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Kids & Pets: 5 Things To Remember While Introducing Your Toddler To A Pet

Sep 3, 2021 | Lifestyle | 0 Comments | 200

You have taken the step, you have finally gotten the puppy of your dreams home! However, your toddler needs to get accustomed to this new furry member of your family, because if proper measures aren’t taken, it could cause some serious health issues for both your human baby and your furry baby. Not just that, your toddler should be mentally prepared to welcome a new member home as the new kitten or puppy would require some attention from Mom and Dad. Keeping this in mind, here are things that you should remember while introducing your toddler to your pet.

Be Gentle: You need to teach your toddler how to deal with animals gently by teaching them how to pet and caress animals without startling them. Toddlers and young kids are fascinated by animals as they read and hear about them in stories and see animated versions of them in cartoons, which is why they get too excited and they don’t realize that they are squeezing or pulling a dog’s coat, or scaring a kitten. Most often, children hurt these dogs and kittens unintentionally which leads to them barking or becoming aggressive. You can avoid this by teaching them how to pet a dog gently.

Stay Calm: When you go to the adoption center to pick up your pet, or whenever your toddler is interacting with an animal, teach your child to calmly approach the pet from the side with enough room on the side to allow the pet to approach your toddler. This actually helps in preventing the pet from getting scared and startled, allowing the pet to greet your child on their own terms.

Protection Is Key: It is highly recommended by experts, especially if you have a dog, to keep some sort of a leash or protective cage in the first few days, to keep them under control and help in assimilation. Teach them some basic instructions calmly and encourage your toddler to teach the pets with you. This helps them to bond and create a special connection, allowing them to get to know each other better.

No Toys or Treats: Although it looks extremely enticing, avoid using toys and do not encourage your child to give treats to the pets in the first go. Pets get excited at the tiniest whiff of the good stuff and may aggressively snatch it away from your toddler’s cute and pudgy hands, hurting them and creating a bad first impression. Toys usually are good ways but what happens is that most pets are untrained at the time so there might be some roughhousing or aggressive behavior that can really sour the mood and your toddler’s impression of the pet!

Sniffing Before Petting: Animals are extremely territorial and they need to know the person before they warm up to them. This is why it is encouraged that you let the pet first sniff your child before you encourage them to start petting the animals. Animals use their sense of smell to accurately understand a person, and it is their way of saying hello. Do not let your toddler offer their hands, and ask them to roll it in a ball, and avoid pushing it in the pet’s face. A great way to initiate this is to bring your baby’s blanket and let the pet smell it first, and then introduce your toddler to the pet, the introduction is bound to be safe and oh-so-adorable!

Hope you like this article (5 Things To Remember While Introducing Your Toddler To A Pet).

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