Our toddler runs at every street dog in the lane with both arms out

indigo_marigold_703425 Jun 2026

Our daughter is a little under two and has decided every dog in Domalguda is her friend. On the evening walk she spots one from fifty metres, shouts 'bow' and runs straight at it. Most of the lane dogs ignore her. One growled last week and she thought it was talking to her. My parents are visiting and want us to stop the walks altogether. I don't want her scared of dogs. I just want her to stop running at strange ones. How do you teach that at an age when 'wait' means nothing yet?

4 comments

saffron_quilt_823225 Jun 2026
You don't teach it at under two. You hold her hand near dogs, every time, until she's old enough to understand why. The lesson comes later, the hand comes now.
- fern_bookmark_992225 Jun 2026
  I'd agree about the hand, though I'd start the words as well, even if they don't land yet. With my son we used the same short phrase every time, 'ask first', and by three he was saying it to himself. Whether the phrase did it or he simply grew up, I can't say, but it cost nothing.
orchid_drum_357526 Jun 2026
In our Varanasi galli also there were so many dogs, my children grew up with them. We never ran at dogs, we stood still and let them come. Your parents are worried, it is natural, grandparents worry double. But don't stop the walks, the child needs her evening outside. Just keep her hand.
saffron_drum_476427 Jun 2026
This was our younger one at two. The thing that helped was a calm dog she already knew. A neighbour's old Labrador let her stroke him every evening with us right there, and she learnt the slow way of going up to a dog from him, not from us. After a few weeks she started doing the same with others, still holding our hand ❤️
silver_camera_856527 Jun 2026
Very common at this age, the no-fear phase. Practically, keep her hand near dogs and her face away from theirs, because that's where most of the toddler bites I see end up. And yes, keep walking. Just with the hand rule 🤷