The Toddler Rule:Basic Guidelines for Life With Your Dog

If you wouldn’t let your three year old do something then don’t let your dog do it either.

Would you?.

• Put your Toddler out in the morning tell them not to wander too far then close the door behind them?

• Leave your Toddler at home unsupervised with full access to your entire home?

• Let your Toddler get out of the car and charge into a field with other Toddlers without knowing any of the other kids?

• Teach the Toddler no manners and then hope for the best when company comes?

• Leave your Toddler in the care of somebody you know nothing about?

• Let your Toddler hang their head out the window while you're driving?

I love dogs and believe they have a certain level of judgment and that they should not be given responsability for more than they can handle. Clearly you can trust your dog with more responsibility as they get older and as you work with them but at the end of they day they need your protection from themselves and from strangers. My dog is pretty perfectly trained for off leash walking but I travel with a leash and don’t let her get more than 10 feet away from me even if we’re walking in the woods. She has full run of the house now but she transitioned from crate to kitchen to first floor to house (although she always slept in my room uncrated) over a period of time.

The Toddler Rule is especially important with puppies and young dogs. I will never forget getting a phone call from a vet who was wildly angry because her 7 month old puppy had chewed several books in her library. I asked her how that happened and she told me that she and her husband had locked him in the library for 4 hours while they had a dinner party(?)..this woman didn’t understand or respect the Toddler Rule.  I took her dog for placement after he ate too many of her shoes.

One part of the Toddler Rule that a dog never outgrows is being unsupervised outside. No dog, at any age is safe outside without adult supervision. Dogs can be impulsive even if they’ve been perfect their entire lives and dangerous humans or other dogs can show up creating a problem that you are not there to prevent or protect them from.  They only need to decide to cross the street one time to wind up in the path of oncoming traffic.  Another hard ‘n fast rule is that you never leave ‘your’ Toddler with human toddlers unsupervised because that is never safe and never worth the risk to either dog or child.#fb