Consultation Files: My St. Bernard Attacked My 8 Month Old Baby
This is such a grave topic. I never like getting calls like this, but I’m so, so glad when I get the chance to have a conversation with anybody who is in a situation like this because I know how stressful and sad and alarming and scary it is. And I know how hard it is to know what to do or what to expect.
Dogs and babies don’t mix! And it is so common to have issues blending the two into the family. But when something like this happens and your dog actively growls at or snaps at your baby it could literally be a matter of life and death. You are absolutely a parent before a dog owner, and I think most parents would agree.
But just tossing the dog out seems heartless and people are left wondering if there is any way to fix the situation. In most cases, yes! There is hope to live a normal life with your baby and your dog, even if your dog is not having it right now. But it will require some training and some change and a real commitment.
I’m going to break down exactly what that means and what I suggested to these folks and what they could realistically expect life to look like.
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Minute-by-Minute Breakdown
- 00:00 – Host Kati Peppe opens the episode and asks listeners to subscribe.
- 01:00 – Caller reported a serious situation involving their approximately five-year-old St. Bernard.
- 02:00 – Primary question: what realistic outcomes can training achieve for this dog’s behavior?
- 03:00 – Kati emphasizes dogs don’t inherently value human life or understand a child’s wellbeing.
- 07:00 – She states parents’ priority must be child safety, above dog ownership.
- 08:00 – The St. Bernard has history of resource guarding and a dominant streak.
- 10:00 – Owners must teach dogs guarding people or the home is not the dog’s role.
- 13:00 – Babies’ small size, abrupt movements, loud noises, and prolonged eye contact can unsettle dogs.
- 16:00 – Common advice to let dogs sniff babies and share space can be counterproductive.
- 18:00 – Instead, send the message that the baby belongs to you and you will guard them.
- 19:00 – Correcting a dog that approaches the baby teaches respect and enforces distance.
- 20:00 – In this incident, wife misinterpreted sounds, then found the dog snarling over the baby.
- 21:00 – Immediate imperative: strict management and complete separation of dog and baby.
- 22:00 – Never leave baby and dog unsupervised, even for short outdoor tasks.
- 24:00 – Kati says euthanasia is an acceptable option if a dog is unsafe in the home.
- 26:00 – If keeping the dog, Kati recommends enrolling in a structured, committed training program.
- 29:00 – Use high chairs, tummy-time mats, and boundary devices to teach the dog to keep distance.
- 31:00 – Train neutral, respectful shared space with calm boundaries, not terrorizing the dog.
- 35:00 – Goal: reliable place, down, and kennel behaviors to maximize household safety post-training.
Episode transcript
Read the full conversation below. Scroll through the transcript to follow along.
00:00 — Kati opens with a trigger warning and asks listeners to subscribe.
Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered Trigger Warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the Truth in Dog Training.
Hey everybody, this is your host, Kati Peppe. Before we jump in, I just wanted to take a quick second and remind you to hit the subscribe button because that helps us so, so, so much. We appreciate every subscribe and follow, and we have so much valuable information we wanna share with you. So we don't want you to miss an episode. Without further ado, let's jump in. Welcome to another consultation files where we are talking about a pretty serious case. Um, a few days ago, I got a message from somebody who was dealing with some very serious stuff.
They have a very large breed dog, a St. Bernard, um, who they've had for, I can't remember exactly now, but about five years. So this isn't a new dog to them. It's not a puppy. This is a dog that's very well established in its home with its family, and they've had this dog for a while.
Um, what is different is now they have a baby. Um, and I, these cases are always, um, a little upsetting, a little distressing, right? But I think it's so important to talk about them because number one, I think it's more common than people realize. And number two, it's obviously really serious stuff. Um, and people could get hurt, right? Kids too, kids especially. Um, we need to protect our children. We need to respect dogs as what they are, which is dogs, they're animals. And, um, I think getting clear on what's realistic, because that's like the number one question here, right?
Is like, realistically, what, what can we expect to get out of the training? Like that was this guy's question. And so let's talk about what's happening and how that phone call went and kind of what I would recommend, what I would suggest, and what are the things that this person has to consider.
