How old before your boxer is ready to be around toddlers?

[NateBazooka]

My boxer Kevin is a reasonably well behaved reverse brindle 15 week old with a white face mask. I've been working on bite inhibition (saying "Ouch!!" and halting play when his gnawing is uncomfortable, and I feel this has had results), but he is in the process of losing his puppy teeth, and will chew on you a little if you let him. He is very intelligent, has made a lot of progress with his behavior in the relatively short amount of time I've had him (a month), and I feel like he's generally on track to be a great companion. He's doing well with house training, knows to sit, down, roll over, shake, and I'm planning on starting an obedience course with him soon so I can get some help teaching him the more important commands (stay, leave it, etc.).

My sister Emily inherited a distaste for pets from my Mom. She's not nasty about pets in general, or allowing those with them visiting her to bring them along, but she is somewhat negative in general about canine companions - when I told her about my new pup, we had a somewhat joking conversation about the merits of children vs. pets, how her new kid (she's recently pregnant) probably won't figure out how to roll over for months (points for Kevin), but how her three year old can use the toilet (point for Jonathan). She's also the kind of dog person who would see a boxer, and see mostly an undershot jaw and think "pit bull". I love her, I love her kids (three year old Jonathan, one year old Joyce), and I visit her family frequently. And I'm somewhat terrified of something bad happening the first time I bring Kevin along on a visit. Jonathan (the toddler) already likes dogs, and I think he would enjoy Kevin. I have also seen Kevin recently interact with a 10 year old playing with him (a kind of "chase me!" game), and I felt that he moderated the roughness of his play appropriately for the age of the child. It was an enjoyable experience all around. But 10 years is significantly different from 3.

Obviously, I would not allow toddler/puppy interaction to happen without close supervision, and I have no real fears that something truly terrible would happen. But I would be devastated if I brought my dog over, it nipped too hard on Jonathan, and that caused Jonathan to be frightened of dogs, and Emily to forbid Kevin visitation privileges.

I feel like Kevin would be fine with the young children (and that Jonathan would just have a blast with the dog), and I think he would probably also be fine with the carpet (obviously not as important of a fear, but I would also be disappointed if I brought over my dog to my somewhat anal sister's house and he stained the carpet). But, he's never been around toddlers, that I know of, and I've not yet read any kind of guideline about introducing dog toddlers to human toddlers. Are there any kind of generally accepted guidelines about this sort of thing, or tales from you more experienced boxer owners that would help me decide when to introduce Kevin to the extended family?

I'd also like to say that, as a complete newbie to the forum, I've enjoyed it very much. I apologize if I've posted a topic that gets rehashed once a week. I also like the (as far as internet standards go) somewhat rigorous registration requirements this place has. I stumbled upon this place looking for boxer puppy answers, and didn't anticipate participating, but the advice seemed good enough to justify the hurdles of registration, and at that point I was pretty much hooked. This seems like a good place, and I hope to see more of you guys : )

[mueltrain]

In my limited experience boxers naturally have a gentle way with children, and also at 15 weeks it seems unlikely that he would accidentaly hurt a kid by jumping on him playing or something. That being said if your sister is predisposed to dislike or fear dogs it might not be the best idea to just bring him over and hope for the best. I personally would bring him over not only because it would help your sister get over that, but because it will start to teach your dog about interactions with children in a closed environment. You could also take him for a good walk before you bring him in and get a little energy out... I say go for it, just be there to correct him if hes jumping on the kids or getting a little rough...

Good luck

[Cami]

At their ages (both human and canine) you are bound to have an "accident". A hand near an open mouth has the potential for injury since puppy teeth are as sharp as razors. Add in nails and you have scratches.
A boxers boisterous play, though not intentional will often times result in minor injuries (even to adults).
The fact that you already have one strike against you and pup with sisters dislike of dogs in general I fear that this scenario won't go well at least for a while!
I'm sure you will provide 100% supervision during any encounters with children but "things happen" even then.
Hopefully your sister, niece & nephew are up for the great fun that can be had when interacting with a boxer pup.

IMO, if more children were introduced to a Boxer as their first "dog encounter" then the whole world would be as big of a fan as I am!

I don't have children or many friends at all with children but those that did come to my house with their skin-kids had to put up with furry one.

[Caney Creek]

I agree with Cami 100%. You can't guarantee that everything will go smoothly with a young puppy. Puppies bite (with a mouth full of needles), jump up (even toddlers are too tall to kiss from a standing position ), and have accidents (the sheer excitement of being in a new place and meeting new people is enough to make any pup "lose it" -- plus, being in an unfamiliar place will throw off his normal home routine). He might be making great progress in training and be exceptionally well-behaved for his age but at 15 weeks old he is certainly not past those puppy behaviors, not nearly. Even under close supervision, accidents will still happen.

When Caney was about that age we took her to my grandparents' house for a family get-together, and Caney jumped up on my 3-yr-old niece, knocked her down and made her cry. I felt awful about it, but it wasn't a huge issue because everyone in my family owns dogs and knows how puppies are... it was just an accident.

From what you've described, it doesn't sound like your sis would be so forgiving And also keep in mind that kids ages 1 and 3 are much more likely to cry after being nipped or knocked over than an older child would, or even a child of the same age who lives with dogs. If you wanted to have Kevin meet young children whose parents own dogs (especially big dogs) I doubt it would be such big deal.

[whiskers]

I think the biggest issue is if your sister is already hesitant about dogs. A finger is bound to be nipped, he's likely to jump up or clamber all over them when they're sitting. All normal puppy things that might send someone up in arms if they're not a dog person.

