The first time I heard the term, “Nanny Dog” was when a Grandmother (we’ll call her Karen) told me about something that happened in the 1970’s when her kids were preschoolers. The family had an old Shepherd dog who had been very tolerant of the children, and would allow them to push him and sit on him without any visible resistance. The dog would hang around outside where the kids were playing, and Karen felt that the dog somehow watched over the kids on his own –kind of a furry babysitter while she cleaned the house. When the old dog died, Karen’s husband brought home a young German Shepherd as a replacement “Nanny Dog”. On the dog’s first day with the family Karen watched from her kitchen window to see if the new dog would live up to her expectations. When the kids bothered the dog, he sat on them. Karen flew out to the yard with a rope and tied him to a tree away from the children. She then called her husband at work and told him that, if he didn’t immediately leave work and take the dog away, that she was going to shoot the dog herself.
Karen had some unreasonable expectations and had no idea what a “Nanny Dog” really was. I’m not sure where Karen got her ideas from, but a quick Google of the term “Nanny Dog” returns claims that a number of dog breeds can be “Nanny Dogs” because the breed “good with kids”, but no one seems to ask what the term “Nanny Dog” really means.
By the way, getting a certain breed of dog is no guarantee that a dog will be ‘good with kids’. When you buy or adopt a dog you’re getting a living, breathing creature, its own individual personality. It’s not like buying a toaster.
The next time I heard the term, Nanny Dog, spoken was last year when we took our dog, Skye, to a seminar offered by internationally acclaimed dog trainer, and author, Kay Laurence. Skye isn’t food-motivated, so training her to walk without pulling on the leash was challenging. After her evaluation of Skye’s behavior Ms. Laurence helped us with Skye’s pulling problem and told us that Skye was a Nanny Dog. She also gave us the true definition of the term –a definition that hasn’t seen the light of day in popular American culture for decades. A Nanny Dog is the kind of dog that has a strong mothering instinct, the type of dog that will adopt a litter of kittens, and feels responsible to look after all the family members. There was no expectation that Skye would qualify as a babysitter, or that we should allow children to hurt or frighten her. Skye’s a great dog, but she’s just a dog. She’s not a Disney character, or a furry Mary Poppins. Her mothering instinct is just one of the traits that make her a unique and valued member of our family.
Karen had some unreasonable expectations and had no idea what a “Nanny Dog” really was. I’m not sure where Karen got her ideas from, but a quick Google of the term “Nanny Dog” returns claims that a number of dog breeds can be “Nanny Dogs” because the breed “good with kids”, but no one seems to ask what the term “Nanny Dog” really means.
By the way, getting a certain breed of dog is no guarantee that a dog will be ‘good with kids’. When you buy or adopt a dog you’re getting a living, breathing creature, its own individual personality. It’s not like buying a toaster.
The next time I heard the term, Nanny Dog, spoken was last year when we took our dog, Skye, to a seminar offered by internationally acclaimed dog trainer, and author, Kay Laurence. Skye isn’t food-motivated, so training her to walk without pulling on the leash was challenging. After her evaluation of Skye’s behavior Ms. Laurence helped us with Skye’s pulling problem and told us that Skye was a Nanny Dog. She also gave us the true definition of the term –a definition that hasn’t seen the light of day in popular American culture for decades. A Nanny Dog is the kind of dog that has a strong mothering instinct, the type of dog that will adopt a litter of kittens, and feels responsible to look after all the family members. There was no expectation that Skye would qualify as a babysitter, or that we should allow children to hurt or frighten her. Skye’s a great dog, but she’s just a dog. She’s not a Disney character, or a furry Mary Poppins. Her mothering instinct is just one of the traits that make her a unique and valued member of our family.