I think that it's never too young to train a child to show love and to care for our pets. Katelyn is only 16 months old and already she knows the difference between "nice nice" (gently stroking) and pounding the cats. She knows that if she's not gentle she will get moved. So she tries her best. We've been working with teaching her this since she first learned to roll across the floor and catch 2 of them in bear hugs. Now that she's a bit older sometimes she does get a bit over zealous and tries to pound them like she can her grandparents 2 big dogs. But all we have to do is say "pet nice nice" and she's fine. As she gets older we will have more ways for her to help out. But for now she can just love them. She loooooves them soooo much! Not a day goes by where she isn't in the couch next to Al or Sheridan petting them or chasing one of them down saying "peh peh". And she gets sad that Cali won't let her near. So by teaching them young more than likely it will instill in them a love, respect, and compassion for all types of animals.

Kathryn

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