Dog owners, need help teaching 15 mo old to respect dog.

DD LOVES our 5 lb Yorkie but she seems to be getting more and more rough with him no matter what we do. He is SO SO patient with her but of course it's not fair to him to get hurt. We have been teaching her "Nice" from day one, to gently pet him but now she's decided it's fun to grab fistfuls of his hair and pull. We give her a stern "No!" and reinstruct her how to pet nicely.

She seems to think it's funny now. No matter how stern I am when I tell her no, she just giggles and thinks it's really funny. I feel so bad for my poor dog. I've been separating them as much as possible, but if you know anything about Yorkies they NEED to be at your side or on your lap 24/7. It's not easy to keep the 2 apart, especially when I'm the only one home.

It's so hard to get her to understand at this age but I don't want my poor dog to suffer in the meantime. Does anyone have any other suggestions or will we just have to keep doing what we and and wait until she's old enough to get it?

Re: Dog owners, need help teaching 15 mo old to respect dog.

Saying no to them is funny at this age, that's true. She needs a stricter consequence. Try putting her in time out. Time out doesn't always have to mean sitting in the corner - it means a time away from attention and fun. Put her in the pack and play when she does that, or in her high chair. Tell her "no grabbing! time out!" and do it. At 15 months she can have a 60-75 second time out. Then when the time out is over, remind her to "do nice" or however you tell her to pet/play with the dog.

And no, 15 months is not too early for time-outs Be consistent and by 18 months she will really get it!

Dog owners, need help teaching 15 mo old to respect dog.

Thanks! I will try the brief time-outs, hopefully that helps to get the message through.