Dog and childminding

[happydays1]

Hi we are thinking of getting a dog, my children have been asking for years and i think it has come to a time when i think i can cope! I would like to hear from childminders who have a dog, their experiences, what they have in place, what i have to do, what paper work i have to have etc please. Thank you in advance.

[eddie]

I have two dogs and have always had dogs in the house! They stay in the kitchen whilst I am minding, go for a pee outside whilst the mindees have lunch. I risk assess them ie kept away, not unsupervised, clean up doings, wash bowls separately, don't leave food in reach of mindees, worm/vaccinate regularly. Never had a problem and I always mention it in initial conversations with prospective parents to avoid wasting both their time and mine.

[mushpea]

we have a labrador and he stays in the kitchen whilst i work, he does have contact with the children as we all go for a walk after lunch or if we are going out somwhere sutible for him to come like the woods then he will come with us, the children are not allowed to stroke him if hes in his bed as this is his safe place to go, this started with his crate as a puppy and we removed crate and replaced with bed and he understands this, they are also not allowed near him when eating not because he is posseive with food but if they pt their hands there as he takes a bite its gonna hurt! from small puppy I would gently pull his ears and tail to sort of prepare him if the kids did it to him and I would always put my hands in his food bowl and either add more food or take some out when he was eating so this wouldnt bother him either (dry food!) hes upto date with worming, flea and jabs and has basic training, the only paperwork is a pet policy which covers all my pets and just explains that children will have supervised contact, stroke, feed and walk him and will be taught hygiene.
I have only ever had one parent not come to see me because the dog and that was because they had a dog and their child constantly pulled it around making it grumpy and she didnt want that to happen to ours! er train the child too love!!, most parents are happy to send their child to me because they want them to be around animals and learn about them.

[hectors house]

I do similar to other replies - my dogs stay in kitchen which has a perspex clad stair gate to stop children putting hands through, my dogs get walked every morning regardless of weather about 7 am, by my husband and then again during afternoon, with or without the mindees between 2 - 6, dogs get let out into garden for a wee at 10 pm when I fed them their supper - they very rarely poo at that time because they have been out in the afternoon.

Both dogs are wormed and vacinated regularly and any poo that does happen in the garden gets picked up immediately. It would be really easy on a wet day to just let them out in the garden - but I promise the mindees parents that my garden is not used as a dog toilet and stick by that. Ofsted originally wanted me to fence a separate part of the garden off for the dogs and put it as a recommendation on my first inspection - I stood my ground on the next inspection and the inspectors believed me that dogs get taken out each and every day.

Occasionally like today my dogs have had a bonus walk as I have been out to a local lake with another childminder and her dog - the children like the dogs but know they have to respect animals and when we are out and about I always make the mindees ask before they touch other dogs.

I have a paragraph in my health and safety policy about my pets, it also states that when children are in the car the dogs will be in the boot, never in the car with children - which means I have to have a muddy buggy in front seat as the dogs would climb over it! Today I have a very muddy buggy and 2 muddy dogs, - luckily only one mindee and he was asleep in buggy - so he is clean!

[toddlers896]

I have a west highland terrier and the only time he goes outside is for a wee or when the children are eating. I dont lock him in the kitchen as its his home and the children need to understand how to respect his rest time and how to play with him gently but i DO supervise them constantly and will never leave them unattended with the dog.
I had my first inspection recently and they were happy with this setup. I have a policy and I teach the children how to stroke the dog nicely and wash hands afterwards. His dog bowls are out of reach and he is treated regularly for flees and ticks.

Apart from that my kids love the dog. Its a good learning curve for them. Infact they look for him when they come to my setting before me ha ha x
oh They also love taking him for walks

[nipper]

I have a four yr old labradoodle who lives in the utility room, separated form the kitchen by a safety gate. He isn't allowed into the house during the day, unless I need to let him 'tidy up' under the table after lunch, when everyone is upstairsasleep after lunch. I then make sure I mop and steam clean afterwards. The mindees can come and see him and I will supervise them stroking him and we take him for walks, although I am mindful of the little ones walking alongside the pushcair when he is on the lead, incase he wraps him self and them up. Usually I will have two in the double pushchair whilst I walk him, in case he sees another dog and pulls. Ideally I walk him at 6am when I get up and then that's him done until after tea time. Did you hear the case of the eight day old baby and the Jack Russell? It happened a couple of miles away from me and has made me re-think the access that I give the mindees to him...he might be a family pet in our opinion, but you can never be sure.

[IndigoMoon]

I have a dog and have never had any problems, except once a parent couldn't use me as their child was allergic.

