I have a GSD that is 17 months old. Here is my situation, back in August 2005 my wife left me and took our daughter with her, and I became very depressed and to be honest, the dog training went from everyday to every couple of days.

I know it's not Mason's fault (thats my GSD)I neglected him and it wasn't in any way fair for him. I already feel like trash for that. Now I have been training him again with food rewards, and he's coming along great. He's very food motivated.

Now here is my problem, my ex moved back to the state where I live a few months ago (Before that, I would drive and visit my daughter). now when I started bringing my daughter back into the house, Mason barks like crazy at her. She's 6 btw about to turn 7 on May 1st.

So I say "NO" as sternly as I can, but it doesn't help, I put him in his crate but he just barks away at her. it's not a "vicious" bark where he's looking like he wants to attack her, but none the less she's terrified of him.

today when I brought my daughter over, my brother was there and he had Mason out of the crate, Mason didn't bark at her but he got very excited to see her and tried to jump on her, Ipushed him off and said "NO" then he started sniffing her feet and legs, but at this point, she was freaking out and began to cry because of how big he is, so I grabbed him by the collar and put him in the crate with a Kong toy with a treat.

Does anyone think this is normal for him to be barking at her when he's still so young (17 months) and I try to give her a hot dog and just feed him through the crate, but when she goes near his crate, he just barks like hell wanting to get out and she's just so scared of him. He's a good dog, but she's my daughter, I don't want to endanger her because I did something wrong with raising him. I just don't understand, before her mom left, briana and Mason were like best buddies, she would even help me train him to sit, and down commands after I taught her to do it properly.

Advise please?
Rob

Robert, I am not a prof trainer, but I think your dog may be exhibiting normal young dog over enthusiasm & it's creating a vicious cycle, because then your daughter gets scared. You need help in re-introducing the two of them. I'm hoping one of the big guns will step in here, & give you some good advise. Take heart, you don't need to get rid of your friend just yet! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm not a professional trainer either but here is what I would suggest. With your current situation all of the dog's focus is on her and all of the child's focus is on the dog. Take them both out for a walk. Put your dog's training to use and have him heeling. Your dog's focus should switch to you which should decrease his excitement alot. When your dog is calm and under control your child should become calmer as well. In this way they can both become more accustomed to each other. You probably already know this but in a dog-child situation it bears repeating- Never, ever let the two have unsupervised contact. In this case I wouldn't even have her try giving treats because if your dog has high food drive he may try to grab, she'll get scared and jerk away, and your dog ends up more frustrated when he doesn't get the treat that was offered.

"Is it possible that you are exhibiting a heightened state of emotion or anxiety when your daughter is over? Could you be contributing to the atmosphere a little?"

I guess I may be, I don't see my daughter nearly as much as I used to, so I'm always very excited to see her. I mean I don't act overly excited in front of Mason, at least I don't think I do.

When I say he's pretty good, he's great with me and my brother, but due to my work hours,I walk him very early in the morning and we run around in the park, usually there's no one around, and then when I get home from work, I go to the gym and then Mason and I play ball out in my yard for awhile to give him more exercise.

Now as far as her liking dogs, she loves those tony dogs, I'm not even sure what they're called lol. But even when me and bri go to the petstore, or we're out at the park, if it's a nice size lab or any other larger breed, she gets very scared of it, and I try to tell her that the dog is on leash and won't hurt her, plus I always carry around pepper spray in case we run into a stray while on the playground.

I have never abused Mason at all, that I swear, but like I said, after my wife, now my ex wife, left and took bri with her. I was very depressed and his training was almost non existant. For several months, I just went through athe motions of only a few commands "sit" "down" "stay". and like I said, it wasn't fair for Mason at all, and I do feel like garbage for it, as none of it was his fault.

thanks for the input, I'll see what I can do as the weeks go on. hopefully they'll improve.

Rob

Rob,
As I have said in a PM, this is more complex then other kid/dog interactions, because it could turn into a custody issue if the girl is frightened by the dog and goes home and tells her mom. I don't think this is the right time to train the child to deal with the dog. I am not a dog trainer at all, have no training advice, but as a parent who has seen other divorces, I suggest the trainers should consider this angle.
polly

Have you been able to socialize your dog IN GENERAL out in public where he may see kids? To work on desensatizing him to the great excitement he may be showing?