Juno is 16 weeks old, and since my mom does daycare, she's around babies and toddlers on a daily basis (plus her breeder did daycare as well, so she's literally been exposed to it her entire life!). When the 3 and 4 year olds are playing in the backyard, Juno's right out there with them, and most of the time I just watch from the window. I think they naturally know to be more gentle with children. Has she nipped them before? Yeah, but not as hard and not as frequently as she nips the rest of my family. She's much more likely to give them kisses.

If you keep him leashed and keep a close eye on him, you should be able to keep any misbehavior at a tolerable level.

[Please Work]

I have had my girl around little kids since she came home and IMO the sooner they are exposed to them the better. But yes there probably will be a "problem" of some sort (especially if your sister is not a big dog fan) but there are things you can do to try to avoid them or make them as minimal as possible like supervising at all times, keeping puppy on a lead so you can control the jumping a bit more and taking his crate so he can have some quiet time (kids tend to get excited around puppies so a safe place for him to "recover" would be good) you could even start out by putting him in his crate so that he can get used to the sounds and fast movements of a toddler before actually letting him out to meet them, it will also be a safe place to keep him when you are unable to supervise. But IMO it is easier to teach them not to jump on kids, chase kids when they are little. I think both he and the kids will have a ball.

[NateBazooka]

Hey guys, thanks so much for the advice.

Kevin did end up visiting Emily and her kids with me yesterday. My step-mom talked him up to Emily, and she told me that I could bring him along if I liked.

All in all, he did very well : ) Kevin was very excited to see Jonathan - he saw the toddler and seemed to immediately get "This thing would be *great* to play with!", which may have startled Jonathan a bit, as Kevin ran up to him, got in a play stance, and started barking at him with his tail wagging like mad ("Hey! Hey! Let's Play! Hey!!"). I explained to Jonathan that Kevin is a baby, and was really excited to meet him, and corrected Kevin from jumping on Jonathan a few times, but pretty soon the two little ones and I were in the back yard playing catch, and both Jonathan and Kevin (who Jonathan called "Pluto", apparently he's been getting into old Disney cartoons) had a great time. Joyce is too little to play with Kevin, but she pointed at him and said "Moo", and we explained to her that Kevin is not a cow, but a dog who goes "woof".

Anyways, I was nervous about it (given my sisters attitude towards dogs) but he did great. The worst things that happened were that he got close to running up on Joyce and trying to lick her face as she played on the ground, and then trying to jump on her later, but he was succesfully intercepted both times. He also tried to chew on one of Joyce's blankies, which annoyed Emily, but even her husband gave her a kind of "Oh, relax" response when she went to put the blankie that Kevin had gotten to in the dirty laundry. I don't think Emily is super-excited about having Kevin over a bunch in the future, but that was never realistic. The dog was introduced without catastrophe, Jonathan enjoyed playing with him, and I believe he will be well tolerated by Emily.

[Gizmosmom]

I hope that you read this. I am a mother and a dog mother. I have 5 children. My boxer Gizmo is 4-5 months old about the same age as yours. My youngest son is 2, who loves our Gizmo. Gizmo jumps, licks, and play bites him. Gizmo does everything that a normal pup does. My son cries then gets up and goes for more. Personally, I would only bring your pup to your sisters house for short times, then go for longer periods. Everyone's safety must come first. Maybe even keep him on a leash for the first time you are there. I hope you live close to your sister where this is possible. I am sacred of dogs that are not my own. I hope that everything works out.

[boxmeman]

I have talked to several people with boxer and kids about this same question. I have recieved positive feed back from everyone and most has said they have had there kids around boxer as early as 3 weeks

[NateBazooka]

Update -

Kevin has not made any more visits to Emily's house as of yet, but his initial visit was a success, and I believe he will be relatively welcome on future visits. Emily's still not pumped about having dogs around in general, but the way in which she is not excited about having the dog over is somewhat peculiar to her personality (she has something of a .... personality), and the way in which she is negative about Kevin is probably about as positive as could be hoped for given how she thinks.

She sees dogs as poor substitutes for children who make messes, get fur on things, and require a lot of effort (yeah... I know...). She also (probably somewhat unknowingly) enjoys this mindset in and of itself. This is how my Mom thought of dogs, my sister is exceedingly traditional, and has several legitimately exceptional skin babies of her own crawling around and making poopy messes. So, as much as she has an attitude of "ugh... dog", she also sees the dog and thinks "Ha, I have real babies", and likes that. This is compounded (in a positive way) by the fact that she sees me as her crazy little brother who, while generally well behaved, plays in rock bands, has hipster friends, works with computers, and knows that BBY means "Before the Battle of Yavin". To her, it's something like "Of *course* my little brother would have a dog. How silly." She sees the dog as something not entirely pleasant, but the whole scenario of me over there with my dog Kevin is reaffirming of her mindset (well, minus the part where the dog is out of control and peeing on everything).

I had lunch with my 86 year old Grandmother, my sister, and her kids the other day. Jonathan was asking me why Kevin wasn't there, what he was doing, why he wasn't allowed to come to the retirement community (Meemaw's house), etc. etc. etc. Later on in my grandma's room, he even showed me that he, too, can roll over (a trick he saw Kevin perform at the earlier visit). Emily definitely got that the previous visit had been an enjoyable occasion for her son, and that means a lot more than the fact that Kevin was well behaved, didn't defecate indoors, and didn't shed on everything. I'm guessing that Kevin will be a regular guest at my sister's house on Saturdays during this upcoming football season, watching Texas march towards a national championship with the rest of us