How to Bring a New Puppy Into the Home with Little Kids

In this Omaha puppy training session we helped Dixie a two-month-old Golden Retriever integrate into her new family and get along with little kids and stop nipping.

After I arrived I sat down with Dixie’s guardians to discuss their main puppy behavior concerns. Their primary concern was how to help their new puppy get along with their little kids and set Dixie up for success. Puppies naturally play with each other by nipping and tumbling around, so they often see little kids as good play mates. Most puppies don’t understand that nipping and jumping on the kids is inappropriate play behavior and need to learn new rules when they play with their new family.

Two primary things that they guardians can do is redirect Dixie’s attention towards something that she should be chewing on if she starts nipping like a bone or a toy or stand up and walk away from her. This will teach her what she should be playing with and that if she is using her teeth during play that it might result in play ending. We can also use the dog bed as a safe space for Dixie when she gets tired. To see how you can use a dog bed to help a new puppy and little kids get along you can watch the video below.

As you can see in the video Dixie loves laying in her bed. One way to make her bed a rewarding space to be is to give her a high value treat while she is laying in her bed such as a bully stick or Kong toy. Another great puppy training tip is to put her bed in locations where the family spends most of their time. This way Dixie can retire onto her bed when she is tired and still be with her family.

By the end of the session Dixie was learning how to go to her guardians when they called her instead of nipping the children when they played and learning how to relax on her dog bed. To keep up with this good behavior the guardians will want to use a lot of positive reinforcement by giving her treats and using our Petting with a Purpose technique. We wrapped up this puppy behavior training session with Dixie’s Roadmap To Success video, which you can watch below.