Um, so large breed dog, new baby. I think the baby's actually about eight months old now. But what starts happening, guys, right? As the baby starts to approach that one year mark, they're moving around a lot more, right? Baby starts doing tummy time and then they start crawling and moving around. And that can really freak some dogs out. Um, people, oh God, people so have a tendency to pin human emotions on their dog, like their dog values. Human life understands the gravity of child's life and wellbeing, and they just don't. I even other dogs, like all the time I have people tell me that their dog loves other dogs and they don't.
They just don't. Um, not that I think they actually have the capacity to quote unquote love other dogs or people, right? But even, even if you break that down to mean like enjoys other dogs is social, a lot of times they're just not.
So, a good example is Daisy that I have here right now. Um, she has little docs and, and I think her owner thinks she's a pretty social dog and likes, you know, I I, if I remember right, we that did come up at the drop off. Um, and I haven't seen that <laugh>, I haven't seen that at all. Really common with little dogs too. I think when Lottie was here, it was the same thing, you know, and no fault of their owners. Like, I'm not picking on them, but it's just human nature. Um, number one, we tend to view our dog through kind of rose colored lenses.
04:00 — Kati explains that affectionate behavior toward owners does not predict how dogs respond to…
Um, but also we tend to take what we have with them and just sort of apply that to everything and everyone else. And the relationship your dog has with you and how they behave or feel about you is not gonna be the same for other people or other animals.
So you can have a very loving dog who wants to kill other animals, <laugh>, right? Or is terrified of strangers or whatever. Um, so they're not the same. They're all individual relationships. And just because you have a sweet dog doesn't mean they're gonna be sweet with other dogs, right? And sometimes we also have a tendency to kind of judge a book by its cover, which is a huge mistake. Just because a dog is small doesn't mean they're small on the inside. Just because a dog is cute and fuzzy, and even if they're cuddly like behaviorally, that doesn't mean that they're going to like other dogs.
There's nothing about any of those things that implies your dog will, like other dogs or people or strangers or kids or any of those things. So we have a tendency to kind of do that, um, and sort of apply these traits to our dog that aren't real because of the way we feel about them or the relationship we have with them or the way they look, or all of the above.
And that's just a big mistake. Uh, but nobody wants to think, you know, that their dog isn't social or would be hostile or aggressive, um, toward another person or dog. Um, but it's just natural, normal dog behavior for dogs to do that. And in a lot of cases they will. And sometimes it's really alarming and like, I get that, but I think this is a really common occurrence where people bring a baby into the family. You know, suddenly the family grows by one or two if you have twins or more. And it can be really upsetting to see that your dog doesn't have the reaction you fully expected them to have.
Um, it can be even more upsetting if you don't notice it right away, right? Like there may be things that I would notice or like the trained eye would notice, but that the average person probably wouldn't.
And then, you know, you get 5, 10, 12 months into it and suddenly you start to see it, um, because it's now manifesting in a more severe manner and it's really upsetting to see your dog like threatening your baby growling at your baby, your god forbid biting your baby. Um, so I wanna talk a little bit about what these people are experiencing and, um, what I usually recommend if you're bringing a baby into the family, and what I recommend, if you've already got a baby in the family and you're seeing this stuff, so number one, I just wanna say you are absolutely a parent before you're a dog owner.
And your number one priority has to be your child or children. And I did say that in our phone consultation. Um, that's my number one top priority. Children need to be kept safe at all costs. It is not fair to put your child in a position where they might get hurt and in this case, seriously hurt.
But that being said, it doesn't mean there's no hope and that you should just go get rid of your dog. So let's talk about what's happening and what the considerations are. So what's happening is it sounds like this particular dog had some behavioral stuff in the past, nothing super serious, but definitely had sort of a dominant streak in her where she used to guard things, um, especially food from the other dog in the family. This, the other dog now is, is gone, passed away. Um, but she would guard pretty ferociously from the other dog in the family.
08:00 — The St. Bernard previously guarded food from another household dog.
And I mean, guarding from other dogs, I don't necessarily even put that in the problem bucket. Um, but if it's severe, then it certainly could be. Um, you know, just letting dogs know that this thing is theirs and, and they don't want them to come near.
