Leaving kids and dog alone together

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I’m hoping to get a dog next year and working through all the logistics . I know the advice is never to leave a child and a dog alone together. How does this work if you have kids old enough to stay in the house alone? I have a ten year old who I currently leave for 20 mins while I pop to the shops etc. I’m not sure what I would do if we get a dog - dog can’t come into shops with me. Do people take the dog out with them always? Or make the child come out? What age is it ok for a dog and child to be alone?

If we are popping to our local shop I will tie the dog outside with our 9 year old looking after her, she enjoys the responsibility. I’m not comfortable leaving the dog alone and taking DD in due to dog thefts.

Well my DC are 11 and 9. I don’t leave the 9yo home alone very often but wouldn’t even occur to me to think about leaving the 11 yo with the dogs. He gets worried in the house on his own so they’re nice company for him. We’ve had dogs most of his life. He knows how to treat them (ie I trust him not to be silly with them or wind them up) and if they were misbehaving he could shut them away.

Thanks Stellar. I would never leave a dog tied up somewhere. Tbh I’m not sure I would be able to leave my 10 year old to hold the lead without me there, as we’re looking at medium sized dogs and it would be a risk (she might not be strong enough / capable enough to manage if anything happened like another dog coming past and causing issues etc) It’s more how do I manage if my child is old enough to be on their own at home normally; but not necessarily to be on their own at home with a dog.

To clarify my point, I wouldn’t think of it it as an issue. But it depends on the dogs and the child. One of our dogs is large and bouncy but DC know how to handle her.

We didn’t crate train, but if you do then that could be an option, or leaving the dog in a separate room.

We have a Basset Hound, so we’ll tie her lead to a bike rack or similar and DD stays to look after her.

My 8 year old and my dog spend plenty of time alone together down stairs. It depends on the child and the dog.

I would happily leave a sensible 11 yo alone in the house with a dog for 20 minutes, I actually wouldn't think twice about it. I think the 'unsupervised' thing is for much younger children.

Caveat is (of course) that the dog is OK with the child and the child is OK to be left with the dog! And that you are all comfortable with various scenarios. For example, my dog's door greeting still isn't rock solid, so DS15 knows that if someone comes to the door when we're out, he has to shut the dog into the living room before answering the door. So as you get to know the dog, these scenarios will naturally occur and you'll train both dog and DC to deal with them.

I absolutely wouldn't leave a dog with a kid on day one! But after time, it should be fine.

My ds is 7. 2 of our ddogs are his besties... They watch TV together without me there.. But we had ddogs before dc.. Makes a difference if they are new /novelty or just part of the fixtures and fittings!
Imo.
Under prob 5 he was supervised when we had a huge ddog. Different relationships.

Yup, my youngest currently lying poorly on the sofa with a dog draped over her. Haven’t checked on them for a while!

Obvious answer is to take the child with you. I think it’s unfair to leave a dog alone with a child in any circumstances, no matter how trustworthy the dog. Also feel 10 is a little young to be left alone anyway, but appreciate I’m probably alone in that.

I would crate train. I have with a previous dog and it worked very well. Or have an area with a gate the dog can't get over.
Or, don't leave the child alone.

Definitely don’t leave a dog alone tied up somewhere. My parents neighbour’s dog got stolen from outside a shop .
We crate trained our dog so when he was a puppy and an unknown quantity he went in there when I was out and the dog and kids both stayed at home. He’s a small dog and a known quantity now so I happily leave him out with the elder kids. With the youngest I don’t leave them alone together put they’re too young to be left alone at home anyway.

I leave my dog with the kids... eldest is 17 and often dog sits if I go away. The youngest is 8 and he loves sitting with the dog if I have to pop to the shops.

He gets her up in the morning, lets her out and they keep each other company until I get up an hour later.

She is a lovely dog though 😀

I’ve had dogs far longer than I’ve had children, so they have grown up in a multi-dog household and learned from the off how to behave appropriately around dogs. My dc are now all teens (ranging from 13 to almost 20) but I never needed to leave the dogs alone with them until they were old enough to be already actively involved in their care and management to the extent that the dogs listened to them and responded to their cues. If I needed something from the shop when they were younger, either the dc came with me or I waited till dh came home from work.

If your 10 year old is used to being left while you pop to the local shop, I would say crate training is probably your best option, with the strict rule that the dog isn’t to be bothered or let out while you are gone.

Of course once they’re teens you can just send them to the shops instead anyway!

Could your child stay upstairs chilling in their room and dog stay down stairs with a stair gate between them? That's what I would do until I was confident they were ok.

Stair gates with strict instructions that DC isn’t to go near the dog.

I leave our dog with our 10yo. He just lies on her bed. She’s sensible to be fair. I wouldn’t leave our 7yo with him as she likes to “hug” him around his neck sometimes. Bless the dog, he has never reacted negatively to her when she does this but you never know.

If your child is sensible enough to be home alone, they should be sensible enough to be alone with a dog...it’s about the same sort of level of maturity tbh.

Bear in mind, the main reason you’d not leave an adult well adjusted pet alone with a child is to make sure the child doesn’t do something stupid.

As PP have said, it depends on the child, the dog and the relationship between them.

I used to leave ours DC alone with the dog downstairs, but they all got on well, the dog was excellent around children and the DC sensible around the dog.

Put the dog in the kitchen/utility and shut the door until you return.

I always felt that the "never leave children with dogs unsupervised" rule regarded younger children who might disturb the dog to the point the dog would snarl or bite. A sensible 10 year old would know to let the dog have his space, especially if taught the warning signs.

However, if you're worried, crate training could work. A dog used to a crate certainly wouldn't mind going there for 20 minutes!

I think when the kids are young enough that you can only leave them for 10 mins or so while you pop out to shop (around age 10) then I personally would take dog with me in car when I go to shop. Leave dog in car while I pop in to shop. Obviously not in hot weather. I live in Scotland and there are very few days when you can’t leave dog for 5 minutes in the car. I think age 10 is a bit young to be in charge of a dog, obviously depends on dog/child though.

My 11-year-old stays with the dog all the time. They are best friends

I leave the 10 yo and the dog in the house if I'm popping out but there's a closed door between them and even if not the dog is a lazy so and so and would just be asleep on my bed and wouldn't stir. I don't have they even notice me closing the door.

I think if your DC is old enough to be left home alone, then they're generally old enough to be left alone with the family dog too.

Most dogs are absolutely fine around the children they live with, and most 10/11 year olds are perfectly sensible enough to know how to behave around their own pets.

However, I wouldn't leave a child home alone with a new puppy or a new rescue dog. Puppies can be really challenging - they'll chew, toilet on the floor and can easily bite and draw blood in play. Rescues take months to unwind and settle in so I would be very hesitant unless the dog could be crated or left in a safe space alone.