[Genesis]

I have two dogs and they are about when the minded children are about, like others it is never unsupervised, all dog details are disclosed to parents on initial enquiry to avoid wasting their time and mine and I have risk assessments etc in place, but fairly basic etc and follow good hygiene practices. Sometimes i have children with me playing while the dogs are walking.

[mushpea]

I have a west highland terrier and the only time he goes outside is for a wee or when the children are eating. I dont lock him in the kitchen as its his home and the children need to understand how to respect his rest time and how to play with him gently but i DO supervise them constantly and will never leave them unattended with the dog.
I had my first inspection recently and they were happy with this setup. I have a policy and I teach the children how to stroke the dog nicely and wash hands afterwards. His dog bowls are out of reach and he is treated regularly for flees and ticks.

Apart from that my kids love the dog. Its a good learning curve for them. Infact they look for him when they come to my setting before me ha ha x
oh They also love taking him for walks

Aww so cute, our charly isnt locked in our kitchen, he has the run of the kitchen and hall then theres a gate on the living room which is only shut when I have to nip to the loo so I know he is definatly seperate, he prefers the kitchen during the day and I prefer him to be in there because as somnoe else said you never know how hes feeling or if he may be in pain and the mindees pull that part of him or somting he could just snap, he is the most soppiest dopeist dog ever and even when we are out and about he knows he has to walk a certain side of the pram away from the mindees so we dont hang them lol and he knows not to pull and to stop with the pram yet when I walk him on my own he pulls and trips me up and allsorts, its really strange how he knows but even though he is so good with the kids I am still wary of him when hes around them.

[hectors house]

Aww so cute, our charly isnt locked in our kitchen, he has the run of the kitchen and hall then theres a gate on the living room which is only shut when I have to nip to the loo so I know he is definatly seperate, he prefers the kitchen during the day and I prefer him to be in there because as somnoe else said you never know how hes feeling or if he may be in pain and the mindees pull that part of him or somting he could just snap, he is the most soppiest dopeist dog ever and even when we are out and about he knows he has to walk a certain side of the pram away from the mindees so we dont hang them lol and he knows not to pull and to stop with the pram yet when I walk him on my own he pulls and trips me up and allsorts, its really strange how he knows but even though he is so good with the kids I am still wary of him when hes around them.

My kitchen stairgate is clad with perspex because one day, one of my dogs did snap at a child - I used to tell them not to put hands through gate and touch dogs, but one day a child was blowing a trumpet toy near gate and then put hand through to touch dog and dog snapped. Didn't make a make, but childs very paranoid mother was still here - I explained that I though the dog had been stressed by the high pitch of the trumpet, but she made quite a fuss. I had to decide during course of day what action I could take a) get rid of dog b) give up minding c) clad the gate - by the time child arrived next morning gate had perspex on it and the mother was ok about it - I did tell all other parents what had happened and they were ok. My dog is fine with mindees out and about on a walk but I would never trust him in the house. He is called Hector (hence my setting name and name on forum - Hector's House), and he can sometimes be a "grumpy old Hector" for those people too young to understand - that is a phrase from TV prog Hectors House!

[Boris]

I have an 8 month old border collie pup. He is kept away from the children (in the lounge area) during the day. I let him in the garden regularly and he has his own area fenced off out there. I put him in his crate when parents are arriving or collecting because they have to walk through the lounge and he's very jumpy! I have risk assessment and pet policy and he is vaccinated, de-flea-ed and wormed regularly. Go for it!

[Daisy De]

I have two golden retrievers and they are in the house all day and are not separated from the mindees. They are risk assessed, have a form to record flea/worm treatments, have been well trained from puppies, are walked every day and I went to a lot of trouble in choosing their breeder, assessing their parents and getting the right dog with the right temperment and I believe have brought them up the correct way which I think is very important.

That aside having a dog and childminding is entirely possible but a big commitment. I have spent many hours training them, I never leave them alone with mindees, one of my permissions is that the children will be in contact with them and I also never let the children climb on them, pull their tails etc and I start building that respect from the moment mindees start with me. Luckily I have a big enough house so that if they want some peace or I want them out the way I can do that, i.e. they go in another room when we eat or do an activity where they would get in the way.

Mrs O looked at all the paperwork I have in place relating to the animals, I also have two cats, and to be honest didn't seem bothered at all although I could tell she wasn't an animal lover. Obviously, some parents don't come to me because I have animals but many do for several reasons, because they like animals or have them themselves, want their children to have experience of pets but don't want the mess, cost and commitment, have children who are frightened of dogs or that the dogs aren't an issue and they just like me and my setting.

All in all, my advice would be think carefully about having a dog. The training, effort and commitment you put in when they are puppies will determine what sort of adult dog you end up with, like children really In my opinion, most important of all, make sure YOU want a dog not just your children.

