Mikko likes being near Bella, and he is allowed to sniff, etc. She is to the stage where she is reaching out for things. When she touches him, he gets really uncomfortable, looks away, and sometimes leaves the area.

I do tell him good boy, when she does touch him, and his tail wags, but you can tell he's still nervous or unsure of the situation. Hubby said he got really nervous and went down stairs the other day (not like him)...

Starting now, even though she's not even 6 months yet, I won't let her tug on him, but touching will be OK. Should I just keep doing the "good boy!" thing when she does touch him?

nt

Introducing Mikko to a change in his environment is a slow process and takes time. Just give him positive reinforcement when he is doing good around Bella and make sure he still gets "me" time. He will learn to love her and not think she is so strange. :-)

I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing.

For the first few months of her life, we had a gate at her bedroom door, so he wasn't allowed in. We had taken it down, and it took some time for him to realize it was OK for him to go in there. Now he'll sometime lay on the floor while she's eating, or if I'm changing her. It always makes me smile.

I do need to work more on the "me" time too!

Hi, even though Mikko is an animal, you need to remember that he has feelings just as if he was the older child. It is very important that when Bella is sleeping or whatever, that you spend time with Mikko playing, petting, walking, etc. And when Bella is with you, don't run him off or he still start to dislike her for taking you away. Put yourself in his paws and try to understand how he looks at things.

And as I'm sure you know, never leave them unattended together. Even the most gentle dog can do something horrible in a moment's notice.

Like I said before, time, patience, and positive enforcement will lead to a great bond between them. Hugs to all!

http://leerburg.com/dogskidsdirectory.htm

Sarah, you can take their expert advice or not, for whatever it's worth to you...

I will say this much though:

Mikko is displaying AVOIDANCE behavior in showing that he's UNCOMFORTABLE being TOUCHED by Bella & in running AWAY from her by LEAVING the room, or even going to another FLOOR of your home -- By doing that he is speaking LOUD & CLEAR without words ... If it were me, I would RESPECT his BOUNDARIES regarding my child <:-)

I was going by the Dog Whisperer rules (close to Leerburg) in the beginning, but then emailed Barbara Bouyet to see what she thought. She made some very valid points, so we switched things up a bit...

He was not allowed in her bedroom. Barbara told me it would help their bond - child and dog. She told me a story about someone breaking into a house through a bedroom window. The Akita slept below the window....bad guy stepped on dog, dog held bad guy....I'm not expecting Mikko to be her body guard, in anyway, or even BFF, but I would like them to have a bond.

I'd tell Mikko to "get" quite often when I was holding Bella. It's the command we use when he needs to go lay down. My eyes were then opened, that Mikko would associate Bella with getting, which to him, would be a negative thing. We want Mikko to view Bella has a positive "thing". He could potentially learn to resent her.

CC, I do understand what you are saying with his avoidance, etc. I just want to make sure, that if she were to accidentally touch/grab him, that it wouldn't catch him so off guard, that he would, God Forbid, snap or something. Even if he were to just startle, he could potentially step on her or something.

***She is watched carefully around him, but there are accidents, and I'm not going to pretend they don't happen.

The baby can get scarred for life, both physically & psychologically -- Then when the doctor is required to report the bite to Animal Control & Child Protective Services, the dog ends up being put to sleep by court order <:-(

Clearly, Mikko is NOT an aggressive dog -- I believe he has a stable temperament & also benefits from GOOD continuous training from you <:-) But as you say, it's the Unexpected Accident Factor that has you worried & rightly so...

IMHO, the only way to prevent an "unanticipated accident" from happening is by actually EXPECTING that accidents do occur & then not letting any scenarios unfold in which an unpredictable baby is ALLOWED intimate contact with a dog that is already reacting to the child with loud & clear AVOIDANCE behaviors -- To me, this means the judicious use of baby-gates, in order to give Mikko "his space" away from Bella UNTIL she's old enough to learn HOW to respect a dog's boundaries ... It also means putting all the SUBTLE non-punitive protocols in place that reinforce Mikko's "underling" position BELOW your child in the family hierarchy -- It must be crystal clear to Mikko that he is the "omega" member of your household pack 24/7 & this is all done without ANY overbearing actions by the owners <:-)

You can always email Cindy Easton Rhodes too (her e-dress is on the Leerburg website) -- She's a mom first of all & has also trained a number of Akitas over the years ... Cindy used to breed Dobermans & now raises Belgian Malinois, so she is VERY experienced in the training, management & handling of high-drive/lightning-reflexed dogs as housepets <:-)

with Jezzibelle and Matthew.......she was doing the exact avoidance that Mikko is doing. Lexie was the opposite. Although Matthew isn't here every day he is here alot.

I respected Jezzibelle's feelings and allowed her a safe place to go where she would not be bothered. None of the dogs came in Matthew's bedroom. As Matthew began to crawl I only had the dogs around when I could be in direct contact with all of them. I have never seen aggressive anything out out either of the girls towards people...ever. I just was worried like you that an accident could happen. As time went on they became more and more adapted to everything. When Matthew was zooming around they would usually go off into my bedroom and I would close the door so they felt safe.I had gates up so Matthew was in separate parts of the house from them at the times he was busy... busy. From the time Matthew could I taught him to have the girls sit(I would do it) and he would give them a treat. I taught him to pet nicely and softly. It's funny but Matthew is a whirlwind but he has learned to respect the dogs..He acts like they are part of the furniture. He will just sit right next to them ...give them a pet and get up and go on his merry way.

The other day I was with him and he accidently fell over Jezzibelle...first time ever.....I was right there and Jezzibelle just laid there as he picked him self up and kept going. He is 2 1/2 now and I know when he is a little older they will love to play with him. When he goes into his screamy memie fits they totally ignore him.(wish I could)LOL!

Taking things slowly is best.........if you still have your Mikko time...his walk or whatever you do with him...play ball etc. He will adjust just fine. Bella is always going to be first and he will learn that.... just like you and Mike are to him.

The fear is always there for a potential accident so I still feel like it is my duty to protect all of them.
Now we have little Maddisen here and starting the whole process over again:)

Julie

:) :)

I would be really careful in this situation. It could be that he is just unsure or it could be that he doesn't like being touched by the baby. Josey will act this way if he thinks he is in trouble, but that's Josey. Just remember you can only stop the second bite you will never be quick enough to stop the first one.

As far as giving him "good boys" are you sure that he is not taking the good boy as a response to him acting fearful? You might me reinforcing this behavior. But like I said this is a tuff one to call.

I would probably go to a professional with this one and keep the two apart until you are more sure about your boy.

I hope this works out for you. Keep us posted

is the problem!

It is that bad that you are to the point you need a professional yet???

I was just thinking for recommendations.

Things are bad, even a little. Just want to make sure I do the right thing for Bella AND Mikko

I am not really sure, I have th opposite problem at my house! My dogs all want to be right by my nephew when he comes over. I would just take it really slow and if Mikko is not comfortable I would give him space and not make him be touched. Hopefully baby Bell and Mikko will be best buddies as she gets a little older and Mikko gets used to the new changes

I will need to make sure I am more aware

He thought he was doing the right thing, by making Mikko stay for Bella to touch. Mikko got uncomfortable enough, that he ran down stairs.

Don't worry, we had "the talk"

Glad to hear you talked and hopefully this solves the issue!