strange question!

My neighbours daughter is 9yrs old. She desperately wants a dog and I agreed as a test run she could walk with me every morning for a month or so (she loves it so far on week two!) My question is... she has experienced the positives but how old would a child be before you got them using the poop bags?! I don't have children and just wondered what people thought!

All of her friends are very jealous as Molly is the neighbourhood favourite imagine 6 children running down the pavement shouting 'Molly! Molly! Molly! Arhh we love her' and Moll is a star with them. Plays fetch on the green and let's them rub her belly.

cesca1 wrote:
All of her friends are very jealous as Molly is the neighbourhood favourite :)imagine 6 children running down the pavement shouting 'Molly! Molly! Molly! Arhh we love her' and Moll is a star with them. Plays fetch on the green and let's them rub her belly.

Thats great to read

As far as the kids thing I have honestly never thought about it!

Nor had I really until she was meant to be coming over, and I had to rearrange when Watson had his accidents in the kitchen!

How lovely that Molly is your neighbourhood's childrens' favourite! What a great ambassador for the breed!

Well, at 9 years old your neighbour's daughter will understand what "poo" is and should be able to take on board that a responsible dog owner picks up that poo in a bag (no necessity for soiling dainty fingers!) and putting the bag into a suitable receptacle - I can't see any problem with that. If she goes all silly about it, then she is not ready for a dog yet! (And at 9 years old, she will need her parents' support and help with all aspects of a dog's care, not only just the poo thing. Owning a dog is huge responsibility and no child of this age can do it on their own).

I do congratulate you on helping a future responsible dog owner build the foundation blocks - do let us know how it goes!

I'd say she's old enough, we take a small pack of wet wipes and a small hand sanitiser with us on walks to clean our hands after we scoop the poop, if do that if I was you that way she can clean up after Molly, then clean he hands

Darcy-may wrote:I'd say she's old enough, we take a small pack of wet wipes and a small hand sanitiser with us on walks to clean our hands after we scoop the poop, if do that if I was you that way she can clean up after Molly, then clean he hands

This is what I do when out with Rocky too, I have a small bottle of hand sanitiser with me to clean my hands after using the poo bag. This is a great idea for your little helper too.  

As far as the poo-picking-up goes - the earlier the better! A small travel bottle of sanitiser will help her mum to be ok with it.

My kids are nine and twelve and they cleaned their dogs (the GSD is my son's dog though Sam seem to think he belongs to us both and the cross JR is my daughter's) poop up. They are also responsible for feeding the dogs which dad and I supervise. Also they bath them. The rule is if you want a dog you do the work. Hubby and I walk Sam though as my son has balance issues. When he was five he became paralized overnight. He relearned to walk but Nathaniel struggle with his balance and don't have the strenght to handle Sam if he was to suddenly decide to pull.

If they old enough to do the basics they old enough to own a dog.

I also carry round hand sanitiser, the travel ones are perfect, hardly take up any room at all, also agree that it's all part of responsible dog ownership so fine for her to learn!

my six year old cleans up after sonic....and if he sees someone who looks like they are not going to he tells them that there is no such thing as a poo fairy lol! we also take hand gel.

What a great idea having her as a co-pilot. She will learn that dog ownership is not just about the cuddles and playtime.
Well done you and Molly.

nicolene Iveson wrote:My kids are nine and twelve and they cleaned their dogs (the GSD is my son's dog though Sam seem to think he belongs to us both :)and the cross JR is my daughter's) poop up. They are also responsible for feeding the dogs which dad and I supervise. Also they bath them.  The rule is if you want a dog you do the work. Hubby and I walk Sam though as my son has balance issues. When he was five he became paralized overnight. He relearned to walk but Nathaniel struggle with his balance and don't have the strenght to handle Sam if he was to suddenly decide to pull.

If they old enough to do the basics they old enough to own a dog.

I am so sorry to learn about your son's problems (and apologise if you've mentioned it before and I've missed it somehow). It must have been a nightmare for you all, but it's so good to hear that Nathaniel is improving, as I hope he is doing every day.  

Back on topic, a Staffy is a very strong dog and I think any child would be pulled off its feet by a Staffy who suddenly decides to set off after a squirrel, cat or pigeon.

I've never thought of carrying a hand sanitiser or similar around with me when walking my dogs, but maybe it's a good idea where children are concerned who are still learning how to poo-pickup.

Once the technique is learned however, I can't see that there is any danger of contamination UNLESS the poo bags are more porous than I thought??

(I do wash my hands once I get home from dog walks, however!)

Thank you for eveybodys replies! She will def be poop scooping now We walk them away from any roads (quite lucky in that sense) and she knows, if Moll pulled too much, she's to let go (although to be honest she doesn't pull and if anything she would pull away from something rather than towards it!). Might get some hand sanitizer as well to pacify any potential poo mistakes lol.

It's her whole family who are wanting a dog but it was on the proviso Harriet would take the responsibility seriously and help out. Hence the month of morning walks! Before getting to know our dogs, particularly Molly, she was scared stiff as she had been bitten by her grandads collie.

My rule has always been if you are old enough to walk in it you are old enough to pick it up

I have two girls in their early teens who think it is 'gross' despite the bag preventing any hand contact - we use a walking belt that holds hand sanitizing wipes to limit the 'grossness' for them.

http://www.doog.com.au/shop/category/cat3575/Walkie_Belts.html

I've had dogs since I was six and mum always included me in learning the responsibilities of ownership, with everything that comes with it! I think it should be fine! and it's great that Molly is the neighbourhood favourite! What a star!

my 6 year old son has cleaned up after Koda.. few giggles and heaves at first but he got it to a fine art now..