2 year old mean to our dog?

Question

My 2 year old son has very good verbal skills and usually listens okay. He is usually not mean to other kids, but he is just vicious to our very patient 1 year old dog. He will randomly go up and grab the dogs skin on his back, or bite his back, and laugh about it. We have tried explaining how much he is hurting the dog, how mean it is, putting him in time out, and yet nothing works. He thinks its funny! How do I put an end to this?!?

Answer 1

I have the same problem. So if you figure it out let me know. I've tried everything.... the swatting the butt thing doesn't work, neither does yelling, or time out. I think they just have to grow out of it.

Answer 2

You need to up the punishment.  Trade in his currency.  Every time he is mean to the dog take away his favorite toy for a week, keep going until he stops.  He might end up with no toys at all but you will get his attention.  Good luck

Answer 3

have you tried swatting him when he does this? hes hurting the dog so maybe if you swat his bottom when he does this it will stop, he'll understand hes hurting the dog if hes hurting a little too even if its only his feelings

Answer 4

This may sound brutal, but honestly, it works. When he goes up to the dog and hurts him (pulls the skin or bites him) pull him away, look him in the eye, tell him NO in the sternest voice you can muster, and spank his butt fairly hard. Maybe then he will realize how much it hurts the dog when he does it, and if he STILL doesn't realize how much it hurts the dog he will stop to avoid the spank.

I did the same thing when I was his age (except our dog was 19 at the time...she was a black lab). My parents did this with me, and after they looked me square in the eye, told me NO in a stern voice, and gave me the spank, I got the picture that it hurt the dog.

Answer 5

you have to be firm and say no to him, because he keeps doing this the dog may one day snap back at him and I dont think you want that to happen. Good luck

Answer 6

My two kids are very rough with our dog too. If they start to hurt him, I tell them to only touch him with one finger, show them how to treat him, and tell them to say sorry for hurting him. They usually do this, but sometimes it takes a little extra. They can't feel the pain that the dog is feeling they just think it's fun, so they don't want to stop. If your son starts hurting you dog grab his hand and smack it pretty hard, then try showing him how you treat a dog, (gently petting and kissing). If this doesn't work, everytime he goes for the dog take him (your son) out of the room. If you do this, plus the hand smacking, continuously, hopefully he'll lose the desire to hurt your dog. If you are against spanking/swatting his hand, just continue with the timeouts. Put him somewhere where he can't locate toys or anything to entertain himself while being punished, or he wont mind going on timeout.

Answer 7

my friends little sister would do the same thing to a cat and she grew out of it. its probobly just a phase. if the case continues get him to a phsycotherapist becuase he might be a sociopath. (seriously) Torturing small animals is a sign of a future serial killer (seriously) which is basically most of the time a sociopath.

Answer 8

Please be very careful.  Our pediatrician recommended that we keep our toddler away from our dog until he was about 4.  That's impossible!  Your very patient dog could go into defense mode and try to protect itself hurting your toddler in the meantime.  If your situation is anything like mine, be very careful.  My son used to bother dog while the dog was sleeping.  I am very greatful that the dog never snapped because he would have bitten my son in the face.  I would allow the dog to growl and talked to my son about how the dog was trying to communicate somethig to him.  We went through the whole routine and I asked him, "does he sound happy?"  Why do you think he is mad...Just try to be present and do what you need to do within reason to get your child to understand.

Answer 9

I would continue to do what you are doing- just remain consistent.  However, it is just a phase.  DS did this to our dog, but soon lost interest and found other things to terrorize.  2 y/o love to test everything (you, animals, other kids, etc), and when they realize that it gets them nowhere, the undesirable behaviour fades.  GL and it is normal!