It isn't necessarily a big deal, but some dogs go off a cliff, um, and they're ready to fight to the death <laugh> over the first infraction, right? And so it's like this dog sounded a little more, um, like a serious resource garter. And so they did have to make it a point to kind of keep things picked up, uh, and sort of manage that relationship between their two dogs. So they had that going on. Um, it sounds like the dog is definitely a little territorial, so isn't real sure about strangers coming in. They have to manage her or someone's coming into the house.
Um, so there's some stuff, right? There's some stuff to indicate this dog isn't necessarily in the best frame of mind. Like not where we would want them to live in a family home, right? We don't want a dog that's guarding things, being territorial.
Um, it's, I think it's so, so important. If you have a dog, especially a large breed dog, especially a power breed dog or something like that, your dog has to be in a good frame of mind. They have to know what their role is, what the hierarchy is in the household in that they are at the bottom. It's important guys. Your dog has to know what the standards and expectations are. They have to know that guarding things, protecting things, including the house, including the people, is not their concern, not their job. And so these are things I would've addressed a long time ago, and I think this is a really good example.
And I'm not picking on these people. You don't know what you don't know, right? And so that's true for everybody that comes to see me. It's like they're doing the best with what they have. And then they come to see me when they know something has to change and they don't know how to do it. And so that's why they're calling and I'm glad they did.
Um, but these are things I would've addressed a long time ago, right? So this is the benefit when we talk about keeping your dog on the straight and narrow from the get go, right? How much do you wanna bet when they got this puppy, the puppy was soft and sweet and loving and cuddling and never growled over ev anything, never barked at anybody, right? But then as the dog got older and came into maturity and had all kinds of freedom and all kinds of love and all kinds of softness, and it wasn't balanced with rules, boundaries, accountability, consequences, all that stuff was missing, right?
As it always is when we meet people, dog comes into adolescence, you start seeing all of these other genes turn on all these other behaviors manifest that you hadn't seen before. And suddenly you're going, what did we do wrong?
Um, but also rather than fix it, we chose to manage it as best we could. Maybe we thought that was our only option. Maybe we did try training, but it was training that didn't work. That's really common because usually people are going to see the average dog trainer who's using nothing but treats and they're not gonna be able to fix this stuff. They're not gonna be able to stop behaviors, they're not gonna be able to balance your relationship, um, and could potentially make it worse. So that's a possibility too, right? But by letting this continue on, continue with the autonomy, um, leaving the behaviors intact because they were never punished, right?
Never having any real standards that are really enforced. We allow the dog to, at a minimum stay in that state of mind, stay in that frame of mind, and maintain the status quo. Um, where really everything is managed, right? The dog isn't learning anything new. The state of mind isn't changing. They're just being physically, literally physically managed, right? Toys and treats are kept picked up. Dog is put away when someone comes in all because if we don't do that, there will be a problem. Um, and so this continues for years and things are going okay, especially once the other dog does pass away and they don't have a guarding issue anymore.
12:00 — Rules, boundaries, accountability, and consequences were missing from the dog’s earlier upbringing.
Um, but now there's a baby <laugh>.
So now you add a baby to the mix and the dog doesn't necessarily know what to make of that. But it's really common, you guys, for dogs to be freaked out by babies. Um, they're small, they're moves are sort of abrupt and jerky, right? They're loud, they make strange noises. Um, they make eye contact a lot, which can be unsettling to a dog. And also I do believe there is some innate sense that it is quote unquote a baby, right? I don't think a dog has an understanding of what the concept of a baby is.
Um, or certainly the gravity of <laugh> maintaining the, the wellbeing of a baby, nothing like that. Um, but I think they know that it is a baby in some way, shape or form, right? Just like puppy. Like a lot of dogs, they don't like puppies. Um, they find them unsettling, they don't wanna be around them.
And honestly, that makes a lot of sense because puppies are usually protected by their mother. And I wouldn't expect other adult dogs to want to be around a puppy, um, if nothing else for that reason. Um, but I think a baby can kind of fall into that same category as kind of being like a puppy, right? And if you have a dog that's not a big fan, well you don't want them treating your baby like a puppy. But here's the critical mistake that I think so many folks make. Number one, they wanna believe that their dog will love their baby, right?
