Dogs, Babies and Food - Not a Good Threesome!

Parents often don’t realize that food can cause problems, sometimes big problems, between dogs and babies. This article will give you helpful information about how food can lead to such problems, and tell you how to avoid those risky situations.

WHEN DOGS ARE EATING

Here’s a common scenario about a dog eating his dinner when a baby approaches. This could lead to trouble!

It’s late afternoon, and Jennifer, a stay-at-home mom, is in the kitchen, getting dinner ready while her baby girl Pam is playing on the floor. Lucky, the family dog, is hungry and starts mugging Jennifer for his dinner. Fixing Lucky’s dinner is easy, so Jennifer decides to feed him first, and fills his food dish and puts it on the floor.

Lucky immediately starts eating, and Jennifer goes back to preparing dinner, as Baby Pam watches Lucky eat. Pam has recently learned to crawl, and soon she begins to move toward Lucky. As she gets closer, Lucky hunches over his food dish and begins eating faster.

Jennifer is busy with dinner and doesn’t notice what’s happening as the baby gets closer to the dog. But suddenly she hears a low growl from Lucky, and realizes that Pam is very close to the dog’s food dish. Startled, she scoops up the baby and moves her away from Lucky, just in time to avoid what could have escalated to a bite to the baby.

How likely is it that Lucky might have bitten Pam as she crawled toward him when he was eating? That would depend on a number of factors, such as whether Lucky had an inborn tendency to guard his food; if he had been rescued from the street, where he might have had to protect his food; how tolerant he is toward the baby; or perhaps a reason as simple as how hungry he was at the moment the baby approached him.

Hunching over a food bowl and eating faster are signs that a dog is protecting his food. Of course, a baby won’t recognize those signals, and many adults aren’t aware of them either. The sound of a growl has a clear meaning to us as adults, warning us to stay away, but growls are often not recognized by babies, who may continue to approach a growling dog. 

Thinking of this from the dog’s perspective can make his behavior more understandable: the dog is behaving in a way that means Please keep your distance! If we understand what the dog is saying to us when he puts his head down and hunches over his food, and we respond by moving away, the situation is likely to end safely, without incident. But if we don’t catch on to the dog’s meaning, and we continue to move into his space, the dog may escalate to a stronger signal, such as a growl.

My dog training clients sometimes ask me if they should punish their dog for growling. The answer is an emphatic NO! That growl tells us that the dog is distressed and is his way of saying that he needs more space. A growl does not necessarily lead to a bite, if we move away and give the dog the distance he needs. Bites are more likely to happen if people (or babies!) persist in approaching a dog who is telling us he needs to be left alone.

Understanding the dog’s behavior makes it easy for us to keep our babies safe and protected from dogs who are feeling stressed and threatened. Often creating more distance between dog and baby is a simple solution to problems around the dog’s food.

WHEN A BABY OR TODDLER HAS FOOD

The scenario above is about a time when a dog is eating his food and may try to protect it. What could happen when the baby or toddler is the one with food? How might a dog react to a baby in the presence of food? Here’s an example of a common situation.

A toddler named Brian is walking around the house, carrying a bowl of dry cereal, nibbling on it and dropping crumbs as he goes. Spot, the family dog, has learned that Brian drops food on the floor, so he follows close behind, watching for any crumbs that fall. As soon as he sees a piece of cereal on the floor, Spot gobbles it up as fast as he can.

Soon food isn’t falling fast enough for Spot, and he moves even closer to Brian. When the toddler gets distracted by the TV and stops to watch, Spot moves in and grabs the cereal bowl, trying to pull it out of Brian’s hands. The cereal falls on the floor as Spot hangs onto the bowl. Brian is startled, tries to pull the bowl out of Spot’s mouth, and starts to cry. Spot refuses to let go of the bowl, and Brian, already upset and crying, tries to hit Spot.

Sound like a recipe for a bite to a toddler??? Definitely!!!

