Mastiffs and small children they do not know...

[Atlas_Mama]

What breed of mastiff do you own- and do you find that they are well behaved around small sized children that they do not know(if you are willing to admit if they are not)? Was this something that came as they grew older and more confident?

 

[Rugers-Kris]

I have an English Mastiff and his is a dream around small children regardless of whos they are BUT I trained him from the time he was 6 weeks old according to how I expected him to act around babies and small children. I think it is absolutely neccessary when you are dealing with a dog of any size but especially when you are dealing with a giant breeds.

 

[jenny adams]

i am curantly helping a friends 4 year old deal with his fer of dogs, he has known are old english sheep dog all his life, when he was 2 1/2 he was bit bay a dog he played with regaly, now he is scared of dog, we have had him come round 2-3 a week, now we have gypsy he comes to see you good dog and the puppy, how will be a good dog when ante jenny has tort her to be good, so i would say my dogs are good around small kid, not just my kids, we could leave my nephews son asleep in the living room and go for a fag, if he cryed she came for us

 

[Atlas_Mama]

I do not have small children- or have family members with small children- and my DDB is very leery of the little ones-ESPECIALLY if they make a crying noise---although breed is characterized as being great with children- which is what gives me hope he is going through an insecure phase that he will grow out of..

 

[Jakesmum]

Jake is wonderful around children of any size. My neice is afraid of dogs and he will just lay there and let her pet him, my other neice loves dogs and will hug him and climb all over him. All the young boys in the neigborhood love to play with him. That being said, if a child runs away he thinks it's a game and will try to chase them or he will try to lick their faces and because he is so big it's scary for a child, so I am always with him and keeping him out of kids faces and stopping him from chasing, as gentle as he is I don't want there to be any misunderstandings.

 

[seeknoxrun]

I have two young English Mastiffs (15 months and 10 months), and they both LOVE kids. They were both regularly exposed to children from a young age, and I really believe socialization is a HUGE factor.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Apollo is great with children, of any size, though I'll admit I don't believe he's even been around one smaller than a todler. He'll get to energetic for the todlers on occasion and we have to remind him to be gentle, but he loves them. And gets upset and tries to protect them when they cry....

 

[Cody]

Both my CC's are fantastic with kids, all kids.
Children can do pretty much anything to them and they stand still as statues and take it, maybe licking a face every now and then to illicit a shriek
The neighbor kids take turns walking Aurora around and making her do tricks.

 

[charger02]

We have an American Mastiff and he is very gentle around children. But. He is still a puppy and gets excited at times so we watch him consistently around toddlers.

 

[northernmastiff]

I have an English Mastiff and she loves kids. I have two kids and she has been going to the school to pick them up since she had her second set of shots so I think her love of kids is just from being socialized to them so much.

 

[stephanieb]

our EM loves children and even though we don't have any friends or family with little ones anymore appears to be very gentle. We have had him take cheerios out of the hand of a toddler. Our EM/BM cross on the other hand seems to be afraid of them. She is never mean, but where as Stonewall will go out of his way to see small children, Ren goes out of her way to avoid them.

 

[lilliesmomma]

Abby my 8 month old EM is awesome with kids of any age. I take her to the park all the time to socialize. Kids will just walk up to her and start loving on her and she gives them kisses, if she sees one coming to her she will lay down and wag her tail, if she is sitting she stays where she is. This is just what she does, I didn't teach her to do this. Lillie my 2 yr old on the other hand is very cautious of ppl, my fault there as I didn't get her out to socialize like I should of. She is getting better with ppl coming to the house but I have very few visitors and I don't trust her well enough to take her to the park so we just walk around our block.

 

[stephanieb]

Abby my 8 month old EM is awesome with kids of any age. I take her to the park all the time to socialize. Kids will just walk up to her and start loving on her and she gives them kisses, if she sees one coming to her she will lay down and wag her tail, if she is sitting she stays where she is. This is just what she does, I didn't teach her to do this. Lillie my 2 yr old on the other hand is very cautious of ppl, my fault there as I didn't get her out to socialize like I should of. She is getting better with ppl coming to the house but I have very few visitors and I don't trust her well enough to take her to the park so we just walk around our block.

Sometimes, I'm not sure even socliazation is the whole answer. We live in a very busy inner city neighbourhood and the dogs and are out and about several times a day and encounter a ton of people and situations. They go to the park almost daily, starbucks you name it. Ren has had a ton of socialization since 12 weeks (she is now just over a year). She just finds that little people move to fast and have weird voices. OK, I kinda feel the same LOL. Adults she loves.

 

[Gunny]

My EM is great with kids, but like Jakesmum, I keep him on a short leash because I'm always worried he'll get too excited and accidentally hurt someone because he doesn't realize how big he is. As litigation happy as our society is, I'd rather stay on the safe side.

 

[apolloscloset]

My EM is perfect around all kids, but she's not too fond of adults she doesn't know.

 

[Smokeycat]

My EM puppy is alright with kids even though he doesn't interact with them often. The only real problems I see and try to prevent are first that tail swinging about head high for some kids hurts when it hits me so he is learning to sit around small kids. The second is he loves to give kisses and I don't want some parent freaking out that he is trying to eat their toddler by getting his head, which is already bigger than mine, close to their child's face.

 

[Mooshi's Mummy]

Mooshi my Tibetan Mastiff is great with kids. She will let them groom her and pat her and sit or lay with her. Just dont ask her to play...she doesnt do play.

 

[Atlas_Mama]

Sometimes, I'm not sure even socliazation is the whole answer. We live in a very busy inner city neighbourhood and the dogs and are out and about several times a day and encounter a ton of people and situations. They go to the park almost daily, starbucks you name it. Ren has had a ton of socialization since 12 weeks (she is now just over a year). She just finds that little people move to fast and have weird voices. OK, I kinda feel the same LOL. Adults she loves.

That is like Atlas- the littler children- he seems very nervous around- and when they cry or make a high pitch noise I can see in his face that he just wants to bolt. I am really uncomfortable now when i am out at the park- or at a pet store- and i see little children around- so I am starting to avoid them which probably will just make it worse. The old kids he is fine- it is just the tiny ones like knee level or smaller. My girl dog is totally fine with all children all sizes- and has always been..

 

[Batz]

Shadow is only good around toddlers, he is real careful about not trying to knock them over. Kids like 6 and up not so much, he trys to play and because he is so big it's just too much for them.

 

[Robtouw]

All of my boys (Em's) were or are good with kids, at least the well behaved ones. Cruiser does not like the loud, obnoxious ones that are constantly moving and jumping about, he steers clear of them like I do! For the most part any little kid can rush up to him, hug, pet or climb on him and he loves it!