Pets and Children

Having a pet can enrich the lives of children. As a parent, it is important set aside romantic images of children living harmoniously with animals and consider the dangers, potential problems, and level of supervision required to ensure positive interactions between your child and your pet. It is a parent’s responsibility to prevent negative experiences for both their child and their pet.

Before acquiring a pet, prepare yourself by gaining an understanding of why the combination of young children and a dog or a cat presents a risk, and of how you can avoid problems.

What are the Dangers?

More than half of all dog bite incidents in Canada involve children under the age of 10. Most of these incidents involve animals that are known to the victim; the family dog, the neighbour’s dog, a friend’s dog. It is not uncommon for young children to be scratched or bitten by a cat.

Many animals are surrendered to WAG each year by parents overwhelmed by the task of caring for young children and meeting the needs of a pet. Animals are also surrendered because negative interactions between children and the pet have occurred, not been addressed and have then escalated into problems as a result.

All of these situations are entirely preventable.

Why do these dangers exist?

The dangers exist because young children and pets are different species that misunderstand one another, yet have some developmental traits in common.

All parents like to think that their own children are good with animals. While most children will learn how to interact with animals, younger children, particularly those under 5, simply have not reached the stage of development where they can understand the danger and how to react. This is not their fault, the animal’s fault or the fault of the parent; they are just being kids or animals.

Dogs and Kids

Young children have fast jerky movements and high pitched voices that make them seem like prey to a dog. Dogs are predators that may become very excited by a running squealing child. Once over stimulated, they may nip or jump up. This is a common scenario that often leads to the child becoming afraid of the dog. A fearful child squeals or screams even more or runs away, further arousing the dog’s desire to chase, jump and nip.

Many young children are eye level with dogs. To a dog, this can seem very threatening. A child running up to a dog could put the dog on the defensive, making him growl or snap. From the moment that a child begins to crawl, they investigate everything around them including pet toys, dishes, and beds. Toddlers do not understand that if they grab at a dog’s toy or dish, the dog may react by warning the child with a growl or may resort to biting if their warnings are unheeded. Toddlers cannot understand the warning signals being given by the dog.

Young children have no perception of the pain or fear they can inflict by biting, stepping on, sitting on, kicking, squeezing, hitting, twisting or pulling parts of your pet’s body.

Canines live in a world of pack hierarchy. This means that they are AT ALL TIMES assessing their place in this hierarchy, evaluating who is in charge and seeking opportunities to become a leader. In the dog world, when a more dominant dog is unhappy with a subordinate, he or she may put the other dog back in their place by growling, snarling, or if the dog does not submit, giving a quick bite. The intention of this is to warn the other, not to injure. Humans often send messages to their dogs that they view the dog as a leader. For example, petting them when they jump up, allowing them on furniture or letting them eat dinner before us. Of course, we don’t do this on purpose. Most dogs view themselves as either equals to, or dominant over, the children in a household. This means that as soon as a child does something the dog is unhappy with, the dog will warn the child. Unfortunately children are not able to interpret the dog’s body language and it may escalate to a bit incident.

Cats and Kids

The most common problem seen with cats and children is called play aggression. Play aggression occurs when people use their hands (or feet) to wrestle and play with a kitten or cat. Very quickly, the cat learns to view hands as toys and will start to bit down hard on hands. This will escalate to the cat chomping down on human body parts not just during human initiated play sessions but at any time when the cat feels like playing. The result could be a child bitten on the face in the middle of the night, for example.

The other danger with cats and young children is called Fear aggression. Homes with children are louder and more stressful for a cat than homes without children. Cats are easily stressed out by the loud noises, running children, hands grabbing at their tails etc. A child may try to restrain a cat that is trying to escape from an uncomfortable situation. If the cat feels it cannot escape it will turn to aggression. One negative experience for a cat can result in the cat having great fear of the child. Cats do not readily forget such negative experiences and it may result in aggression towards the child. Parents often describe this type of aggression by statements such as “the cat pounced on my son right out of the blue while he was playing quietly with his toys”.  The cause of this behaviour is usually fear born out of a separate particular traumatic incident that the cat experienced but that the parent is not aware of. It cannot be stressed enough the importance of preventing such traumatic experiences for cats as it is very difficult to eliminate such fears once they have been learned.

Anxiety from the normal behaviour of children may manifest itself in a way other than aggression. A toddler may surprise a cat while in the litter box, resulting in the cat being fearful of the litter box and refusing to use the litter box. A stressed cat may resort to eliminating on furniture or carpet or other unwanted behaviours.

In these situations, many cat owners resort to letting their cats roam free outside, but in Whistler this is too dangerous for cats. See WAG’s handout “Keeping Cats Safe and Healthy in Whistler”.

Kittens and young children are a particularly risky combination. They have fragile bones and veterinarians see many cats and kittens that have broken ribs, broken legs and other injuries from rough handling by children.

How to prepare your pet for a baby

If you already have a pet and have decided to have a baby, there is a great deal that you can do to prepare your pet for the baby and make the transition less stressful for them. Both dogs and cats are creatures of routine and a new baby is going to bring some big changes to the household routine.

