In relation to the dog thread......

[Abz1982]

How would you go about teaching a child NOT to approach a strange animal? Emma is very brave when it comes to animals - she had her hand up my horses nose before I even told her what he was! - and she will chase after dogs and cats at friends.

We have told her no, but she will still do it. She has 2 stuffed toy dogs and she will pin them down and kiss/mouth/bite them. And her gran got her a fur real friend collie dog and she will stick her hand in its mouth when it moves.

Of course we dont want her doing this to real animals, but is just just a case of saying no over and over and over again? 2 months now and she still will do it, she just smirks at you then does it again.

Obviously we will never leaver her alone with an animal, but really that doesn't make that much diff as if she scares the animal its fight or flight.

 

[Lu28]

I think it's a case of persistence. We have the same problem with Aisling, she absolutely loves our dogs which wasn't an issue until she started crawling this week and is constantly at them. So every time I say no, pick her up and move her away. It's really tiresome but I'm having to keep at it so she learns she can't just approach all animals and also because it's not fair on the dogs either, they don't need to be poked at all day long although they're really laid back about it all.

 

[Cariad_bach]

I had this with my youngest daughter, shes a real animal lover and has no fear at all, she reaches out and runs up to any dog she sees.

I didn't want her to be scared of dogs but i wanted to keep her safe so i kept telling her how scared some dogs were when she ran up to them or reached out to them.
I told her she always had to ask me to ask the doggies owner if the doggie liked to be stroked or was he/she to scared.

I also have told her that some people get cross if people stroke their dogs without permission.

Also all my kids are aware that some dogs are naughty and they may not be gentle so they always have to ask me to ask their owners first.


But all of that was when she was old enough to understand lol .. when she was younger it was just a matter of not letting her loose near dogs lol

 

[aliss]

My son is not born yet, but when children want to approach my dog (who is friendly and loves kids), I always tell them first that "Simba" must sit and be a good boy before he is allowed to be touched, then I ask them if their mother says if it is okay to approach. It sort of shocks them, LOL.

 

[charliebear]

At 16 months AJ thinks all dogs are as friendly as ours.
ATM, all I do is keep him away from them, he doesnt understand that not all dogs want to play nice.

 

[JASMAK]

I make my kids ask the owner first ONLY if the dog is on a leash. They are not allowed to approach ANY animals...dogs or otherwise...without asking me or hubby FIRST. With my daughter, it is persistence, and she has difficulty remembering the rules since she suffers from autism. Both my kids love dogs, but fear them too...which I kind of like at this point, because they are more cautious.