We wanted to assess how Cosmo would do around children so we recruited our niece (age 8) and nephew (age 10). They have been around many dogs and have met most of our foster dogs. We always supervise meetings and make sure we discuss with the kids appropriate behaviors with the dogs.
We told the kids that Cosmo is a bit timid when meeting new people, so we asked them to not even touch him initially. We started on a walk and the kids were just walking in close proximity to him. We wanted Cosmo to get use to their sounds and smells before they were allowed to touch him. Cosmo was curious about them and he made it clear after a few minutes that he was ready for pets. The kids were fantastic by giving him gentle pets. He LOVED their attention!!!
On Cosmo's adoption bio with DDR, they state that he would be best with old kids and I fully agree.
After our walk, Cosmo enjoyed playing fetch with my niece in the backyard. She is a tough little gal, so when Cosmo excitedly was prancing in the yard and accidentally ran into her, it was no big deal, she even chuckled. Had this been a smaller child, they could have been knocked down and I don't think laughter would have been the result.
Inside my nephew was petting him and since Cosmo is still young, sometimes when he wants attention, he will softly nibble you. My nephew knew that if Cosmo did this he wasn't "biting", but that this is sometimes how puppies communicate. We taught my nephew to redirect these nibbles by offering him a toy.
Overall, from our observations, he did great with older kids who have been around dogs and know how to handle dogs with confidence.
Did I mention that Cosmo adores belly rubs???
We told the kids that Cosmo is a bit timid when meeting new people, so we asked them to not even touch him initially. We started on a walk and the kids were just walking in close proximity to him. We wanted Cosmo to get use to their sounds and smells before they were allowed to touch him. Cosmo was curious about them and he made it clear after a few minutes that he was ready for pets. The kids were fantastic by giving him gentle pets. He LOVED their attention!!!
On Cosmo's adoption bio with DDR, they state that he would be best with old kids and I fully agree.
After our walk, Cosmo enjoyed playing fetch with my niece in the backyard. She is a tough little gal, so when Cosmo excitedly was prancing in the yard and accidentally ran into her, it was no big deal, she even chuckled. Had this been a smaller child, they could have been knocked down and I don't think laughter would have been the result.
Inside my nephew was petting him and since Cosmo is still young, sometimes when he wants attention, he will softly nibble you. My nephew knew that if Cosmo did this he wasn't "biting", but that this is sometimes how puppies communicate. We taught my nephew to redirect these nibbles by offering him a toy.
Overall, from our observations, he did great with older kids who have been around dogs and know how to handle dogs with confidence.
Did I mention that Cosmo adores belly rubs???