Hoping to add a new member to our little family....
This is my first post on the forum. I have been browsing for a couple of days. We are expecting the arrival of a new MBT puppy some time in October and we are quite excited but also a little anxious. We are first time dog owners and know the challenges of this breed, but felt it was right for us and our family.
I have been doing tons of research and feel that we are prepared for the most part. Concern is our son who is 2 years old. He, like the MBT is high energy. That is kind of the reason we wanted a bullie as we did not want to subject a "docile" dog to him.
I'm just curious if people have recommendations on how to acclimate these two (my son and the pup) to each other. I know they obviously have to be supervised when together, but are there ways to integrate a new pup into a family with a young child? While my son is high energy, he is also quite gentle so not worried about him being aggressive with the pup.
Thanks and I'm happy to be a part of this community.
Comments
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
The behaviour with kids is no different to how it will be with adults, the only difference being that (literally) the impact with kids is greater than it is with adults. If an out-of-control Bullie pup barrels into the back of your legs you may lose balance and get peeved off, but with a 2 year old the consequences could obviously be greater. The key is to ensure that they don't get out of hand too much while growing up... for your sake as well as the child.
For the first 8 to 9 months you are going to need to be sure that the two are never alone unsupervised... unless you are fortunate or diligent enough to totally eliminate unruly behaviour in a shorter period. I don't believe many here will disagree with my timeline... Granted some have been fortunate to bring up pups along with older dog family members, and this example helps speed the process. As an example, and our furkids have, for the most part outgrown indoor misbehavior, my 8 month old boy was disturbed by the noise made by our blender this morning, and jumped up on my back, pretty gently, but sufficiently to push the spoon that I had in my hand, stirring, into the blades, ... end of glass blender. You are going to need to discipline the newby from day one to get him to understand what acceptable behaviour is. Once beyond the boisterous period you can relax somewhat. My son's 3 year old Giant Schnauzer could have done the same thing if the blender noise troubled him, but our 8 month old bullies are the more likely suspects. So it's not so much Bullies, it's just their size, strength and energy that need curtailing and kids that need that extra protection while the Bullies are learning. On the other hand, if your two year old ( I'm sure he doesn't, but) pulls tails, picks pups up by the hind legs and drops them on the head,... Then with any dog you have a problem, and Bullies are not immune... They just don't forget as quickly as other breeds. The "good with kids" part comes from the fact that they will love and protect all family members and they treasure your affection ... When they are young they don't understand that having fun all the time isn't exactly what you want, when they mature they will kiss and lick your kids to death :-) ... Keep communicating and I am sure you'll find some variations, but all your answers will be here.
Here are some video updates on how things are going with Stoges_mom and the three little boys (Stoeger, Miles & Henry).
The last vid is my favorite, haha!!!
Honk..Honk...
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
I'd say he's doing well. I'm fairly certain that when you hear the broom hit the floor in the vid, that Stoge pulled it out of the boys hand off camera.
The last vid cracked me up!
(don't shoot the messenger, please... just trying to help)...
I love the videos, they give such an insight as to how much joy the little rascal is bringing to your home already.
At 9 lbs that little beauty is no problem at all barrelling down the hallway... but with all of our babes, they gain grando pounds before they learn grando lessons. It won't be long at all before you see 29lbs coming down the hallway at 20mph and your kids going flying. (Your boys are almost as beautiful as Stoger, ....kidding, I'm already treading thin ice, they are more handsome)..... Running in the house is like pooping... we teach them from the very start to pee and poop when they see grass (or snow, you lucky guys).... and running has to be taught the same way.... NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE... even at an age when it's as cute as heck. Running must be seen as pooping... they can only do it on grass or in the yard. Our kids still very, very infrequently "break out" in a romp.. Marco banged into a wall a month ago that, for a split second, my wife and I looked at each other and said, "wow, that's a strong wall"... and a half second later we heard the paintings on the other side of the wall coming down and smashing her prize table ornaments. They have been told ...... NO RUNNING IN THE HOUSE.... since they were 8 weeks... if we'd allowed them to run at all without admonishment, it'd be much worse.
Stoeger played so gentle with the babies even though I would never trust them alone together! He didn't even nip them! He was greatly praised for that! The older boy (3) is a little nervous around dogs but after I showed him how to get stoeger to sit he was a lot better. The boys call he stoegurt, their first love obviously yogurt and I thought it was too funny. Lol