Here is a pic of my two and yes they do have a bed each.

025.jpg

[loocyloo]

we're going to be looking after a friends dog in december and although she is lovely, she will never be left alone with mindees. i've told DH he will have to walk her am & pm, as i can't do that with mindees, plus i've got a really busy week that week!!!

[Bear23]

I have two golden retrievers and they are in the house all day and are not separated from the mindees. They are risk assessed, have a form to record flea/worm treatments, have been well trained from puppies, are walked every day and I went to a lot of trouble in choosing their breeder, assessing their parents and getting the right dog with the right temperment and I believe have brought them up the correct way which I think is very important.

That aside having a dog and childminding is entirely possible but a big commitment. I have spent many hours training them, I never leave them alone with mindees, one of my permissions is that the children will be in contact with them and I also never let the children climb on them, pull their tails etc and I start building that respect from the moment mindees start with me. Luckily I have a big enough house so that if they want some peace or I want them out the way I can do that, i.e. they go in another room when we eat or do an activity where they would get in the way.

Mrs O looked at all the paperwork I have in place relating to the animals, I also have two cats, and to be honest didn't seem bothered at all although I could tell she wasn't an animal lover. Obviously, some parents don't come to me because I have animals but many do for several reasons, because they like animals or have them themselves, want their children to have experience of pets but don't want the mess, cost and commitment, have children who are frightened of dogs or that the dogs aren't an issue and they just like me and my setting.

All in all, my advice would be think carefully about having a dog. The training, effort and commitment you put in when they are puppies will determine what sort of adult dog you end up with, like children really In my opinion, most important of all, make sure YOU want a dog not just your children.

Here is a pic of my two and yes they do have a bed each.

025.jpg

oh my god they are totally gorgeous!! I have two Lab's, find it hard especially in the winter x i let them in occassionally with the mindees. it depends who i have, mine are still very bouncy so i worry they would knock the little ones down.
All my parents love my dogs, never had anyone not come because of them, one of my mindees dads are allergic to dogs but wanted their child to be around them x

[adele1985]

i have a 4 year old lab and a 3 year old german shepard

the german shepard goes to work duing the day with my parner as they are like loons when they are together lol

my lab stays t home with me and has the run of the house ( exept the playroom and play garden)and kitchen when where eating and he sits by he door until where finnished lol he spends most of the day sleeping on the sofa in the living room- the children love playing tug of war with him and taking him for walks

all my parents love him - ive even had one parents who uses me because of him as her son was scared of him when he started - he loves him now lol

i risk assess his toy box and water bowl and clean the garden daily

http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/...t/18312021.jpg
http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/...bett/004-1.jpg

[migimoo]

I have a 3yr old collie cross and she's not kept seperately from the LO's unless I go out of the room or we are eating...tbh she takes herself off to bed most days and the children can't get to her there so she has her own space.her food is stored out of reach and she's wormed and de-fleaed regularly.

We walk her most mornings to the park,she walks off-lead and parents are made aware of all of these things before signing up-i've only had 1 parent say no because of the dog tho tbh if u don't love dogs then u're not my kinda person anyway

The perspex cover on the stairgate will def be a project for my DH-what a great idea!....unfortunately all the children love her so much that they like to shove their hands through the stairgate so she can 'share'/lick off what they had for lunch

Was SOOO proud of her the other day-walking at park with double buggy and 2 other LO's...super-hyper 2yr old LO ran on ahead....strange,big dog came round the corner,no lead....my dog ran straight in front of LO and refused to budge or let him run on until I caught up...LO's mum gave her a a huge cuddle and tummy rub when I told her at pick up.

[eddie]

So many lovely doggie pictures!

[eddie]

My boys

Eddie
P1030347.jpg

Max
P1030368.jpg

[RuthJ]

We have a 9 year old border collie cross. The kids and parents love her. I've just had a new mindee start who is a little wary of her but getting better. The trouble is our dog is a barker - whenever someone comes to the door mainly. So I always shut her in the utility room at drop off and collection time just so it's not so stressful. The kids aren't bothered but I do like to have a conversation without being interupted by a bark every 10 seconds! We have separate toileting area in the garden and the bowls are inaccessible to the kids. Our youngest mindee (17 months) absolutely loves our dog, and is so gentle with her. Shame she's not so light handed with the other children!!!

[Bess]

Hi today is my first day with children so didn't know how my collie would cope with a LO running around. She was the best. Wanting LO to throw her toys around all day. I put her in the kitchen for a while so we could play and before dinner we took her to the local green. The LO had a great time with her and didn't want to back home for dinner. Long may it last. I had a great first day too.