Forwarded message - for info, please visit http://tinyurl.com/2ypukr
Small dogs and small kids may not be a perfect fit
October 24, 2007
By DENISE FLAIM
NEWSDAY
MELVILLE, N.Y. — Dog folk usually don’t agree on much. And that includes
recent headlines about Ellen DeGeneres giving her dog Iggy to her
hairdresser without the approval of Mutts & Moms, the rescue group
she adopted him from.
But there appears to be great consensus over the wrongheadedness
of Mutts & Moms’ reason for repossessing him, despite the tears and
pleas of the family’s 11- and 12-year-old daughters: its policy of not
adopting out small dogs to families with children younger than 14.
“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Barbara Miller of Old
Brookville, N.Y., who has been breeding Norfolk terriers since the mid-
1970s and was recently named the American Kennel Club’s Terrier
Breeder of the Year.
While many prospective owners bristle at restrictions on how old their
children must be before a dog is placed with their families, rescuers
and breeders say such rules are made with the dog’s welfare in mind.
But even if most agree that 14 is over the top, just what that age is
depends on whom you talk to.
“No kids under 7” when it comes to toy breeds, declares Darlene Arden,
author of “Small Dogs, Big Hearts: A Guide to Caring for Your Little
Dog” (Howell Book House, $19.99). “Before that age, children don’t
understand that they can inflict pain.”
Because “anything a child can pick up, a child can drop,” even older
children should be schooled in the ground rules, she advises: Always
sit on the floor when playing with the dog. No roughhousing or yelling,
no swooping down, and no tug-of-war — “you can pull the teeth out of
alignment with a toy dog.”
Certain toy dogs are more appropriate than others for children, even
older ones, Arden says. Some breeds, such as Japanese chins and
Pomeranians, are simply too fragile. Ditto for Chihuahuas: “They are so
tiny even a lot of adults have problems handling them,” she warns. “You
have to hold them just right.”
At the New York City-based Metropolitan Maltese Rescue, the minimum
age for children is 10, said its president, Joan Garvin, because some
Maltese barely weigh in at 4 pounds, and the breed is not known for
being very compatible with children.
“We have made exceptions,” she says. “We sometimes get mixes
that are sturdier, or dogs that we know are good with children.”
Miller, the Norfolk breeder, doesn’t get too hung up on age. “What
if the family has an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old, and then there’s a
4-year-old? Should the two older kids be punished because they
have a younger sibling?” she asks.
Instead, “I have them come over and I watch them play with my puppies,”
and she makes an individual determination about their maturity level
and appropriateness.
Patt Kolesar of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., who breeds and rescues pugs
and Brussels Griffons — the latter is ostensibly part of Iggy’s heritage —
also resists honing in on a “make or break” age.
“Every home is an individual situation, and nothing written in stone,”
she says. “I’ve seen some 14-year-olds that I wouldn’t let have an ant
farm, and I have seen incredibly responsible 9-year-olds.”
With most rescuers and breeders, a child’s behavior — and a parent’s
reaction to it — speaks volumes.
“If while we are talking on the phone your 4-year-old child is screaming
in the background and you are screaming back, I’ll deter you from buying
my own dogs,” Kolesar says.
One reason for the broad age restriction in the Mutt & Moms policy might
be the murky backgrounds of the rescue dogs, she adds. “A lot of times,
dogs that come into rescue come with baggage. Sometimes they are
injured or fearful. A lot of rescues are looking out for the children and the dog.”
Melanie Mayo of Long Island Golden Retriever Rescue in Plainview, N.Y.,
says her group does not have an age restriction for children (though she
says a lot of other groups for the breed do). Still, she won’t place a dog
that was not raised with children into a household with kids, and she will
not place a shelter dog with young children. Period.
The problem with the Ellen DeGeneres controversy, she says, is that
the concern is misplaced. From a rescuer’s point of view, it should be
Iggy’s welfare that trumps everything — including the disappointment
of the two youngsters who grew fond of him.
“If you adopt a dog from me, you’re not my client — the dog is,” she
says. “Yes, you are doing a wonderful thing by adopting a rescue dog
and we all appreciate that, but we’re not a ‘make a family happy rescue,’
we’re a ‘find a dog a home rescue.’ We’re about what’s in the best interest
of the dog — and if we do that, everyone’s happy.”
Instead of thinking about their own needs, adopters should trust that
the rescuer or breeder will find the right match for them.
“It isn’t a waiting list, or eeny-meeny-miney-moe. It’s more like
matchmaking,” Mayo says.
Somewhere, out there, is the perfect dog for you. It just might take a
little time, effort — and patience — to find it.
TIPS FOR ADOPTING KITTENS
Dog people aren’t the only ones who look long and hard at a child’s
age before making an adoption decision.
Dottie McMorrow of A Home At Last Animal Adoption Network in
Brightwaters, N.Y., says she’s often unwilling to adopt a young kitten
out to homes with children under 7 or 8.
“Children that young tend to want to pick up kittens and play with
them — older kittens are sturdier,” she says.
Cat experience also plays a role. “We have put a couple of kittens
with children as young as 5, only because they have had cats in the
home before. They know how to handle them.”
Interviews with parents, and watching children as they interact with
her foster cats, often tells her what she needs to know.
“If I ask, ‘What would make you give up your cat?’ and the parent
answers, ‘Well, if the kitten bit my child,’ that type of answer” —
which shows a naivete about the oral propensities of kittens —
“would signal to us that these are not experienced cat people and
their kids are too young for cats.”
Often, she adds, rescues try to find diplomatic or vague reasons why
an adoption is not feasible. If you get the brush-off, look closer to
home to find the reasons why.
Picking your family's dog
Whether you get your dog from a shelter or a breeder, whether he’s
purebred or an “All American,” you need to understand his heritage
to make an intelligent decision about whether he will work in your
household.
As with any breed or mixture of breeds, seek out the guidance of
those with experience.
• Large-breed dogs. Many breeders of these dogs, from Rottweilers
to Ridgebacks, do not place puppies or adolescents in homes with
children under 5, or sometimes even 7. Young dogs can be boisterous,
and during their FRAPs — Frenetic Rapid Activity Periods — they can
scatter preschoolers like bowling pins. This has nothing to do with
the dog’s temperament but rather its youthful energy and underestimation
of a young human’s ballast.
• Terriers. Traditionally used as ratters and vermin catchers, many of
these dogs have small frames but very sturdy bodies — the better to
go underground to battle their quarry. That natural feistiness is also
what makes many breeders and rescuers reluctant to place dogs in
households with very young children; a terrier’s finite patience may
wear thin after the umpteenth nose bonk.
• Toy dogs. Size matters with these guys: Clumsy handling by a toddler
who doesn’t know better — or an older child who does — can lead to
serious injury. Some toy breeds are sturdier than others — a pug or
shih-tzu, for example, might be a better choice than a papillon or
Yorkie. Owing to their hardy spaniel heritage, cavalier King Charles
spaniels also can be a good option for older, well-mannered children.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071024/FEATURES10/71024081/1188
Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Oct. 26, 2007