It's cute, it's adorable. We want them to be best friends and all these things, but it's a fantasy, right? I'm not saying they won't forge a great friendship, I'm just saying that is a fantasy that may or may not be real, especially right now. Right? So that's rushing, putting the cart before the horse.
Um, and again, they see their dog through these rose colored glasses and they just assume that the dog loves their baby and would never hurt their baby. 'cause you know, their dog would never do that because they're a good dog. And it's like, okay, but being a good dog is nothing to do with it, right? It's not about good or bad, it's just about being a dog. Period. Love the show. Well, I have great news. We are offering an inexpensive subscription to our new premium content. This is content that isn't available to the general public.
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Um, and so the critical mistake we see people make on top of that is they want their baby and their dog to forge this relationship. And they think it's beneficial to kind of force them together. They think it's beneficial for the dog to get quote unquote used to the baby. Um, by smelling them, they often will even hold the baby out to the dog, right? Let them sniff them, let them be close, share space together, um, have the dog smell the baby's blankets and all these things. And that really, to me, is completely the opposite of what we should do.
16:00 — Kati challenges advice that encourages dogs to sniff babies or share close space.
And I'm not saying these people did that because I actually didn't ask.
'cause it's not important at this point. My job is to deal with what they have going on now, but I'm kind of giving you a rundown on some of the things that I see happen all the time, um, that contribute to this sort of situation coming to fruition. Um, because a lot of times it's avoidable. And if you don't know, then you don't know, right? But here I am <laugh> putting the information out there so that hopefully somebody that didn't know now knows, um, you don't want to do that. Your dog doesn't need to smell the baby.
You don't need to lay with the baby. They don't need to be friends with the baby. The most important message you want to send when you have a new baby, the most important message you wanna send to your dog is stay away from the baby. The baby is mine, and I will guard the baby with my life, right? Even if you have a, a great dog who's never shown any sign of anything, that's the message I would send 110%, especially since even a really soft, sweet lovey dog who's not unsettled by the baby. Um, and who just wants to go lick the baby.
Even those dogs can hurt the baby by accident.
The best thing you can do in every scenario is teach your dog to stay the hell away from your baby. And absolutely send the message that the baby is yours and you'll guard it. Okay? Huge, huge conversation to be had with your dog. People say, oh, correct the dog when it goes near the baby. Yes. Won't that make my dog hate the baby? No, it'll get your dog to respect and stay away from the baby and respect you more. And what's more important than protecting your baby? Right? So do that. So I don't know, right?
Their baby's about eight months now, I don't know what those eight months looked like. We didn't really talk about that. Um, but what's happening now is babies doing tummy time, probably starting to crawl around a little bit. And they heard they were in the vicinity, but they weren't staring, right? Baby was doing tummy time. Dog was in the womb. They heard a kerfuffle that sounded kind of like the dog was sneezing or coughing. It's, you know, that's what the wife assumed. And when she looked, the dog was actually kind of standing over the baby, snarling and growling.
19:00 — The wife discovered the St. Bernard standing over the baby while snarling and growling.
Um, so she went over and of course, reassured the dog, which again, is not the best idea. Um, but again, you don't know what you don't know, right? So, uh, I think that would be most people's reaction is to assume their dog is afraid and unsettled and to reassure them with affection and telling them it's okay. And so she did that and kind of got the dog settled and walked away again. And the same thing happened again. And the dog, um, actually tried to bite the baby. And I think he, he, I think, I think she got teeth on the baby.
Um, but it, there was no serious injuries or anything, but there very well could have been.
Um, rather it that bite landed or not. Um, I'm glad the baby's okay, but obviously you have to admit in a situation like that, that could have ended very, very badly. And the truth is that stuff happens more than you know. So I hear about it quite often because I'm in the dog training field. That stuff comes across my feed. My friends are talking about it. I see it, I hear about it. I feel like the average person, the general public does not unless it happens locally, you don't hear about it, but it happens every day.
People get mauled, they get killed by dogs, babies get attacked. Um, and it's horrendous. It's horrific. And nobody wants to think that their dog can do that. But the fact is, whether your dog would do that or not, your dog doesn't have a moral compass. They don't know that it's wrong, <laugh>, they don't get it.