§ Train your dog to ensure that he/she will reliably and consistently obey commands to sit/stay and down/stay. This will be essential to controlling the interactions between the dog and the baby. You must address any behavioural problems NOW, before you become too busy and overwhelmed by the baby to address them.

§ Obtain a recording of a crying infant and other baby noises and play the sounds softy. Practice obedience commands while playing the sounds and give praise for desired behaviour. Gradually, over the weeks, begin to increase the volume, using your pet’s comfort level as guide for how quickly you should proceed. CDs can be purchased that have a variety of baby sounds. E.g. http://preparingfido.com/

§ Borrow some items from a friend’s baby that have baby scents on them. E.g. a blanket, a diaper, a piece of clothing. Present this to your pet, all the while rewarding them with praise so that they form a positive association with the scents.

§ Think about how your routine may change with a new baby and where you will find time to spend exclusively with your pet. Try to adjust your schedule so that it will be easier on your pet when the baby comes. For example, you may anticipate that you will no longer be able to go for a long walk with your dog in the mornings. Switch to the new dog-walking routine prior to the baby’s arrival. You may wish to look into dog walking services to help you through the first weeks or months of the baby’s life.

If your dog or cat is used to having undivided attention all the time begin to initiate periods in which you withdraw attention. Instigate periods of structured play and grooming as it will suit your new schedule.   

§ Gather equipment for the baby ahead of time and slowly introduce these items to your pets. Cats are particularly sensitive to new items, furniture, movement of furniture and new odours. They may wish to “mark” new items by rubbing up against them or spraying. Condition them to make positive associations with the new items by offering attention, praise, a treat or a favourite game when something new arrives.

§ After you have slowly introduced new sounds, smells and items, try having a baby and young child visit your home. Be sure to supervise the encounter and make sure that you show children how to gently and safely interact.

Managing your child’s interaction with pets

Before delving into some details here, there are few things to keep in mind about pets and children.

1. Always supervise children under 10 when they are with animals. There is no exception to this rule. It applies to every dog or cat of any breed, age or size, no matter how well you think you know them or how well your children interact with them.
2. Never reassure a pet’s anxiety or fear as this only reinforces their stress and makes the situation worse.
3. Never punish a cat. Punishment of a cat will serve only to heighten their anxiety level and make the unwanted behaviour much worse.

Introducing your pet to a new baby

§ Present a blanket with the baby’s scent to the dog/cat (bring this home from the hospital before you bring the baby). Let them explore this first and reward them with praise to form a positive association.

§ Greet your pet without the baby there

§ Have another adult hold the dog on a short leash in a sit/stay position. Proceed slowly, over the course of many days, in bringing the dog closer to the baby, as long as the dog is calm and well-behaved. Do not let the dog off-leash around the baby until you have had several weeks of successful sessions.

§ A dog or cat may urinate or defecate on baby blankets, your bed etc. This is not an act of malice or jealously. They are simply relieving their anxiety by marking their territory. Do not punish them for this as it will increase their anxiety levels. Prevent access to their targets.

§ Set aside time when you can give your pet individual attention: such as a walk, a play session, a grooming session.

Pets and Toddlers

The toddler stage, when children start to crawl and walk, is the most important time to control interactions between your child and your pets. It is at this life stage when your pet’s view of the child may change. Predatory behaviour may be awakened, and stress levels may be heightened. However, this is the stage when, more often than not, you need to protect your pet from your child. Children of this life stage explore by shaking, banging, throwing, grabbing and are attracted to moving objects. This makes a pet a prime target for a toddler on the move and they may chase pets, pull tails, pull ears, grab pet toys, dishes or investigate the litter box. They delight in waking a sleeping pet by screaming in its ear. They do not have a perception of the pain they may inflict on an animal and they do not have the ability to control their impulses. A negative experience for the pet results in the pet feeling threatened by the child.

One of your greatest tools is a baby gate. Cats can easily come and go through or under a baby gate, giving them areas to which they can retreat from a child. Gates can be used to keep toddlers away from pet dishes, pet sleeping areas, and litter boxes. Gates can also be used to keep children and pet separate during times when you cannot sit with your child and your pet for a positive session.

Set up Positive Interactions only between your child and your pet

Sit quietly and calmly with your child and call your pet. When the pet feels comfortable they will come over. If they come, you can then teach your child where to pet them and to pet them gently. As the parent, you must watch your pet for warning signs that they are uncomfortable. A cat may swish its tail, lay its ears back, dilate it pupils and go stiff. A dog may go stiff, turn his head away, show the whites of his eyes (“whale eye stare”), yawn, lick his own nose, and/or lay his ears back. Remember that a wagging tail can indicate fear as well as friendliness. If you detect that your pet is uncomfortable, end the session immediately. Do not let your child chase after the pet. Your pet must be allowed to retreat from the child. If the pet is relaxed around the child, praise them, perhaps give treats.

Ground Rules and Tips

1. Keep your pet’s nails trimmed.

2. Teach children not to disturb a pet when it is sleeping, eating or playing with a toy

3. Make sure that your pet has a place to which they can retreat from the children

4. Teach children never to chase a pet, never to restrain a pet that is trying to escape

5. Never use hands as toys-try objects tied to string to play with cats

6. Teach children that to play tug-of-war is dangerous

7. Children should be taught to wait for a pet to approach them