A little help

The dog seems to be perfectly fine with it. I’d say once the kid starts getting bigger it would be time to stop them from climbing on the dog. And they’ll retain it better. This kid looks to be like... 2 or 3

Is it? I see possible signs of distress/discomfort in its face and body Language, but it is hard to tell from photos. Maybe it is. Let’s say the dog is fine with it in the photo. What about a moment later or a moment after that? What if the child moves or slips and in so doing hurts the dog? That’s not just bad for the dog- but the dog can reactively nite if suddenly hurt or startled. Dogs are animals, non human animals- and their behavior can seem unpredictable. Their communications are also different than ours. Placing ones self “on top” of another dog for example is a classic dominance behavior- and well... sometimes a dog asserts itself when it feels challenged.

So it’s a cute picture, but there isn’t any age that it’s ok for a child to stand on a dog really. The risks involved to the dog and the child- and again to the dog and it’s future should an incident happen with the child that isn’t the dogs fault- are actually pretty real. You can google it, but you’ll find page after page and article after article and blog after blog and quote after quote that will agree from vets and canine behavior experts- don’t let kids stand on your dogs. Supervise kids with dogs, and teach kids from the earliest age how to appropriately act with animals. Why do we buy toddlers blocks with the alphabet or picture books or have them listen to music if they are too young to learn? They aren’t too young to learn.

They may not remember- but lessons they learn at an early age help shape their brains and determine who they will become as they grow as kids. There’s no “switch” at a certain age where a baby transitions to being able to develop and learn from its environment. It’s a process. Iterative, built on foundations formed from perhaps even before birth. With babies and puppies both- it’s never too young to watch for bad behavior. Your toddler won’t understand a lecture on canine behavior, but they can learn they don’t stand on the doggy.