They're not people. Um, and so I'm so glad that this did not end that way. Um, however, it's extremely concerning and confusing and alarming for the parents. So what was my advice to them? Number one, right now, absolutely have to keep them separate, right? Management, management, management, a hundred percent. So dog cannot be near baby. Everything needs to be supervised. Um, and everything should be supervised anyway, right? We tell everybody, no dogs and kids unsupervised. And I understand in some households with some kids and some dogs, like there are gonna be moments, the dogs alone with the kids.
But generally speaking, it's not a good policy to have dogs and kids sharing space, especially for long periods of time, unsupervised. Um, so even in my house, my daughter's 10, she knows the rules. Um, my dog is six and he's well trained and they have a great relationship. But if I was going to be, like, if I was going to step out of the house and I was gonna be out there doing yard work or out there for some period of time, I wouldn't leave them together. I just wouldn't. Like, it's just, it comes naturally to me to say that's just too much.
It's too much. Why? Because anything can happen. You're not there. And dogs have teeth right now, if I'm just going to the kitchen to get a drink or, you know, I'm back and forth and I'm making dinner, no, I don't make a big deal. The dog's there, my daughter's there, they do fine, right? But if I had a dog with any history, if their relationship had any kind of history, no, they'd be supervised 110% of the time. And it's just a good policy for kids and dogs to not be unsupervised together until your child is at least old enough to be trustworthy and reliable and to understand what is and isn't allowed.
23:00 — Children and dogs should remain supervised until the child understands boundaries and can treat…
And that they can't push those boundaries and that they know how to treat a dog and that you know, that they will treat the dog properly, right? And the dog has to be very, very trustworthy as well. But again, behavior's never guaranteed, never. You just don't leave your kids alone with your dogs. Even small dogs, I might say, especially small dogs, <laugh>, the way I've seen most small dogs behave. Um, but anyway, so management for them for now, they have to keep, keep that baby safe. That is the most important thing. There's nothing more important than that.
And so my first comment is, I think it's totally acceptable to rehome your dog. I even think it's acceptable to euthanize your dog. And I'm not saying that should be what this person does. Absolutely. That's not what I'm saying. But I think it's acceptable because here's the thing, when you have a dog that displays any kind of aggressive behavior, especially a big dog, re-homing to me just doesn't sound like much of an option, <laugh>, because someone else is gonna get hurt, right? So you're taking, and who wants it? Who wants your aggressive dog? Nobody, right?
Especially a big dog. So if we're actually being honest with people when we're trying to rehome our dog and we're out there asking people, Hey, you want my aggressive German shepherd? You want my aggressive Saint Bernard? You want my, you know, pit bull that just bit my baby? Like, the answer is probably gonna be no, nobody, no, I don't know anybody who's like, you know what, I'd really love to have an aggressive dog. I'd really love to have a big dog that bites sometimes <laugh>. Like, that's not anybody's dream.
And so I think euthanasia is always on the table. If you feel like your dog isn't safe enough to live in your home, euthanasia should be an option. And I'll never guilt people about that. I had to do it. Um, if your dog isn't safe enough to live in your house, why should you assume they're safe enough to live in someone else's? And so it's kind of like passing the buck sometimes, but sometimes it's a reasonable option. And so if you think your dog, you know, isn't safe enough in your house, but could be safe enough in someone else's, then maybe it's an option, right?
But you have to be honest with people about what they're getting, about what your dog's quirks are, their triggers are about what their tendencies are, about how intense they are. You have to have honest conversations with people and understand that they might not want that.
But if your dog's triggers are very specific and very manageable, then maybe that is the right move. And I think this, these are all very, very personal decisions. Um, so in this case, I told them if they choose to keep the dog in their home, they should absolutely do a training program. And in that training program, of course it's going to be an e-collar program. We are going to condition the dog to the E caller so that we can begin holding them accountable for everything we tell them to do. If you're wondering, well, is that gonna fix the problem?
The answer is no. That's just part of the recipe.
