RockysWoman-Sound advice 
For now we keep the baby gate between our Furkid & the baby (10months) Or an adult needs to be holding our son. We try to teach our 5yr old & 13yr old to constantly remind Moses that in the family pack he is low man. Our B is doing great.
I would love advice on how old my youngest should be before I can let them be together. For now we are thinking 3years or older - kids don't mean to be cruel but sometimes can hurt an animal on accident and it's only natural that the dog protect itself.
Do you mean the dog is never near the baby? Or only when someone isn't directly supervising?
I think four or so is probably an okay age to leave them together in the other room…depending on the dog, and the child. Some kids should never be left alone with a dog and vice versa!
I for sure do not know the answer but I would think that with everything being new this was just a little to much at first. Could be they love there new family so much just afraid maybe they were going to get taken away.
Please give them time and space and I am sure they will come around. Good Luck and let all of us know.
Rita Jean
Do you mean the dog is never near the baby? Or only when someone isn't directly supervising?
I think four or so is probably an okay age to leave them together in the other room…depending on the dog, and the child. Some kids should never be left alone with a dog and vice versa!
Moses, the basenji, is only around the baby when someone is there holding him. Otherwise they are seperated by a gate or screen. We let them sniff (on occasion lick! yuck)each other thru the "pack&play" screen. Even then I guess someone is usually monitoring them.
Moses, the basenji, is only around the baby when someone is there holding him. Otherwise they are seperated by a gate or screen. We let them sniff (on occasion lick! yuck)each other thru the "pack&play" screen. Even then I guess someone is usually monitoring them.
Well, let's see…I think you could probably let the Basenji be around the baby whenever there is a grown up (or teen?) in the room...unless the dog has shown you he is uncomfortable around babies.
We have two almost 11 month olds (can y'all believe it!) and our dogs are around them all the time, when we are in the room, at least. Mostly the dogs ignore the babies, unless there is something irresistable dripping out of their mouths! The dogs all have a fairly responsive "leave it" command, and we use it if they try to lick the babies...but occasionally they will get in a couple slurps (particularly Blondie, Bella and Hippo).
We have always just been of the school of thought that it is better for all to get used to each other...sometimes the babies get knocked over, and sometimes the dogs get a little pinch...but they are all fine with that. We supervise always, and we have pretty well behaved dogs (for the most part!). I think if you try to keep Moses away from the baby too much, you will end up creating a situation where the dog is really crazed to get to the baby, or nervous about the baby...you kind of want him to feel like 'okay this thing is part of our pack now, no big deal'
How do your older kids demonstrate that they are dominant to the dog?
Ditto Andrea
I have a couple of 12 month olds roaming the house too. We did it slowly for MY sake. I know my female was having anxiety with the new arrivals so I decided to ease her into it. I did short intervals of time with the dogs/babies in the same room 10-15minutes a day & worked our way up. Set up the dogs/babies for success. Don't try to multi-task during this "socialization" time (for lack of a better term). Focus on the dogs behavior & keep an eye our for cues of stress.
Teach "Leave it" or "back" (that's what I use) when they lick or want to mess with the baby. Smelling is ok as long as they walk away after a few seconds and reward reward reward the good behavior.
I also did things to de-sensitize the dogs that I know my girls will eventual do like pull on ears/tails/take the dogs' toys/etc. & reward for good behavior (no growling/yelling/etc.).
There's also rules in our house:
Don't bother dogs while eating
Don't bother babies while eating
Don't bother mommy/daddy while eating (this one is for dogs AND babies)
Dogs are not allowed to play with babies' toys EVER
Dogs are to walk away from any baby items floor (typically things thrown from high chair including bibs/plates/spoons/shoes/socks/etc.)
Ditto Andrea
I have a couple of 12 month olds roaming the house too. We did it slowly for MY sake. I know my female was having anxiety with the new arrivals so I decided to ease her into it. I did short intervals of time with the dogs/babies in the same room 10-15minutes a day & worked our way up. Set up the dogs/babies for success. Don't try to multi-task during this "socialization" time
Teach "Leave it" or "back" (that's what I use) when they lick or want to mess with the baby. Smelling is ok as long as they walk away after a few seconds and reward reward reward the good behavior.
I also did things to de-sensitize the dogs that I know my girls will eventual do like pull on ears/tails/take the dogs' toys/etc. & reward for good behavior (no growling/yelling/etc.).
There's also rules in our house:
Don't bother dogs while eating
Don't bother babies while eating
Don't bother mommy/daddy while eating (this one is for dogs AND babies)
Dogs are not allowed to play with babies' toys EVER
Dogs are to walk away from any baby items floor (typically things thrown from high chair including bibs/plates/spoons/shoes/socks/etc.)
Yay! I am so glad you are visiting here again, Jen! Those are great rules. i would add 'don't bother dogs while sleeping' and 'don't bother babies while sleeping' 
I *assume that the dogs don't walk away from food thrown overboard while babies are eating? Blondie and Ivy have found new and incredible ways to clean up a high chair, post baby meal…it is AMAZING where they find food, and how they get to it!
AHA…yes the sleeping thing. Well the girls don't sleep anywhere near the dogs. They sleep in their cribs & the dogs aren't allowed in the nursery/playroom.
And the dogs usually can't sleep when the babies are around...so that takes care of that 
lol!
If the food thrown overboard is within paw's reach they'll go for it but usually they're not allowed around the highchairs. BUT the consolation prize is that once we're out of the kitchen they are FREE to help mommy clean up floor, chairs, trays, etc. LOL
This works much better then our Swiffer
I stopped a little hassle between my Basenjis the other night and was bitten.
Yikes, those are sharp little teeth.
I would hate to see a child bitten by any dog.
Young children and dogs, not just Basenjis, need to be supervised; children should be taught respect for animals. I've seen many lovely pets 'go away' or be put down because one bit a child who was teasing or being cruel. Actually, in my opinion teasing is being cruel.
I think children need a "time out" when they play too rough with animals, too.
