We have
established a policy of not placing dogs into families with children
under 6. And of not placing small dogs into families with kids under
10. Certain dogs - especially terriers - will rarely be placed into
families with children under 14. This is a general rule, and there are
exceptions to the rule. The rule applies to full-time children, not
visiting children.
This policy is followed to avoid
the possibility of a dog being returned because of "growling, nipping"
etc. -usually due to misinterpreted body language of both kids
and dogs. Almost all dog returns, and thankfully there are few - are because
of incompatibilities with young children. Since most of our dogs have
already lost at least one home, we have decided to not take any chances
and avoid further confusion and displacement of our foster dogs.
We avoid attaching
the label "No Young Children" to the Petfinder database listing of
our foster dogs since that may
give the false first impression that they have a history of aggression, biting
etc.