So we train dogs to a very high level of reliability, and we do that so that number one, you can control their behavior, you can tell them what to do, and now they have to listen to you. It's not negotiable. They 100% have to do the things you ask them to do. Um, and so you get more control, but also you get a better relationship, right? You're now a more relevant entity. You deserve more respect. Um, and it just builds that, that respect and that communication and that relationship up to where it needs to be.
27:00 — If the family keeps the dog, they must commit to a structured training program.
Um, but it also just makes everything safer because now you can use that too in your household by implementing structure, right? You can put your dog on the place cot and you know they're not gonna move because you've done the work and your dog knows it's not negotiable and your dog knows there's a consequence if they do move and it's a meaningful one, right?
So now you know you can put your dog places and you can trust them to stay there. You're gonna use your crate a lot. But you can also use the down command. You can also use the place command, right? And these are things that you will have to manage your household, and you'll be able to trust your dog to listen because you did the training. So that's imperative, right? But just that gets your dog into a different state of mind, right? Because now they're no longer fully autonomous and you're no longer a doormat and aez dispenser.
So that changes things, guys. And it gets your dog hopefully into a different frame of mind where you're gonna get a better version of them, right? Rather than the fully autonomous this, I'm a king, this is my castle, I do whatever I want. It's like, no, not anymore.
Now you do what I tell you to do. And you do that all the time, <laugh>. So, so that you can see that's a different frame of mind. Um, so we recommend that we recommend setting boundaries around the baby where the dog's not allowed to go near the baby dog is corrected for going up to the baby, right? And you can do that with things like their high chair and their tummy time blanket and their bouncer, right? Where you can teach the dog, you stay away from it. And kind of a neat little cool thing is they have, um, not scat mats, but it's a similar idea.
It's like a, a collar that your dog would wear. And there is sort of a transmitter that if the dog gets near that, it shocks them, right? So now your baby could wear this transmitter, right? Or you could put it on their bouncer, on their swing, on their blanket.
And now if the dog comes within a certain radius of those objects of your baby, they receive a shock. And so the first few times I did this, I would definitely want to be prepared to give the dog some guidance and show them to move away, right? And after they do it a few times, it becomes second nature and it, and it might just be second nature immediately, right? But it might not, especially if baby's been around for five months, 10 months, 12 months, and this has never happened before. So you wanna be prepared to show your dog to move away, um, after they receive that shock and they will learn to stay away and know they're not gonna hate the baby.
Um, they're just gonna know baby's off limits, right? And your dog should know that a hundred percent because even if your dog isn't going to growl at and bite the baby, they might step on them, jump on them, right? Bite them trying to get a toy away or something. Things happen. Keep your dog away from your child. Teach your dog boundaries. People are so opposed to having rules and boundaries with their dog. It is insane. It is by far the hardest part of my job.
Um, and there's nobody that deserves that more than your baby guys. So I'm not saying teach the dog to be terrified to be in the room with your child. I'm just saying set a healthy boundary calmly and assertively. Set a healthy boundary, right? Have your dog intentionally in the room with your baby sharing space, but neutrally, right, not right together. They don't need to be snuggling right now. They can forge a friendship later and it will be predicated on a much higher level of respect than if your, than if your dog is just allowed to invade your baby's space whenever they want to go up to your baby and treat your baby however they want to.
31:00 — The goal is neutral, respectful shared space rather than terrorizing the dog around the…
Right? And you're just helpless to do anything about it. Set those boundaries. Have your dog on place while your baby's doing tummy time, and of course you are present, okay?
Have your dog in the room while your baby's in the bouncer, right? But maybe you use, um, that collar we just talked about so your dog can't come within a couple feet of the baby. And I have a story for you. When I had my bad puppy, right? My first episode, bad puppy. Um, and she was probably, I don't know, nine or 10 months old. Anyway, my dog was, and my daughter was just a toddler the first time we went outside together. And my daughter was walking down over the hill to her swing set and I brought the, the dog out.
And the first thing she did was she saw my daughter and she barreled right into her and knocked her over. And she did it on purpose. And people think, oh, my dog has no spatial awareness. Yes they do. Totally intentional. You see dogs body slam each other all the time. It's just fun. It, so my daughter got treated like a sibling, just like another puppy. Uh, not cool. Not cool at all. So set those boundaries with your dog and, and your baby. And I'm not saying don't have them together. You actually want them to share space together, but in a neutral and respectful way that builds safety and trust.