HOW TO AVOID FOOD PROBLEMS BETWEEN DOGS AND BABIES

The situations above are just two of the ways that food can cause problems between dogs and babies. Whenever food is present, and a dog and baby are close by, there’s a chance that one or both of them may go for the food, resulting in competition for that food.

Fortunately, there are simple ways to plan life at home so that problems around food don’t happen. Here are some suggestions for managing common, everyday activities that involve food.

FEEDING TIME FOR YOUR DOG

Dogs should be fed in a place where the baby can’t get to them, such as a separate room where the dog can be left alone to eat without interruption. A laundry room or small room off the kitchen often works well for this.

Here’s the easiest, safest way to feed your dog while making sure your baby is safe while your dog is eating.

1.  Put your dog in his “feeding room” before you take out his food bowl. If you need to coax him into that room, toss a treat in and close the door after he’s in the room.

2.  Fix his food.

3.  Without taking your baby with you, bring your dog’s food bowl to him in his room, put it down, and then leave, closing the door behind you.

4.  Give your dog time to eat, and then go pick up the food bowl. Leave the door open as you exit the room, so your dog can come out.

5.  Always put the food bowl away, out of sight, after your dog has eaten. Some dogs will guard an empty food bowl, so don’t leave it on the floor where your baby could get to it.

6.  If you have more than 1 dog, each dog should have his own separate place to eat, away from the other dogs in the family. Dogs eating near each other can become tense, and may eat faster and eat more than when they’re alone and relaxed.

TREATS

When you give your dog treats, give them at a distance from your baby. Never use treats to coax a dog toward a baby, and don’t ever let your baby give the dog treats or give him his food bowl.

Look for another blog article explaining this.

WHEN YOU’RE FEEDING YOUR BABY

When a new baby comes home, often the family dog is curious about baby’s feeding time; this can happen whether the baby is breast fed or bottle fed. Some dogs will push their muzzle in between the parent and the feeding baby, trying to find out what’s happening.

If your dog tries to join in when you’re feeding a newborn or young baby, it can be distracting, annoying, and may lead to problems if the dog doesn’t want to back off. Baby’s feeding times will be most relaxed, and safest, if they’re dog free. Your dog can happily settle down with a chew toy or special treat and enjoy himself, behind a baby gate, in another room, or in a crate, if he likes his crate.

BABY IN A HIGHCHAIR

When your baby is old enough to start eating in a highchair, a whole new chance to get food can open up for your dog! Babies invariably drop food on the floor, often dropping a lot of it, and it takes a dog only a couple of minutes to learn that it’s a good idea to hang out under the highchair when the baby is eating. There are a few positives and a lot more negatives to the dog being around during the baby’s meals. Here are the possibilities.

POSITIVES

1.  Waiting for food to drop, and then snatching it up when it does, is fun and rewarding for your dog. No doubt about it!

2.  When baby’s mealtime is over, there’s no mess on the floor for you to deal with (unless you consider that the floor needs to be cleaned where the dog licked it).

NEGATIVES

1.  Some babies have fun throwing food to the dog. and the dog can end up eating most of the baby’s meal. Might not be what you want when you’re  feeding your baby!

2.  Dogs can get pretty insistent about food, and may start barking at the baby to deliver more.

3.  Small dogs may start jumping up toward the highchair tray, and larger dogs may simply start to take the baby’s food off the tray by themselves. This can lead to competition for food, as in the second example above.

4.  Getting food from baby’s highchair will encourage your dog to beg at the table when you’re eating your own meals.

5.  The dog may come to consider your baby a source of food. Not a good idea!

SUMMARY

Food can be a source of problems between dogs and babies, since most dogs are highly motivated by food. Dogs may try to get between a parent and baby during feeding times, and when babies start eating in a highchair, dogs will often hang out under the highchair and wait for food to drop, sometimes progressing to taking food off the tray.

Dogs, babies and food together is not a good threesome!

Here’s a good rule to follow:

When dogs are fed, keep babies away; when babies are fed, keep dogs away; when dogs and babies are together, keep food away. And never forget to supervise!