I know Cairns are good with kids, but.....

[KShep]

Has anyone ever brought a new baby into a Cairn's home? This might be a reality for us within the next two years and I'm a bit worried about how my current baby (aka Ripley) will handle that situation. She loves people and is not aggressive, but her excitement and energy level proves too much even for my five year old nephew who is, indeed, a rowdy little boy. Hopefully she will be a little older and more able to control herself when the time comes?

[Idaho Cairns]

All ten of our grand children have been raised with our Cairns and we have had exactly two incidents neither of which involved a bite or any injury. One new rescue, sitting on my DIL's lap growled at a child who approached and Sammi reacted badly when she was fallen on by a toddler. Now, by mutual agreement, if Sammi is tired she does not sleep on the floor where these kinds of accidents can happen--she removes herself to a more protected area when the kids get rowdy and she doesn't want to participate.

Our experience has been that our Cairns are careful with children and enjoy their company but I realize that I can only generalize about my dogs--each will be different.

We watch our dogs carefully around the children and the children are required to be gentle. We have had an ocassion or two where individual little ones got into a kicking thing with the dogs and that was stopped immediately--children cannot abuse our dogs in any way and that really hasn't been an issue. Consequently, everyone gets along famously, the kids enjoy the dogs and the dogs certainly seem to enjoy the kids. Why not, they have all grown up together and we can see individual bonding. Sammi is closer to the older grandchildren and Bonnie with the younger ones. It is interesting to watch.

My best advice is to play it by ear--watch the dog and the child carefully during the first few interactions and that should give you a clue how your Ripley will handle infants. I have heard stories from other Cairn owners to the effect that they could not trust their dogs around infants but I did not know the dogs or the circumstances so I hate to judge.

Here is Sammi with our next to oldest granddaughter when they were both pups.

[_whits_]

I'm 26, and I spent the first 10 years of my life with two Jack Russell Terriers who were in the family years before I was. Everything I've read says they're less trustworthy with children than Cairns. My Jack Russells were very much by-the-book Terriers; independent, strong-willed, tenacious. I never had a single problem as a child. In fact, my dogs were my best friends and set me up for a lifetime loving terriers.

Every cairn and every child is different, as Idaho said. From the moment I was born, my parents made it very clear to me that the dogs were to be treated with immense gentleness and that I was to respect their space (crate/bowls/toys). I was always supervised when I was with the dogs for the first few years, obviously, but my parents put me and the dogs in contact with each other straight away. They wanted the dogs to get to know me, and learn that my presence was a good thing, and vice versa.

I've heard from a number of friends with babies that the best way to introduce a dog to a new baby is to bring home a blanket the baby has been wrapped in before the baby comes home, and preferably one the owner has been in contact with as well. That way, the dogs gets introduced to baby's scent and starts to get an idea that that scent belongs to the dog's family. And then slowly introduce the baby and the dog in ways that both see the experience as positive. Lots of cuddles, treats, praise, etc.

Like almost all smaller dogs, Cairns don't have much patience for rough play, being fallen on, tail pulled, etc.. Which they shouldn't. Of course a Golden Retriever is going to have more tolerance, because it's going to hurt less. But as long as a child knows to treat a dog gently and with respect, I don't forsee it being much of a problem.

[jo_]

Our two love children of all ages. A close friend recently had a baby and has visited several times overly the last few months. Both dogs are very curious. Our only issue has been Eddie *really* wants to give the baby kisses. Luckily my friend is a 'dog person' and finds this quite adorable. We also have many nieces and nephews ranging from newborns to teenagers and we encounter many kids on our walks. Our dogs absolutely love all of them. There has never been any sort of aggression. The dogs almost seem to understand that they have to be a bit more gentle with children. Our only concern has been when the kids get wound up playing with the dogs sometimes the dogs follow suit and could easily knock down a standing young child. But all in all we have no concerns with kids.

That said, both our dogs are under 19 months so maybe older dogs would be less tolerant?

[Lynn in TN]

Kelly has been introduced to 2 babies and has done very, very well. Especially since she is under a year old herself. She was very curious about the babies each time. Sniffed and wanted to get close, but she was so gentle it was amazing. she didn't try to jump on the baby or anything just sniffed and licked their hands. My Mother-in-laws Pomeranian on the other hand was a different story with the same baby she had to put her in her crate, she wanted to jump on the baby and scratch. Kelly just politely sat beside the baby.

[tomatosandwich]

I watched my newborn niece for a couple of months, and Divot adored her. The only problem we had was he wanted to be by her constantly--licking her toys, snuggling up against her when she was on a blanket on the floor. We praised and treated him for calm, sweet behavior and he caught on really quickly!

[KShep]

Both of my nephews are allergic. Which is a shame, because Jaxon is 1. I grew up around Shar Peis, but I don't remember the dogs' behavior being an issue with my little brother or sister. I will have to ask my mom.

This is gonna sound completely nuts but I took it upon myself to start conditioning Ripley. I've been carrying around a small stuffed animal and saying "baaaabyyy.....beeee sweeet....baby...". If she's calm, she gets a cookie. It was pretty hilarious the first time I did it. She looked very confused

[Idaho Cairns]

Imagine how confusing it is going to be for Ripley when what you are carrying around, saying "sweet baby" to starts wriggling, crying, and smelling like an newly soiled diaper!

[KShep]

Imagine how confusing it is going to be for Ripley when what you are carrying around, saying "sweet baby" to starts wriggling, crying, and smelling like an newly soiled diaper!

AhahahHahaaa. Btw sammi looks so sweet with your grandchildren.

[Carolinasmom]

Carolina was 7 and 10 when our babies came home, (adopted as infants but with not much warning) and Carolina was quite intrigued. She was never the playful one and really didn't pay too much attention to the kids but did tolerate them. There were times when, particularly my son would bug her too much when she was napping and she would show her teeth at him, (I always tried to watch the kids around her) but never bit.

The first pic is when we brought our son home. I have lots of photos of her either looking at him or just lying beside him. The 2nd one is when we brought our daughter home 3 years later. On guard again! The 3rd one is of my mom holding our daughter and Carolina right in my mom's lap too!