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Puppies and children
How to introduce a puppy to kids
Children and puppies want the same thing from each other, which is everything, right now, at full volume. The introduction works when an adult slows both of them down. This page is written for the parent who will be doing the slowing, and treats the children as part of the training team rather than the audience.
What you need
What you need: three rules, a gate and a crate the kids never open
Before the puppy arrives, or before the visiting children do, sit the kids down and teach three rules. No hugging, because a hug pins a puppy and a pinned puppy bites. No chasing, because a chased puppy either panics or learns that children are toys. No touching the puppy while it eats or sleeps, the two moments it most needs to be left alone. Have each child say the rules back, and post them on the fridge where a visiting cousin can read them.
Then build the geography. A baby gate gives the puppy a room that children enter only with an adult, and gives the children a house where the puppy is not underfoot. Inside goes a crate that is the puppy's alone: nobody reaches in, nobody sits on it and nobody wakes what is sleeping in it. Add a jar of tiny treats up high, chews for trades and a clock, because sessions will be short and must end on time.
- Three rules, said back by every child: no hugging, no chasing, no touching a sleeping or eating puppy
- A baby gate between the puppy's room and the rest of the house
- A crate that only adults open
- Treats up high, chews for trades, five-minute sessions
The method
The method: floor, flat hand, one cue, nap
The first meeting happens on the floor, with everyone sitting, and the puppy is the one who moves. Sitting children are shorter, slower and less frightening than standing ones, and a puppy that is allowed to approach and retreat learns that small humans are safe. The adult sits between the kids and the puppy for the first few minutes and hands out treats so every approach ends in food from a small flat palm.
From there, the children become trainers. A child who can ask for a sit with a treat held to the chest and pay it with a flat hand has a job, and a puppy that sits for the child has a way to earn what it wants without jumping. Keep sessions to five minutes, then the puppy goes to the crate for a nap. Three or four short sessions a day beat one long one.
- 01
Everyone sits on the floor in the puppy's room, kids with their backs to the wall. The adult lets in a puppy that has already had a play session and drops treats near the children's feet, not in their laps.
- 02
Each child holds a treat flat on an open palm, fingers together, and lets the puppy take it. No reaching over the puppy's head, no grabbing the collar.
- 03
Teach one cue. The child holds a treat at its own chest, says sit once, and pays the moment the puppy's bottom touches the floor. Five sits, then done.
- 04
If the puppy mouths, the child stands up, folds its arms and looks at the ceiling. Be a tree. The adult offers the puppy a chew and the session ends.
- 05
Puppy to the crate for a nap, children out of the room. Repeat after lunch and before dinner, for as many days as it takes for the puppy to walk calmly up to a child and sit.
- 06
Add the leash later, with an adult holding the handle and a child holding a second short lead clipped to the harness, so the adult is in charge of the first walks together.
Where it goes wrong
Where it goes wrong: the hug, the squeal and the sprint
The hug is the one the photos want and the puppy dreads. A child wrapping both arms around a puppy's neck is, to the puppy, a stranger holding it still with its face inches away, and the warning growl that follows gets the puppy blamed for something the adult allowed. If a child cannot resist, the child sits out the session. Show them how to invite the puppy into their lap instead.
The squeal and the sprint are the second. A puppy mouths, a child shrieks and runs, and the puppy has just been handed the most exciting game of its life: a small, loud animal to chase. Rehearse being a tree before the puppy is in the room. Stand still, arms folded, eyes up, boring. Children who have practised it as a game do it when it counts.
- A hug is a hold; teach the lap invitation instead
- Be a tree, practised as a game before it is needed
- The crate is the puppy's, and the puppy can always leave a session
- Growling is information, not naughtiness; end the session and shorten the next one
The Cape Ann version
The Cape Ann version: the cousins in July, the vacation weeks and the fireworks on the 3rd
Cape Ann households do not meet children on a steady schedule. They meet them in waves: the grandchildren who arrive for two weeks in July, the cousins who come for St. Peter's Fiesta in late June and stay for the July 3 fireworks, the school vacation weeks in February and April. A puppy that has met two calm children slowly in a quiet May is ready for that; a puppy that meets six at once on the first night of a visit is not. If you know the wave is coming, start the sessions a month ahead.
The fireworks deserve their own plan. A puppy's first July 3 in Gloucester is loud enough on its own, and a houseful of excited children turns the evening into the worst possible first impression. Put the puppy in its crate in the quietest room with a frozen Kong before the first bang, keep the children out, and read the AVMA's fireworks guidance the week before. A daycare day at Dogtown on the busiest visiting days, a half day for $33 or a full day for $42, gives the puppy a nap somewhere calm; the Pup Van collects for $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea.
When to hand it to us
When to hand it to us: the handling homework, and the puppy that has already learned to fear small people
Tiny Tails Puppy School is our Level 1 program for pups from 8 to 16 weeks, and its life-skills and confidence work is the foundation this page sits on: a puppy that has learned to be handled, to take food gently and to settle on cue can be trusted near a child. From 4 months, AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy covers handling and good manners over 6 weeks and 12 sessions, and Bright Beginnings adds impulse control and engagement. All of it is relationship-based and force-free under Gabriella Pope, our Director of Training, with sessions from $94 and the plan set after a short assessment.
If the puppy already stiffens, hides or growls when a child comes near, stop the home sessions and ask us before the next visit. Brave & Balanced is built for pups from 4 months with fear-based behavior and stranger concerns, and a trainer who has watched the puppy for ten minutes can tell you whether it needs more distance or a different plan. Reach the trainers through the training form; on business days we answer inside an hour.
- 8 to 16 weeks: Tiny Tails Puppy School for handling and settle
- From 4 months: AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy or Bright Beginnings
- Hiding or growling at children: Brave & Balanced, before the next visit
At Dogtown
The puppy side of the deal
Puppy programs that build the handling and the settle, and daycare days for the afternoons when the house is full of children.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
What age can a puppy meet children?
How do I stop my puppy from biting my kids?
Should the children walk the puppy?
My puppy growled at my toddler. Is it dangerous?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Sit on the floor, let the puppy choose.
Ask our trainers about Tiny Tails Puppy School or AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy, and book a daycare day for the weeks the house is full.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