Okay? So, so you can be in the room, but stay away from the baby. It's not yours, it's mine.
And so the advice for them is management for now. But if that dog's staying there, absolutely a formal training program where their dog is trained to a high level of reliability, where they balance that relationship with real rules and accountability and they're going to have to live a very structured lifestyle. This isn't a situation where we wave some magic wand and we just cure the dog of their uncertainty or hostility or whatever is going on. And then everyone's just safe and they don't have to watch. That's not gonna happen guys. You have to be realistic.
And so realistically, and I talked about this in the last episode. I know I told you there'd be some overlap and there certainly is. We train that dog to be as safe as humanly possible. We train that dog to listen to its owners. If the dog growls at the baby, fixates on the baby, we're correcting that behavior.
We're teaching the dog to respect the baby, stay away from the baby. All these things to make the dog so much safer. But ultimately they're going to have to live a more structured lifestyle. They're gonna have to use their kennel more. They're gonna have to use their place command. They're gonna have to restrict their dog's freedom and they need to watch, right? You can't leave your kid and your baby, your kid and your baby. You can't leave your kid and your dog unsupervised together, especially when you've had these kinds of issues. No way, no. How, I don't care how good your dog is doing, it's just not worth it, right?
But you have all kinds of tools at your disposal that make it easier for you to live a life where you don't have to,
35:00 — Reliable kennel, place, and down behaviors can reduce household risk after training.
Right? You'll have your kennel, you'll have your place command, you'll have your down command and your dog will have a higher level of respect, both for you and your child. So the chances of something happening are much, much less, right? But ultimately, again, it's that piece of human responsibility. Don't put your dog in a situation, especially when the stakes are this high where they could make a bad choice or where something could happen, right? 'cause the environment, you don't live in a Skinner box. It's not a a hundred percent controllable. You don't know what's gonna happen the first time you leave that dog on place and your baby's doing tummy time and you're cooking dinner out in the kitchen.
So you leave for five minutes. That could be the five minutes that your kid starts crawling and goes right up to the dog.
And the dog now feels trapped on place. 'cause he knows he is not supposed to leave, right? These are the things, that's why no, like don't put your dog in those situations. Don't put your kid in those situations <laugh>, right? But it can be done and it can be, okay? It's a personal choice. You have to decide, hey, is it worth doing all this training? Do I wanna invest the time and the money? Do I want to live the structured lifestyle and then see if my dog is safe enough? And it sounds like it would be, I think they would do fine.
Um, but not everyone wants to do it, right? And so I try to be, my job is to be very, very clear about what the training entails and what life looks like afterwards. And then they have to decide if that's what they wanna do.
And if you are the person that says, I love this dog dearly, I don't wanna let her down. I wanna know that I've done everything in my power. Then you do the training, then you do the training and you accept responsibility for maintaining a safe lifestyle post-training. But you'll have lots of new tools at your disposal. You'll have lots of new skills, your dog will have lots of new skills. Um, you will have taught your dog to modify a lot of their behaviors. Um, and you'll just be in a better place. And most likely, the problems you are having are going to be a thing of the past.
Your dog isn't going to do those things anymore. Your dog probably isn't going to feel those things anymore, right? If your dog was unsettled and nervous about the baby, that's probably gonna start to go away.
If the dog was hostile toward the baby, that's probably gonna start to go away, right? But you're still going to have to take responsibility for supervising your household and properly managing your household, right? Just because things look and feel like they're all better doesn't mean you can now just have a free pass to go be irresponsible and leave them unsupervised together. It's just not something we do. Right? But that doesn't mean that you're just managing everything. There's tons of training that takes place, right? But the human responsibility aspect has to be a piece of that puzzle too.
38:00 — Post-training safety still requires owners to supervise and manage the household responsibly.
Hey guys, thanks for joining us today. I really hope you enjoyed the show. If there's a specific topic you'd like to hear discussed, you can send that to me directly via email or fan mail. Just jump down into the show notes. That information will be there for you. I really look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for supporting the show, and I look forward to next time.