[amandamartel]

I have a 1yr old dobey who is terrified of children, He was never introduced to kids as a puppy(my mistake) he will growl and snap at them if they come near him,he has also become afraid of strangers who walk slowly towards him ans stop when they see him. Im really afraid he will bite someone. pls help.

 

[KCFilley]

Socialize, socialize and socialize him. Take him every place you can. Dog shows, horse shows, walking with you, hardware stores, pet stores, etc. Take treats with you and allow others to give him one of your treats. I have a female who was kind of like this so she went every place with me. People would try to approach her and I asked them if they would give her one of the treats I had and I asked them to offer her the treat but to allow her to approach them. I also had a male, Blue (actually black) who wasn't exactly afraid of children but he had not been around them. I started taking Blue to horse shows, dog shows, etc., and always kept a bag of goodies that children would give him. That worked out super for Blue. BUT I never trusted Blue alone with children--in fact although I trust my dogs and they have been well socialized, I don't trust any of them alone with small children.

KC/Linda

 

[amandamartel]

thanks i will try that, Im just afraid that when my boyfriend and I have children they wont like them.

 

[KoaRad]

It's a little after season, but I used the local Little League fields when introducing Koa to more kids when he was younger - maybe find something similar... soccer, football, etc and start walking by at a distance so he can get used to the sight, movement, etc of kids. I read something on here before I got Koa that I always tried to keep in mind - to us, people are people, but to the dogs kids aren't the same as adults so it's like introducing them to something completely new. Kids talk different, act different, scream, run around, etc.

Definitely take him to as many places as you can. Have you enrolled in any obedience classes with him? A friend of mine had a GSD who had a similar temperament and when they enrolled her in an obedience class with different ppl, dogs, etc she became more confident and I've really noticed a change in her.

Good luck!

 

[amandamartel]

I brought him to basic puppy training classes, and we bring him to the dog park with tons of diffrent dogs hes completely fine with them but i get so nervouse when kids are running along the path,maybe i should put a mussle on him so he an get use to the kids.

 

[Herb2relax]

I agree that socializing is needed. But you need to do it under his threshold. Please get lots of more info before starting this on your own. Finding a trainer would be best. You could make it a lot worse. I wouldnt have a child come up to give him a treat if he is snapping or even an adult. As Meadowcat has suggested many times for this problem "Control Unleashed" is a great book.

 

[DeeHaleem]

Hi Amanda,

I just noticed you said something which might actually be playing a role in this. You said you get so nervous when children are around. Don't forget how much your dobe loves you and how in tune he is to your mood and your reactions. Even the slightest tense vibe from you or change in your attitude or body language can be read by your boy and he'll react to this.

Instead, make seeing children a super happy event. Change your voice, your attitude, the frequency of your treating etc so he reads positivity from you instead of anxiety.

Also, if you have friends with kids, have a child at a time approach slowly and calmly with treats with your boy sitting while you praise him and sound super happy.

Give that a try and see if it helps

 

[hbwright]

I also agree this may need to be at least started off with a behaviorist/trainer. Just too much could go wrong if you are nervous and he is picking up on any of your nerves. It will be very important to make every situation a good one for him to start off with, meaning every child that he comes in contact with during this time is going to have to be well trained themselves. Children tend to do things with dogs that dogs could take as being very assertive, standing over them, going straight to the face, fast movements, reaching towards them quickly, touching inappropriate parts of their body, petting the wrong way, etc, etc. To start off with I would ask well behaved, well trained children to just simply hold a treat out in the palm of their hand to let him go towards it, he may not even want to go that far. If he even looks at the treat without any bad reaction, I would treat him myself and tell him good boy. What may be difficult is finding a child that is willing to go through this without their feelings getting hurt because the dog doesn't want to take the treat from them. Do you have any other dog parent friends with children that may be able to explain what you are working on? I think one of the most important things here is making sure that he does not have any bad experiences to totally throw off any progress or give him a reason to not trust children.

 

[MeadowCat]

Yes, please get a professional involved. If your dog is to the point of snapping at kids and strangers this is not something you should handle on your own. I highly recommend finding someone with a lot of experience with fearful, reactive dogs who does not use "correction" methods for dealing with aggression. If possible, find a trainer who uses Leslie McDevitt's "Control Unleashed" methods.

 

[Tperkins]

Your past socializing your dog at this point. It has become a behavior, the only way to stop this behavior is to train the desired behavior into the dog. Which to say the least is a long slow road. I would consult someone who is experience in this type of training. Please do not run out and put your dog into situations that push him beyond his threshhold. You now know your dog is unstable around children and strangers, until you have help in your training aavoid these situations as they will only get worse.

 

[mmctaq]

I've gotten yelled at for suggesting that folks find sacrificial children to offer up to their dogs (not exactly in those terms LOL!), but am not making that suggestion for you. You do need a professional here. You need to have your dog properly evaluated, and your relationship to your dog properly evaluated. Either she is not the dog you think she is and you need to learn to trust her and quit sending her scary signals, or she is not properly wrapped and has a screw loose. For her to have been to class and be going to the dog park and such and be unpredictably aggressive with strangers is just plain wrong.