What rules should children follow around a new puppy?

A puppy startled or disturbed while eating or sleeping can react defensively, not out of aggression but surprise, so teaching children to leave a resting or eating puppy alone protects both the puppy's comfort and the child's safety.

Rather than expecting a child to correctly interpret a growl or a nip in the moment, a simple rule of walk away and tell an adult removes the pressure of a judgment call from the child.

A single conversation before the puppy arrives rarely sticks on its own, so revisit these rules casually every few weeks, especially after any near miss, a nip that almost happened, a puppy startled while resting, rather than assuming the initial talk covered it permanently.

Praise children specifically when you catch them following a rule well, walking away calmly when the puppy was eating, or asking before petting, since positive reinforcement for children works much the same way it does for puppies and tends to stick better than only correcting mistakes.

As the puppy matures and children grow older, some rules can relax, such as being less strict about food time once a puppy shows no guarding tendencies at all, but changes like this should be a deliberate family decision rather than rules simply fading through inconsistent enforcement. Keeping the reasoning visible, not just the rule itself, helps older children understand why it still matters, rather than experiencing it as an arbitrary restriction imposed without explanation.