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Fox Terriers and Children by Pam Bishop (WFT in photos is Asta) Fox Terriers, both Wire and Smooth, are kids!  Think of them as a 3-year-old child. The world is theirs! Most Fox Terriers love to play with children. If they have never had a bad experience with kids, they will love the attention that they get from them, playing and talking for hours in the yard. But the Fox Terrier will "play rough" and for that reason we don't recommend them for families with young children. Children over 7 years can understand how to "play nice" and have the stamina to keep up with the Fox Terriers.  Toddlers and the pre-school ages tend to not understand that hitting and screaming and running are going to causeproblems with the dog. It's not that the dog or child are "wrong", it's just that they often don't mix. The dog can see the screaming/running as "prey". That  is what they were bred to do, hunt and kill small animals. So a bite can happen, without the dog meaning to. Children that are rough, andmany are, are going to challenge the Fox Terrier. The Smooth and Wire are not going to back down from a challenge and there you can have a potentially dangerous situation. A Fox Terrier will rarely aggressively go after any human, adult or child. But they will hold their own. They will protect their toys, food, etc. You are NOT going to train this out of  them. And the youngster doesn't understand personal borderlines. Now many people with young children do not have problems and if you are knowledgeable about the breed and there all the time, it can work out.  But a high percentage of Fox Terriers turned into Fox Terrier Rescue come from homes that have toddlers and it didn't work out. If you have the baby after the dog, he well may see the baby as a challenge to his place in your lives. If you have young children and are considering getting a puppy, be very careful.  There is a danger to the puppy and the child. The children will try to carry it around and dropped you can have a broken leg on the puppy.  And puppies have sharp teeth and at 4 to 6 months they are teething. They need to chew on anything and small children are great for that. Those little needlelike baby teeth can hurt! There are plus's and minus's to having Fox Terriers and children together. Generally we suggest that you wait until the kids are older and then get that Fox Terrier. They can really be a wonderful buddy to the older child. | |||
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