Safety Center · Always free
Children and the Corso
These rules are not suggestions and they are never gated behind a membership. Adults manage the environment. The dog is never asked to make the safe choice alone.
The ten non-negotiables
- 01
No child is ever left alone with a puppy or adult dog, regardless of history, training, or how “good” either one normally is.
- 02
A baby or child is never responsible for controlling the dog. An able adult controls the leash, gates, doors, food, chews, toys, introductions, and end of every interaction.
- 03
Never expect the puppy to “correct” a baby or child. The dog may freeze, move away, growl, snap, or bite when overwhelmed. The adult must intervene before the dog is forced to defend space.
- 04
Children do not enter, reach into, lie in, or play around the dog’s crate or kennel. The crate is protected downtime.
- 05
Children do not touch the dog while the dog is eating, chewing, sleeping, injured, ill, hiding, or trying to move away.
- 06
No hugging, kissing the dog’s face, climbing, riding, tail pulling, ear pulling, collar grabbing, teasing, cornering, or taking items.
- 07
The dog is separated behind a secure barrier during running, wrestling, tag, screaming, large play groups, or uncontrolled food on the floor.
- 08
A growl is information. Do not punish the warning. Create distance, secure the situation, identify the trigger, and obtain qualified help.
- 09
Never use a child to test whether training “worked.”
- 10
If a dog has snapped at, bitten, guarded from, stalked, chased, or repeatedly frozen around a child, separate them and arrange an in-person professional evaluation. Online content alone is not enough.
By age group
Babies and toddlers
Allowed
- Complete physical management with gates, pens, crates, and closed doors
- Presence in the same room only with one sober adult assigned solely to the interaction
Never allowed
- Floor sharing without a dedicated adult
- Crawling toward the dog
- Shared toys, food, or chews
School-age children
Allowed
- Calm adult-directed tasks such as tossing a treat from a distance
- Helping fill a bowl before the dog is released to it
Never allowed
- Controlling high-value resources
- Opening barriers
- Walking the dog alone
- Taking objects or disciplining the dog
Teens
Allowed
- More handling responsibility after demonstrated skill and physical control
Never allowed
- Solo handling in public before an adult has verified control
- Any interaction involving guarding, fear, or bite history
If a dog has growled at, snapped at, bitten, guarded from, stalked, chased, or repeatedly frozen around a child: separate them now and arrange an in-person professional evaluation.
Emergency warning signs