My son and our dog are like siblings. My son loves the dog and they do everything together - play, sleep, eat. But like siblings they fight and wrestle sometimes too. The dog is a sweetie and would never bite him. She just gives him a little growl (we call that "saying no"). But some other dogs would bite back so we're working on getting him to be more gentle with her.

We have one dog (had two but were moving to a smaller place and the other dog would have just hated it) and they basically coexist. At meal time the dog does have to be put in another room because dd feeds her instead of eating but other than that they kiss and she hugs her. That's about it. DD is almost 16 months now.

The light biting, etc. is how dogs and cats naturally regulate behavior. If you watch a momma-dog and her pups, she immediately yips at them if they bite too hard. It's very natural.

However, those with dogs please BE AWARE of your dogs behavior. I know you trust your dog. I trust my dogs. But as your child grows it will not necessarily respect your dogs natural warning signs (dropped tail, ears back, raised hair, growls, continually avoiding child).

Teach your child to read these signs on ANY dog including yours.

Family dogs DO bite. They are still good dogs, but it's almost always avoidable if you watch your for signs. It most often happens after a toddler is chasing the dog around and the dog litterally becomes cornered. They are animals and will self-regulate based on instinct.

I'm saying this as a dog lover with two dogs, one of which is a pit-mix. There are waaaay too many dogs put to sleep every year from bites that could have been avoided.

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1 Boy, born 4/21/2010
Probably adopt the second. If you've adopted, PM me please.

Babies do love to play with pets because they thought that they are only playing stuff toys. And it was fun to watch them because even they are too young, little by little they will learn from pets. And that's great.