At my whit's end with ds

[wannaBe1974]

my ds is 3.7. As some may know I have recently got a new guide dog. he's nearly two, so still quite puppyish/boisterous really. DS did play with our older dog, but as she was much older she would lie there and ignore him but the new dog reacts to ds leaping up and down the lounge by doing the same/and just wanting to play. My problem is that ds will not stop tormenting him. He runs around the room trying to gode the dog into jumping around, he runs at the dog, shouts in his face, runs after him pulling his tail, and this morning he pulled his fur. I have sent him to time-out, have banned the tv, have confiscated toys, have confiscated favourite bear, have banned all treats (sweets/chocolate/icecream) we've had numerous talks about how if he winds the dog up too much the dog could end up biting him and that would mean the dog would be taken away and mummy wouldn't have a guide dog any more and therefore we couldn't go to all the places we go, this morning I pulled ds' hair (explained that I was going to do it) to try and demonstrate how the dog feels when ds pulls his fur. he acknowledge that it hurt and that he didn't like it. I've put the dog on a lead some times to calm the situation down - I know they're both young and really are as bad as each other but my ds is the instigator of all this and I really don't know what to do any more. I've seriously started thinking about giving the dog up for his own good but doing that would have a serious effect on my independence and would ultimately make me very resentful of ds. please does anyone have any more ideas?

bump - anyone?

is there a puppy preschool class near you, you could take your ds and the puppy along, so that ds felt like he was in charge of 'teaching the puppy' and learn about ways of taking care of it at the same time, I realise the puppy has had some training but may help ds if he felt a bit responsible? Just an idea, hope others have better suggestions.

Dh's aunt is blind and uses guide dogs - she has always given me the impression that overly-boisterous dogs wouldn't normally pass their training and be placed in homes, and I would have thought that was doubly important if they were being placed in a home with children. I wonder if there's any chance that you could ask for a dog with a more placid temperament as you've got young children? I know that in the past the aunt has had dogs replaced when their temperament hasn't suited her circumstances - it's been a while ago though, and I don't know whether that would still be possible.

That said, your son is old enough to understand that he needs to treat animals with more respect, and that your dog is not a play-thing. Do you think he would respond to something like a sticker chart - where he gets a sticker every time he treats the dog well, and has to aim for a certain amount of stickers a day?