Nieces and new <span title="pup?.............................?">pup?........................</span>

Question

3 months ago, a friend gave me a coton de tulear puppy/ my 4 and five year old nieces are naturally rough with her. since they are not my kids, i didnt have the time nor patience to teach them how to treat her like a being instead of a toy. therefore, they just pet her for a few minutes when i decide to bring her around them

my hard neaded bro and his wife just bought a pomeranian puppy. the five minutes i was there, that pup was dropped twice and kicked in the face by my nieces. they dont try to do it, but they do it

how do i show them to be gentle?

Answer 1

At that age the best you can do is take them by the hand and gently pet the puppy.  Remind them to be nice and soft when doing this.  Unfortunately if your brother and his wife do not also follow through with this kind of teaching chances are they will not pick it up and that puppy will continue to be treated that way.

I hope things go well, and commend you for taking the time to try and help educate the children.

*EDIT*

I just want to say, that hitting the children will do nothing but help reinforce that hitting and other negative behavior is acceptable in this instance.  I admit there is a time and place for a spanking, but this is neither the time nor place.

Answer 2

I agree with Melissa.  Your brother should smack the sh#t out of the kids and teach them better.  My 2 year old grandson gets his butt beat if he does anything to small animals.  He has grown up with my 4 dachshunds and seen babies.  He knows how to be gentle.  But, I also don&#039;t let him alone with my dogs.  He&#039;s been know to throw kittens like footballs.  (thanks dad)

Small children don&#039;t understand how you can kill a pup very easily.  That poor pom isn&#039;t going to last long in a household like that.  It will be very timid and shy if it doesn&#039;t get killed.  Poor dog.

Nice of you to try and train your nieces, but if your brother can&#039;t follow thru, you are wasting your breath.

Answer 3

You could start off by smacking the h**l out of your brother for allowing them to behave this way ....

Then explain to them how they can hurt and even kill the puppy if they keep kicking it around and not being careful around it.  Tell them to treat it like a baby - if that would work.