April 26, 2011
Our male dog marks everything in the house. Yesterday he growled at the baby when his foot accidentally touched him. Will it make my dogs worse if I crate them?
Full Question:
Good morning! I'm hoping you can give me some advice please. I just came across your web page,5 months too late however! You offer great advice, and I hope to gain more.We have an 11year old Jack Russell female and a 5 year old unaltered male Scottish Terrier. The Jack is the boss, and they were spoiled as our "kids" up until 5 months ago, when we had our son. We've done everything wrong according to your points on introducing dogs to babies. The dogs have full run of the house, including baby's room and our bedroom.
As our baby is beginning to move, I'm afraid of our dogs acting aggressive towards him. The Jack has licked the baby, but I fear once the babe gets crawling, she'll get nippy with him once he interrupts her sleeping. The Scottie follows me everywhere, and when i'm on the floor with baby, he's right there too. Yesterday, the baby moved his feet ever so slightly and touched the scottie-he let out a growl. The scottie sits beside the baby most times, is he protecting him or dominating him?
As we've spoiled these dogs for so long, will it make them worse if I crate them? If I do crate them, where should they be? In view of the family, or somewhere remote?
I should add that the scottie has marked the baby's play things, he does on everything! Now I'm wondering if that is dominance? As he has always been 2nd to the Jack, is he trying to lead the baby?
I appreciate your time in reading this and any help you can give would be wonderful. Thank you!!!!
Jean
Cindy's Answer:
You need to take back leadership of your home, and crating the dogs is the first step. I'd start with our groundwork program.
If I had a dog that marked ANYWHERE in my house, but especially on my child's belongings I would take that as a serious red flag. Your dog is claiming the baby's items as his own, and most likely is sitting by the baby (not to protect him) but to also claim him as a resource, like he would a bone. This can be a dangerous situation.
I'd recommend you totally restructure the dogs' lives, as the baby becomes more mobile this will become much more complicated to deal with. You need to have control of the dogs.
I'd also recommend Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.
You may want to review our kids and dogs section as well. I would recommend learning to use our SEARCH function, which is located in the top left corner of every page of the website. If you type in your key words or question it will find you articles, Q & A’s, free streaming video and links to threads on our discussion forum.
Cindy
If I had a dog that marked ANYWHERE in my house, but especially on my child's belongings I would take that as a serious red flag. Your dog is claiming the baby's items as his own, and most likely is sitting by the baby (not to protect him) but to also claim him as a resource, like he would a bone. This can be a dangerous situation.
I'd recommend you totally restructure the dogs' lives, as the baby becomes more mobile this will become much more complicated to deal with. You need to have control of the dogs.
I'd also recommend Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.
You may want to review our kids and dogs section as well. I would recommend learning to use our SEARCH function, which is located in the top left corner of every page of the website. If you type in your key words or question it will find you articles, Q & A’s, free streaming video and links to threads on our discussion forum.
Cindy
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