This is a good example of why I socialize the heck out of my dogs for the first few years, because I try to head off any potential problem BEFORE they come up (though I know situations come up in life to make it difficult). Hey, I may never know when my dog will run into a cow, but if they've seen a cow before in a control situation that I set up, I know the next time will be less an issue. And it's the same for sirens, men in hats, loud buses, AND KIDS.

Have you socialized your dog alot? Been able to have him calm and in control outside of Walmart/Home Depot/Main St, USA? He able to take a nap while you are sitting at a picnic table at the park for awhile?

I would be working with a good trainer if I were you, I prefer group classes, though I know others do not. The very reason is because the distractions and giving ME the skills necessary to teach my dog with the distractions and my dog to LEARN to listen with them going on, is built into these classes. Hey, if my dog will listen to me when a tennis ball is bouncing by, she will listen to me when a kid is running by. Especially if I have been simultaneously been working on the socialization skills she needs to make things less exciting just cause they are new.

You know not to constantly correct or come down too hard on your dog around the child, right? I mean you need to do it with a VERY precise timing and the dog clearly understanding, or they will start to relate children with only negatives and corrections, particularly YOUR child. Which is exactly the opposite of what you are wanting.

Here's some info that may help with the socialization and desensatizing of your pup, hopefully you can find a trainer to give you detailed help for you and YOUR dog in YOUR situation, which is hard for us to do over the internet.

http://www.nwk9.com/dehasse_pupdev.htm

http://www.doberman.org/articles/puppy.htm

http://www.familydogonline.com/Babies.htm (even though your daughter isn't a baby).

There is a lot of great info on this site. I'm not any kind of expert, but do have a couple of suggestions. Could you and your brother calm the dog into a down and with your hands close to hers, just let your daughter pat the dog's back end? Sometimes the front is just too scary. Gradually build your daughters' confidence. Talk about the dog together, what he likes...personalize him for her. Also, when you are out together, let her pick out a treat or toy. She could leave it for you to give him or put it on the ground and watch him take it. Go slow, there is no hurry. There are also some cute German Shepherd stuffed dogs she could take to her home. My male loves white cheese, when my grandson is here and grumpy, I will ask him if he wants some of "Tracer's" favorite cheese. Good luck to you.

When a dog performs an unacceptable behavior, you need to give him an idea of what the RIGHT behavior is. Right now, it sounds like he gets overzealous, you say NO and he gets locked up. What is he suppose to think of this senario? I'm guessing he gets anxious/excited about your daughter for tw reasons. One is that, as you said, he went several months without training and now he's getting a whole lot of contact. The second reason is...if he is not already, at some point he is going to start associating your daughter with yelling/crating.

My suggestion is start structuring the time between Mason and Bri alittle better.

First off, put a whole lot of time into his obedience training. Get him following commands like crazy. Control is a big issue.

Secondly, corrections for barking have to be paired with praise for being quiet and good. If I wanted to teach a dog not to jump, I would give it an acceptable behavior to perform in place of the jumping (sitting). So whenever Mason and your daughter interact, start off with an acceptable behavior for him to perform (sit or down). Make him maintain that position. She doesn't have to pet him, touch him, or acknowledge him. I think her fear of him will go away once he starts behaving himself.

So once he's doing an acceptable behavior (sit or down) and is being quiet, give praise. If he starts barking, reinforce the command in place (pfui, sitz!). Also, I think I forgot to mention, he should have a prong and leash on at all times of intereaction.

Once they can be in the same room (and the novelty of her has worn off to him) you can build up to them being closer together, then hopefully she will get to the point where she can feed him, pet him, etc. I would skip interactions with the crate.....he's probably just excited thinking he will get out of his crate and its not really a place where you can give an effective correction for barking. All interactions should be in a room where you can control the dog on a leash/collar.

As I said, I think your daughter's fear will go away when he starts behaving himself. Once he's to the point where she is not something he needs to bark at, I'd go back to teaching her how to give him commands. Make them buddies again. And like someone else said, go for walks with the dog and your daughter.

Just a few more ideas for your situation.