We recently adopted a baby and one of our dogs has started to jump up on us while holding the baby. We have corrected him and he is doing better, but should we be worried?

Hi Ed,

We have 2 Shiloh Shepherds, 14 months old, bought together as pups before we knew that was a bad idea. They are great dogs. We trained them as pups and they've always responded well to basic commands. We have had minor trouble with the male being shy in new situations or around new people, but just handled it by keeping him away and ignoring him when people came over. We did a lot of training with him before he turned one-- taking him into a new place and giving him tons of treats, then removing him before he got nervous, just to make sure he had good experiences in these places. If he ever did growl we would lift him up by his cheeks and tell him NO in a very low, stern voice. He was on the prong collar in all of these situations.

He was really doing well, until we adopted a baby very suddenly. The stress and busyness of the situation meant that he received significantly less time and interaction with us than he was used to, as well as significantly fewer walks than he was used to. During this time he was also separated from his sibling for 6 weeks as she was in heat and stayed with the breeders who are friends of ours. He has not been neutered.

He has done fine with the baby. Neither dog is allowed to be alone with her, though I must admit there are times when I leave her in her swing and go into the next room with the dogs lying on the floor in the same room as her.

I guess because they've been doing so well I was lulled into a false sense of security.

Here's my concern-- a few times lately he has jumped up on me or my husband while we are holding the baby, and I think all of the times we were holding her facing out. He never "got her" with his big paws (he's about 95 pounds) but still it was very disturbing. When he did this with me I could only give limited correction since I was holding the baby and my husband wasn't there.

Today he did it to me while my husband was there and my husband smacked him pretty hard on the nose a couple of times while he yelled "NO NO NO NO!" and Leo was very scared. Since he's always been pretty responsive we're hoping that will put an end to it.

I guess I'm wondering how worried we should be about this behavior. He has never growled at her or done anything but try to lick her (which everyone told us was good but I have since read on your web site that it is bad). Most of the time both the dogs just ignore her.

Any suggestions on dealing with this dog in general? He does growl and bark at people pretty often so we plan to just use a muzzle on walks and a crate when people come over.

Thanks,
Amy
Columbia, MO