What if her son possibly did something, out of parental vision, that harmed the dog? We have had instances where kids had pulled out the dog's eyebrow/whiskers, stuck their fingers up the dog's nose, heard of one that tried to take the dog's temp (yes, with his finger). We have had Goldens afraid of lightening and fireworks and have told parents to make sure their kids stay away from the dogs if they go hide under the bed, in the closet, in the tub. Kid crawls under the bed with frightened pup, dog reacts in fear and bites, dog is labeled as aggressive and dog gets returned to rescue. Just as the dog must be taught the acceptable rules, so must the kids living in that house, or you're going to have problems. Be a reponsible owner, and don't blame it on the dog if you're not.

And I mentioned my affiliation with the rescue to present that I have experience with the posted question and to offer CONSTRUCTIVE feedback.

Folks, lighten up on the personal insults or else.



Will Rambeau
Moderaor

why does it have to be a black and white issue? the dog isn't a good fit for that home , bring it back and tell them what happened and they'll either put it to sleep or put the dog in a home with people willing to deal with it, anyway with a one yr. old you should think about getting a cat,i don't mean that in a condesending way, but it'll be alot less work for you and easily managed, good luck, AL

Bloody hell, I think Ive caused a riot with my first post!

(Actually Al, we do have a cat, who was here first. And the dog adores him!)

Firstly, I dont think the option of putting the dog to sleep is the way to go, but thanks for the thought. She is only three years old, and surely with a dog this young there must be a way of correcting her behaviour? Isnt that what dog training is about? I'm not willing to put my child in any danger either. The dog is not left alone with the children at any point, and the growling happens when I am there. There must be a way to correct both my dogs behaviour towards my child (as I put before, she is fine with my elder daughter) whilst teaching my youngest the correct way to deal with animals.

Thank you for the comments though. We are going to set a time limit to see an improvement in her behaviour, whilst keeping a very close eye on them both. What is the best way to discipline a dog?

Two issues here.

1. This is your fault Sarah. You should not allow your kids to molest your dogs. That is rarely a good idea, no matter the temperament of the dog. Fix that issue first.

2. Return, rehome, or put the dog down . . . unless you are willing to spend a good 50 hours or so over the next 6 months to apply a number of different methods to modify this behavior.


There are a number of good threads where corrective actions have been discussed for these issues. Search them out, read them, and then post with specific questions.

That should give you the ammo you'll need to find a dog trainer to help you with this issue. In nearly every single case like this it is necessary for someone to see the dog and the behavior to give good advice on fixing it.

Without knowing it, you could get into trouble by applying certain methods. For example, if it is a fear based reaction. . .correcting the dog hard every time might further drive the behavior or create new ones. The dog will really not like the child because whenever the child is around he gets in trouble. More avoidance will come of it, which might eliminate the aggressive warning and leave the dog with only once choice (run or bite). You don't want that to happen, because if the dog can't run. . .that leaves only one choice.

Because in Sarah's original post she stated:
"she is generally a good all round dog, obedient, not agressive unless she hears unfamiliar voices or noises (eg a group walking past the window chatting loudly, or a knock at the door, more making us aware rather than agression)."

The dog gets along with the 2 yr old daughter and never showed any problems with the foster's kids. The only problem is with the 1 y/o son.

Before writing the dog off, whether that be to return it or put it down, shouldn't she try to figure out why the reaction to her son, monitor the situation, train and/or correct the dog? Isn't that what this Board is about....training and teaching dogs the acceptable, appropriate behaviors we expect from them? They are not all born knowing that, they must be taught.

As my Dad used to say " I WILL ONLY SAY THIS ONCE !!!!" No one calls anyone an idiot on this web board - or you will only do it once and never be heard from again. If you care to do it in private thats fine - but DO NOT DO IT ON MY WEB BOARD !!!!! I dont care how foolish the post is you are referring to - lets look at it like this - our web board can be an exercise is English - god knows I need it a little every now and then.

My dog loves my friends kids but chases and nips my nephews, not aggressively, but because he thinks they are play things. The reason s simple, my friends kids are all used to dogs and are calm and indifferent to him, my nephews are not used to dogs and make a huge fuss whenever they see him, constantly calling his name, constantly repeating the phrase "cujo no!" or "bad cujo!" when he didn't even do anything, jumping onto the couch so he cant "get them", weird noises, jumpy excited behavior, staring into his eyes then running away (which is basically the way I play with him in the front yard - I stare him down till he starts jumping around like a ferret, then I either chase him or he chases me, its his favorite game) etc, my dog's never seen this type of behavior before from these weird short people so he just assumes he's supposed to chase the critters with the waving arms, so he chases em n nips at em, in the meantime my dog gets dubbed the evil nipping dog with the huge wagging tail.

I agree that there is a potential that this dog was just incorrectly placed. I also think that given the correct training that this problem can be rehabilitated - wether people feel this dog isn't "worth the time & effort because it was badly bred and the breed is going to hell", well, that's sure one way to look at it, but it's not really addressing Sarah's problem is it?

Only Sarah knows ALL the details and scenarios, personally I often have a very hard time describing my dogs behavior on this board - I will do my best, then will receive replies that are totally misunderstanding what I was trying to convey because the only way you can truly judge a dogs behavior is by seeing it yourself. Perhaps Sarah's son is very jumpy, perhaps the dog has something against short males, perhaps the dog was mistreated by a male "little person" and resents any male shorter than 5ft? Or maybe the dog took the boys toy when my mommy wasn't looking n he smacked the dog on the nose because he got mad and the dog's gotten hand shy.

I am more than willing to put all the time it takes into solving the problem, rather than write the dog off. However, if it is a problem which cannot be overcome, removing her from the house is the final option. Im asking for help, not trying to take the easy way out as so many people do, and kicking the dog out for someone else to deal with.

The dog is not 'molested'. However, it needs to be taught how to react around children for her own sake. There is no way a dog can be completely isolated from children this young, even if we do get rid of her.

Just read the rest of the molested post!

The idea of not discipling too hard makes sense. Shall search out some of the old topics. Thanks for the advice.