My new pit and one year old

Question
My question is how can i introduce my 4 month old pit bull and my one year old daughter. My daughter is terrified of dogs and my wife and i want her and "kharma" to learn to be friends. How do i help "Kharma" understand that she has to be gentle with my one year old daughter?  

Answer
You should treat their introduction like you would any other training "exercise". When Kharma does something inappropriate, like jump on your daughter, etc, correct her and redirect her. This will not only help her see how she is to behave around your child, but she will see that jumping on people in general is a no-no...and that is something that all of you (and your visitors) will appreciate more as she gets bigger! Ha!

Be consistent in how you handle their interactions. Start off their encounters when they are both calm (it will make things easier) and use the same training/corrective measures every time. And NEVER leave them alone together. I know that sounds like a very "no-brainer" type of thing, but I still have to throw it out there. Children and animals should always be supervised. (I don't even leave my dogs and kids together unattended...and my dogs are well-trained, perfect little four-legged angels.)

If your daughter is absolutely terrified of dogs, you should start off with very small interactions. Putting her in a high-stress situation is going to make things harder for her and make her see dogs even more negatively...and is most likely going to end up freaking your dog out and making training her harder. Maybe you can try sitting her on your lap with the dog next to you and "help" her pet the dog (or something like that). Anything that would make for a comfortable meeting is going to work the best.

Also be sure that, while you are focusing on making sure your dog acts appropriately, you are making sure that your child is acting appropriately, as well. Even at a year old, she is capable of learning good behaviors to have around animals. Your dog needs to be taught how to be gently with her...Your daughter needs to be taught how to be gently with the dog, too.

I wish there was something else I could tell you. Unfortunately, that is all I have for you today. Let me know if you have any more questions.