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My Toddler Won't Leave Our Pet Alone!
Keeping Children and Pets Safe
By Keath Castelloe Low
Frue and her husband first started having concerns when Raymond would give Will warning nips. "It was his way of saying 'stay away from me,'" Frue says. "It mostly just scared Will, but it raised our awareness."
The first major problem occurred on a family vacation to the lake. "Will was crawling and Raymond was asleep on the porch," Frue says. "Will crawled up and before we could get to him (we were just a few feet away), he had grabbed Raymond's privates, woken him and been bitten, all in a matter of seconds!"
The final straw occurred when her husband was out of town. "Raymond bit me very deliberately," Frue says. "It was a bad, deep bite." The family was heartbroken. The Frues loved Raymond, but they were worried for the safety of their child. Raymond could no longer live with them.
Dr. Jeff Feinman, a holistic veterinary health care practitioner for dogs and cats in Weston, Conn., says that problems between a pet and a child may begin in the toddler stage. "When the baby learns to crawl and then to walk, it enters a new phase, and your pet's view of the child may change," Dr. Feinman says. "A dog with a strong instinct to hunt small creatures may not immediately recognize this new, ground-level moving target as the same baby that days earlier was carried from place to place. Predatory behavior may be awakened in pet dogs that have never displayed any interest in hunting or any intolerance of your child."
Most dogs and cats are actually afraid of small children and are more likely to move away from them than approach them, Dr. Feinman says. He tells parents to be vigilant when their baby begins crawling. "Keep your dog by your side in a 'sit/stay' position while the baby moves about," Dr. Feinman says. "Reward its controlled response with caresses and calm words of praise."
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