We have had our dog (Yorkshire mixed with I’m not sure what) for around 2 years now, she is a much loved member of the family, is walked daily (even though she mostly hates it lol) and interacts well with our eldest 2 dds.
The problem is with out 2.5 year old ds, he is autistic and although he doesn’t mean to he has hurt her on a few occasions when flinging himself around etc, he has no spacial awareness and will throw himself off the sofa and has nearly missed landing on top of her a few times. She is tiny and if he was to land on her with full force he would definitely seriously injure or kill her :(
They don’t interact with each other at all so it’s not malicious but she is obviously afraid of him now and has started to growl when he gets too close, because of this I have taken to keeping her in the kitchen while he’s there, so she’s walked in the morning then left to her own devices in the kitchen for the morning, during the afternoon he sleeps for a few hours so she has access to the rest of the downstairs then, then she’s back in the kitchen until he goes to bed.
She doesn’t seem to like this and has taken to spending most of the day in her crate (it’s always left open) and staying in the kitchen even when the doors open for her to wander.
I just don’t know what to do for the best, she’s not used to being so isolated and I can imagine this is a problem that will get worse as ds gets older. Dh has talked about rehoming her to an older couple with no children which would suit her better but she was a rescue dog when we got her and was so terrified and defensive it took months for her to settle in so I can’t bare the thought of putting her through that again.
Another thing to consider is she’s a barker despite all our best efforts and a lot of the time she’ll bark constantly while we have visitors which ds finds quite upsetting and he will need his ear defenders as it sets off his sensory issues :(
All advice and opinions welcomed
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The doghouse
Is it cruel to keep dog separated from the family for most of the day?
7 replies
MissMalteser · 30/09/2018 11:35
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