friends daughter asking to walk puppy - how do I let her down gently?

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Friends DD (10yo) has asked if she can walk puppy when she is finally allowed out next week. My nice side says let her, my sensible side is screaming nonononono there are too many roads/cars/other dogs out there for this to be a good idea! She hasnt got a dog of her own, so would have no idea what to do if puppy meets other dogs and things go well, I would be terrified of her letting puppy off the lead to play and her running off, puppy lunging into the road etc etc.
Am I being ridiculously over protective? we were never allowed to walk my dog as kids as he was too strong, and aggressive towards other dogs, I'm hoping I will be able to train my dog not to pull, and that she wont lunge murderously for anything on 4 legs that passes, but even assuming I succeed, would you allow her to walk puppy?

i would let her come along while you walk it, and let her have a hold of it

Can you let her walk the puppy WITH you?

I'm no expert, but wonder if this would not be a good start to training your puppy on a lead either.
Maybe you could invite her to come on a walk with you?

Tell her he's a bit young at the moment and you'll eed to train him first. But in a couple of months, maybe she could come out on short walks with you, to see how it all goes?

that sounds like a fair compromise actually, then I can be on hand to make sure puppy isnt getting into bad habits, and to make sure any poop gets scooped, and kid still gets to walk puppy.

Oops. X posts!

aw yes let her come with you. i used to knock at people's doors asking to walk their dog as my dad wouldn't let me have one :( no-one let me

I am mean.

I never allow my own DC, let alone anyone else's (I doubt they'd even dare ask, I am pretty strict about children even saying hello to my dogs... ) walk any of my dogs until they are properly and completely trained to walk nicely on a lead, which means keeping the lead loose, paying attention to the person holding the lead and not getting distracted by smells/people passing by/other dogs.

The result is I now have adult dogs who lead anyone's child can hold, even really little ones in pushchairs as the dogs don't really need the lead as such and know to walk where I ask them too.

I would just explain that she needs to be walked by you for training reasons, but show the child how to do some basic training with her instead, teaching easy commands like 'sit', 'down' 'high five' etc. It's much harder to go wrong with that and she'll be thrilled she can make the dog do something.

Could clip two leads on - a short "normal" one for her, and a flexi for you and go out together - that way she thinks she's in charge and you can ram your finger firmly on the lock button if anything DOES kick off.

Emptyshell - thats what I do with my own dog/child walking combo, when DD wants to walk the dog - my dog is rubbish on the lead and pulls a lot, so there is no way it would be safe for my 4 yr old to hold the lead, so I hold the lead and add a 2nd longer one for her to feel as if she is walking the dog. She proudly told me today that the dog was heeling nicely for her...(sadly not quite true..)

I let DD (10) walk our dog on her own, but on a route that involves no roads. Dog is a big greyhound but not bouncy. However she is nervous and will try to leg it if spooked. The dog has come home several minutes before DD on a few occassions.

I think you need to get a feel of how your dog behaves first over a period of months. Let this girl come out with you during this time. Then go with your gut feeling after seeing how she and the dog are.

Yes let her come with you. That sounds nice. I met up with friends & their 3 kids at weekend. Oldest boy is 6 and is smitten with our dog. He was very happy to listen to me and thrilled when I let him have lead in a quiet spot. Very sensibly he asked me to help (even though I was hovering anyway!) when our dog started to pull. It was really nice though. THink it's good for the dog to be social with kids and teaches kids how to be with dogs too. I think it's such a shame when kids are fearful of dogs. Seems so common now.