This article was written by Patricia J. Watson of Bizzy B Cairns. It is one of the best written and thought provoking articles about Cairns & Kids written. If you would like to contact Ms. Watson directly please email her at Bizzy B Cairns.

First even the AKC recommends age 6 for a first dog in a home where there have not been dogs before. Yes, many books say that this breed is good with kids, they do not say toddlers and there is a reason. The reason for this is child development. Ages 2 to 5 are the ages when most children become literally obsessed with animals and hugging everything. It is incredibly cute. However, at the toddler stage it is virtually impossible even with precocious children,( not their fault, due to the natural stages of human brain development, the same reason that Dr. T. Barry Brazelton will tell you that teaching them the true difference between good and evil is not possible until around age 6), anyway it is virtually impossible for them to fully understand that the dog is not a toy and it can be hurt.

This is also the age when most mothers, proud of their offspring's development and literally bursting with motherly instincts think is the perfect time to add a dog to their homes. When a child who has just learned to walk grabs a dog by the throat to lift him up or holds him too tight close to his face, the dog is very likely to turn in fear or panic to bite the closest object which will be the child's face. Terriers can zip the skin off a mouse in 30 seconds. Your child's face is much easier to puncture and bites to children account for about 50% of dog bites every year. This does not include the injuries inflicted on the dog when lifted by the front or back legs, the neck, or ears.

Your child may find your attention to the living toy in his house a source of sibling rivalry, if so, forget house training. You will find it very difficult to monitor your dog's needs and provide consistent times to go outside when the really important baby is screaming for attention every time he senses your attentions being turned to the dog. Children often imitate parental anger aimed at accidents from their diaper less pup and increase the yelling volume, and the addition of crying or hitting can cause significant stress and fear peeing in the dog. The dog will not be able to discern that the child at his height is not another dog and will try to establish pack order with him. This can take the form of growling challenges and even biting over food and toys.

Two is the age when we learn not to share, the key word is "mine". This means dog toys and even food may be taken from the pup on sight, and if the dog wins prepare yourself for howls of anger and unhappiness from your child while you try to explain to a toddler that "the doggie didn't understand it was you favorite toy when he took it and tore it up." In more laid back breeds this upset household stuff can lead to quiet resentment and dislike of kids, in terriers it can take a great temperament and reduce it to a growling, nipping, biting, even apparently psychopathic mess that cannot be trusted around kids or animals in a few months. By the time the dog is 2 and the child is 4 and often even before that it comes to us in Rescue, and it will be a placement problem that will require a home with no children or pets and retraining.

At least one third of my dog inquires every year are from mothers of 2 to 4 year olds. All of them are positive that they will supervise and the dog will be fine, and their child will be o.k. with it. I turned my own brother down for a dog for this very reason. I knew the child intimately, she is my goddaughter, and had seen her, (and she is brilliant, beautiful and precocious), with my own dogs. Despite close supervision there were still plenty of scary incidents at my house. He went to a pet store after my entire family begged him not to because it was not a good age to get a dog.

The dog had a terrible childhood. Mom found that the dog was harder to raise than a new baby. She thought that since she had cats and the baby was alright with them a dog would be easy. She did not realize that cats get up out of the baby's reach and dogs don't. Also dogs do not shut down at night, they go 24hrs a day and so do babies when there are new dogs in the house. They called me constantly for advice and the number one problem in their home was a lack of consistent schedules and behaviors. Not because there was a bad baby, or bad parents, but because the baby was only just developing her behaviors and monitoring that while raising her, (for new parents who had never trained a baby or a dog), was really all they could handle. It was as unfair to the child as to the dog. After the dog came, they found that the child refused to go to bed when told because she wanted to stay with the dog. The dog could not go outside to relieve herself because the child did not want her new toy to leave the room. Every time the dog required attention there was crying and fear the dog would be gone too long. There was competition for toys, there was biting, from both babies, mom found herself with a new high energy baby in the house whose accidents could happen anywhere at anytime and she could not supervise both at once. All of this was harder because two is one of the most difficult years to guide children through without a new puppy in the house, it is much harder with a pup. Crate training did not work because the human baby did not understand it and was always letting the dog out or crying and howling for mom to do it. Toilet training for the child was slowed up because the dog was a good distraction from any activity the child did not feel like dealing with, good or bad.

House training the pup was impossible. A perfectly good child and a perfectly good dog were both becoming ruined together. Luckily, my brother was transferred to Australia and they both took our advice and decided not to quarantine Lady. She is now living with my unmarried sister and her four cats. She is becoming a well trained and obedient little cocker spaniel in a home with very consistent schedules and predictable behaviors from the person she lives with. But her start in life was not a fair one and she is one lucky little dog. Many young terriers are not so lucky.

Let me underscore this, I am not saying children are bad, parents are bad, or children cannot grow up with dogs. I am saying that toddler hood is the wrong time to bring home a first dog unless the family already had a dog with established habits, already has much older kids who have raised a dog before, or unless the dog and child have more than one parent or guardian at home with them at all times. I do feel that terriers especially are not the right choice for a first dog training event with a small child under 5 or 6 years of age. My first terriers destroyed my furniture and ate through the drywall of my living room to get a mouse, (while I was at home), behind my back. They are a challenge for people with consistent schedules and no kids who think they know dogs. I learned what I do know about training dogs from my terriers breaking me in the hard way, and long time terrier breeders who supervised me and taught me the value of real patience, consistency, and crates. I had the best dogs I could find in my research and they have the best temperaments I have seen too. But I would not put one in a house with first toddlers who want a first pet for all the money in the world. I wish luck and happiness to the families and dogs of anyone who after a number of breeders have warned them, does this anyway. I hope that listers can help you through it with as much good training for you as for the dog and the child. Remember be very, very consistent in your habits and schedules and learn to use the crate.

Just a caring buzz of experience from the bees,

Trish and Mark and all the doggies at Bizzy B Cairns