Golden Retriever's Sweet Way of Sharing Toys with Toddler Brother Is Everything

Though some members of my family were worried about us having a dog in the house when our baby came along, I had no fear. I knew that our gentle retriever would be a great big sister to the little one and felt vindicated when she was a sweet and gentle presence in my daughter’s life from the moment we brought her home. I have pictures of my baby asleep on a blanket on the floor while my dog patrolled the perimeter, lying down just at the border of the blanket so she was close but not overstepping her boundaries.

In another instance, I heard a strange high-pitched whining while cooking and rushed into the living room to discover my toddler had grabbed the dog by her eyebrow whiskers and was pulling. The dog did not swipe or snap at the baby, just sat there whining in pain until I rescued her from my child’s iron grip. (Yes, my dog was generously rewarded with treats for her forbearance, while my kid got a lesson on what “pet nice” means.)

Obviously, not all dogs are as gentle as mine, but this golden retriever certainly knows how to treat the baby of the house, and even sneaks toys into his playpen.

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“Recently, we started noticing a lot of extra toys in our toddler’s playpen,” reads the caption of this adorable video. “We thought nothing of it, but then started paying closer attention…”

The Perfect Team

In the video, you can see a golden retriever named Beau sitting just outside the bars of the playpen, his eyes shifting suspiciously as his owner takes the dog’s chew toys and tosses them back where they belong.

Related: Adorable Video Showing Why a Golden Retriever and Baby Are Related Is Quickly Going Viral

“It didn’t take us long to realize what was happening,” the parents admit, as the video switches to shots of beau dropping toy after toy into the enclosure. In some clips, the toddler even takes the proffered item out of the dog’s mouth to play with it.

Now that’s teamwork.

And apparently, it’s not even new behavior when it comes to Beau, for soon after the family put together the nursery for their coming arrival, Beau would bring his toys into the baby’s room. Only, how did he know?

In the final clip, you see Beau trotting into the nursery, where an extremely young baby is snoozing on a cushion on the floor. Once again, he’s brought a gift for the infant, and it’s the sweetest thing.

“It’s heartwarming to think that this moment was just a sneak peek into the way they’d play together today,” his parents write.

Is there anything sweeter and more pure than the love between a pet and a child? My own retriever has been gone more than six years, and some of my sweetest memories of her are the ones where I watched her interacting with my children. She was just as much part of the family as they are, and she was always so protective and gentle with them.

Children and Dogs

Though some dogs do not do well around children, if your dog is well-trained and of a generally good disposition, there is no reason to think that they cannot form an excellent relationship with a new baby. Both dogs and children should be taught the appropriate way to behave around each other. Dogs need to know that children are delicate and easy to throw off balance, while children ought to learn how to properly approach and touch dogs (and never to approach a strange dog without its owner’s permission).

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