Any advice

[AllAmericanPUP]

my sister, her boyfriend, and his son are staying with us right now...they'll be moving into the attached apartment as soon as it's done..but for now they are living here in the "main house"

gabe(the son) is 4 years old, generally he's an ok kid, i mean he's got his problems but who wouldnt with his upbringing(his mom is a drug addict...long story..) anywayz twice he's hit/tried to hit my animals. first time was 2 days ago, he hit maggie on the back with a foam sword..i know that might not seem like much but this foam sword has wood running through the middle and he hit her hard(made a loud thud( and maggie is 13 so i dont take no crap from anybody with her.. so his dad spanked him(dont agree with that..) and then sat him down and talked to him about not hitting animals.....but then tonight he just tried to kick blaze......i dont have much patience when it comes to the abuse of my animals :evil:

so does anyone have any suggestions for me??? i've told him a million times to NOT hit the animals..but he still does...

[kendalyn]

That really depends on how much supervision and "parenting" you want to do here.

If he's going to be around frequently, I would probably remove him from all contact with the dogs for awhile. Later you can let him around them for short periods supervised and let him know how awesome it is when he's good to them. Avoid any situation where he is very excited and around the dogs. He is more likely to get rough without thinking.

If he's only going to be around for a short time though I'd just not let him around them anymore at all.

[Canis erectus]

My advise: Never correct violence with violence, most kids (boys especially) really don't care about spankings anyway. Also, I'd be concerned about the dogs becoming nervous and jumpy towards your nephew, and anyone who dispenses spankings.

Treat the kid with the same respect you'd give an adult, and if you need to dispense punishment, try making him stand in the corner with his nose touching the wall for a few minutes or so.

[DogPaddle]

[quote]Treat the kid with the same respect you'd give an adult, and if you need to dispense punishment, try making him stand in the corner with his nose touching the wall for a few minutes or so.[/quote]

Man, I'm not going to your house, not if your going to try making me stand in a corner.
Seriously though, I think you have to be prepared to treat a child (or dog) significantly differnt from the way you treat an adult. There is a difference in the degree/way respect is conveyed. After all you wouldn't actually even try to make an adult stand in the corner with his nose touching the wall if they did something you didn't like - they would be offended.

As for the resident child in question:
Explain why it is completely unacceptable.
Explain what the result will be if he ignores the rule. (You can talk to his dad ahead of time to find a suitable penalty - nose in the corner etc.)
Follow through, every time without fail.
Praise him if he every plays nicely with them, maybe find a safe game for them to play together with you.

[mouseatthebusstop]

remove the foam sword he may listen to you more than his parents if you told him off
never leave him alone with the dogs

[kendalyn]

[quote name='DogPaddle']As for the resident child in question:
Explain why it is completely unacceptable.
Explain what the result will be if he ignores the rule. (You can talk to his dad ahead of time to find a suitable penalty - nose in the corner etc.)
Follow through, every time without fail.
Praise him if he every plays nicely with them, maybe find a safe game for them to play together with you.[/quote]

This is perfect! A good rule of thumb for time outs is 1 minute for every year in age. So for a 4 year old, a 4 minute time out is about all they can do.

[ESSlover]

This feels like Nanny 911. 8) (lol sorry, my family loves that show)

Anywho, make sure that he knows when he does anything harmful (whether it hurts the animals or not) that he will get in trouble. And tell him exactly what his punishment will be. Getting separated from the dogs, sitting in the corner, nose to the wall, loss of something he likes (toys, etc), doesnt get a special treat.. something like that.

Hope we helped, and good luck! :D

[pyrless]

mouseatthebusstop, great idea! no weapon.
and yes, no contact with the dogs. i once had to put the fear of God in my untrained hellion nephews after they slammed a bedroom door on poor Taz's nose by roaring (!) and asking them how they would like it if someone did that to them.
good luck. kids are infinitely harder to train than dogs.