Choosing a childminder with a dog- advice needed please

[Jenniferb21]

Hi

I went to a childminder today who is lovely she is similar to me her house was great and I really feel like I could see her looking after my DS (9 months old). She has a smallish putbull dog that stays in the kitchen behind a babygate. If the children go in the kitchen it goes outside first. She told me the dog doesn't have contact with the children. I trust that but I'm still feeling a bit unsure.

Compared to another childminder I've see and nurseries I really like her but it is putting me off because I'm cautious about dogs behind dangerous with babies

Any advice/ thoughts?

Thank you

'Dogs being dangerous with babies' sorry.

Also but for seeing a dog you wouldn't know she has one the house is very clean.

I would choose another childminder.

Ask to speak to some of her current families if you like her

Personally I couldn't take that risk. I'm a worrier though!

Like Wicked said, ask to speak to some of her current clients. It's probably a good thing to do even if you don't have worries about something in particular. But also remember that dog attacks are rare and a lot of people have both pets and babies.

Do not take the risk.

There was a case in the news a couple of years' ago. Childminder had dog, she was holding baby and the dog jumped up and bit and killed baby.

My DC went to a childminder with a dog. I saw one with a dog I didn't like, mostly as the house smelt of dog. The one I did use, you couldn't really tell the dog was there.

Set up sounds similar to the one you describe, but dog was fairly elderly and a breed that is generally regarded as a bit soppy. It had grown up with childminders DC too, so was very used to children.

Anyway, we had no problems and it actually helped my middle child become less afraid of dogs. But you just have to go with your instincts, if you don't feel comfortable with it, you need to look elsewhere.

I wouldn't. A dog that is kept locked in a kitchen all day isn't going to be the most well socialised animal and probably isn't getting enough exercise so might not be very nice. I'd almost be happier with a dog that was used to spending time with the children..... or ideally no dog (we have a dog but I don't think I'd be happy with what you're describing here)

Posted too soon.

Tried to find a link but could not find anything.

Whist it is unlikely the dog will harm your child, you obviously have (what I believe to be justified) reservations.

Would you be able to fully relax whilst your child was at the childminders?

Nope, I wouldn't risk it.

In general dogs are good for children.
Research shows children who grow up around dogs are more sociable and confident and have improved immunity.
Children learn to care for animals and how to behave around them making them safer when out playing as they know not to scream flap arms etc. Things that to us say fear and to dogs say come play. Most adults frightened of dogs do the wrong thing and teach their children to do the wrong things.

The cm may well have a risk assessment for you to look at, and as suggested talk to others I would also talk to her about your worries and ask her if you can spend more time observing her with dog and children.

I would check the bread because Pit bulls are on the dangerous dogs list.

Research shows children who grow up around dogs are more sociable and confident and have improved immunity

Fascinating. Link please?

Our childminder has dogs... kids love them. They are great with the kids, have their own space and are shut out of the room at food times.

My childminder also had a dog. He too was behind a baby gate in the utility room with access to the garage and garden. If the kids went in the garden he came in. He did however accompany them on the walk to school, and was extremely well behaved. He was quite old and very friendly, I met him many times and never had any issues.
We had a German Shepherd ourself so kids used to dogs.
I think you have to decide if you trust your instincts and the childminder. I'm not sure if I would have been happy if it was a pit bull type dog though!

Not a chance, especially with a 'pitbull type' that isn't being properly socialised! Find another childminder

not sure how to do a link...but if you look at journal paediatrics for example or google and check that sources are proper medical ones....

example....
Dogs and cats may not just provide your family with love and constant companionship — they could also have a powerful effect on the health of children early in life, according to a small new study.

New research in the journal Pediatrics shows that children who live in a home with a pet during their first year of life are also more likely to be healthier, compared with kids who don’t live in a pet-owning household.

“It’s more support in a growing body of evidence that exposure to pets early in life can stimulate the immune system to do a better job of fighting off infection,” Dr. Danielle Fisher, of St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., told the Los Angeles Times.

Specifically, kids who had a dog during their first year of life had 31 percent fewer respiratory tract infections than kids who didn’t live with a dog, researchers found.

Kids from dog-owning homes also had fewer ear infections — 44 percent fewer than kids from non dog-owning homes — and needed fewer antibiotics, researchers found.

Cats also seemed to have a beneficial effect on kids’ health, but not as strong as dogs, the researchers said.

“Our findings support the theory that during the first year of life, animal contacts are important, possibly leading to better resistance to infectious respiratory illnesses during childhood,” the European researchers wrote.

The study included 397 kids in Finland, who were followed by researchers from the time they were born until they reached age 1. The families reported how much contact they had with a dog or a cat on a weekly basis.

ABC News also reported on the relationship between the amount of time the pet spent indoors, and the beneficial effect on the kids:

Children who live in houses where dogs are inside less than six hours a day are at lowest risk for respiratory problems. The authors believe it could be because dogs that are inside track less dirt. More exposure to dirt leads to more exposure to different types of bacteria, which can help strengthen the immune system.

This is only the latest finding showing how pets can make us healthier.

I'm afraid one small study doesn't really count! And your claim that the research shows dogs makes kids more confident..?

Pit bulls are referred to as 'nanny dogs' as they are so good with children. If she is clean and caring as you describe I doubt her dog will be anything other than calm and friendly.

Of course there are always risks but it sounds as though she takes sensible precautions and it is good for children to interact with dogs and learn to respect animals.

The pit bull/nanny dog thing is up for debate - according to google, it's a relatively recent term (1987), and is more commonly used to describe staffys. There's lots of stuff out there, but this is quite interesting - thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/nanny-dog-myth-revealed.html which also says "UPDATE 5/21/13: Two years and nine months after the Nanny Dog Myth Revealed was first published, BAD RAP, a major pit bull advocacy group publicly announced that it will no longer support the Nanny Dog myth because it endangers children. While it is too late for many children, hopefully many will be saved in the future. Thank you, BAD RAP". The page also points out that "From 2004 to 2010 59 US children were killed by the family's, babysitter's, neighbor's or friend's pit bull".

Ultimately it's all about whether you want to take the risk when there are alternatives.

It doesn't sound like the dog interacts with the children so they aren't unlikely to get any benefit from the dog being there. But (in my opinion) there would be a risk from a bored dog who is shut in a single room all day. The dog would not be used to the children and I wouldn't like to take the risk that it might get out of the kitchen.

No way absolutely no way would I leave my baby in a house with an aggressive looking dog (nb am not a dog lover, accept I am probably unreasonable and have no studies to back me up)

Honestly, don't even consider her. Choose another childminder. There should be rules that childminders can't have dogs. Don't care what anyone says they're not safe around children. Certainly not under 10.

Also keeping a dog behind a gate in the kitchen and not allowing it to interject is very cruel. She shouldn't be doing that. I doubt it's true though. As if a dog would agree to that.

She just tells prospective parents that

I wouldn't like a childminder to have pets personally. It would be an extra worry for me. There again I don't like dogs anyway

The other thing to consider is that procedures sometimes slip. Is that a risk you would be willing to take with a poorly socialised dog?

DD1's first childminder had a dog (spaniel type) which was always out in the garden or in the kitchen (i.e. away from the children) at first. By the time we moved on from the childminder, the dog was wandering around, taking food from the children's hands and was rarely, if ever, put away from the children. In this case it was a gentle, well-behaved dog. But the procedures the minder told us about at the start weren't continued.

I'm not against dogs in a childcare situation - our current childminder has one, but my DC are older now and it's a small well trained, well socialised family pet.