Now baby is moving. You and your dog have to deal with whole new level of child. The concern at this stage is the child is extremely unsteady and completely unaware of how to control his grip. If you have a dog who has never loved being roughly handled management is going to be an important part of your everyday life. Keep in mind this stage doesn't last that long, you will not have to manage forever.
Some dogs are going to be completely comfortable with a child who occasionally lands on them or grabs them hard and some are not. I would spend some time before my child reaches this stage helping the dog get used to some rough handling. For example grab an ear feed a cookie. At first start gently but work up to pretty hard. Of course you are never going to allow your child to abuse your dog, this is something I will address in the next part. No matter how cautious you are not always going to be right there preventing your child from grabbing the dog. Get your dog used to being asleep and being awoken harshly. At first I just nudge the dog then reward them working up to pushing them when they are sleeping and rewarding them. Not all dogs will learn to tolerate this, some dogs will always wake up snapping when startled and you will probably not be able to change this. If you have one of these dogs you have to gauge the startle is it a lot of noise but nothing else or has the dog put teeth on you. If the dog has put teeth on you some serious management has to be in effect.
One of my dogs was very uncomfortable with my child when he would crawl toward her. At first we managed by preventing the child from reaching her. I soon realized that I wasn't teaching her anything good. She was learning that we would remove the stress by removing the baby. That means that if we weren't there to remove the baby she might be put in a fight or flight position, I wanted to make sure she always chose flight. Whenever the baby would crawl towards her and she would get that panicked look we would call her and she would get rewarded for coming. She was learning to leave when the baby made her uncomfortable, this is exactly what I was looking for. Within a few weeks she lost the look of panic when the baby approached her and eventually she would lick the baby on the way by. This behaviour was labeled the tongue take down because she would usually knock him over :), don't worry he enjoyed being licked and didn't mind being knocked over.
Young babies grab hard, they just don't have the manual dexterity to control that. Sit on the ground with the child, the dog and a bowl of treats. Every time the child touches the dog, reward. Work with the child to pet not grab but regardless how gentle every time the child touches the dog, reward. Soon your dog will love these sessions of getting petted by the child regardless of how rough the child grabs. If the dog chooses to leave, let him, next time try a shorter session to leave the dog wanting more. Really good treats may also help your dog to want to stay longer. If you are doing this with multiple dogs I would start with just one and put everyone else away.
Next part: Teaching your dog to leave the child's toys alone and not to eat the child's food.
Some dogs are going to be completely comfortable with a child who occasionally lands on them or grabs them hard and some are not. I would spend some time before my child reaches this stage helping the dog get used to some rough handling. For example grab an ear feed a cookie. At first start gently but work up to pretty hard. Of course you are never going to allow your child to abuse your dog, this is something I will address in the next part. No matter how cautious you are not always going to be right there preventing your child from grabbing the dog. Get your dog used to being asleep and being awoken harshly. At first I just nudge the dog then reward them working up to pushing them when they are sleeping and rewarding them. Not all dogs will learn to tolerate this, some dogs will always wake up snapping when startled and you will probably not be able to change this. If you have one of these dogs you have to gauge the startle is it a lot of noise but nothing else or has the dog put teeth on you. If the dog has put teeth on you some serious management has to be in effect.
Young babies grab hard, they just don't have the manual dexterity to control that. Sit on the ground with the child, the dog and a bowl of treats. Every time the child touches the dog, reward. Work with the child to pet not grab but regardless how gentle every time the child touches the dog, reward. Soon your dog will love these sessions of getting petted by the child regardless of how rough the child grabs. If the dog chooses to leave, let him, next time try a shorter session to leave the dog wanting more. Really good treats may also help your dog to want to stay longer. If you are doing this with multiple dogs I would start with just one and put everyone else away.
Next part: Teaching your dog to leave the child's toys alone and not to eat the child's food.
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