe I am dipping low in my goodwill check book. Thanks for the post!!!!


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We hug and kiss Koda all the time as well. Usually she still has her happy face, if we are too much in her face, she pulls away and we respect that. I hope I am not making her upset...

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