advice needed asap.

krlyr

My first GSD was dog reactive and my stepsisters were around 7 and 9 at the time. I was living at home, and while they didn't live with us full time. they did spend every other weekend. Prue never showed any aggression towards people (except in her very last days - she had severe hip dysplasia and eventually the pain did affect her behaviour towards us and that's when we made the decision to go ahead with euthanasia) and was fab with the girls. They were made aware of the extra rules because of her hips, e.g. they knew not to stroke down to her legs/tails, they didn't actually handle her when walking but would walk next to the adult in charge, they weren't left alone with her, they didn't approach her when she was laying down (as she could be stiff getting up in the final stages and I knew this could be a potential trigger due to the pain) and so on. We never had any incidents, not even any close calls, and we also had young friends and family visit (with slightly tightened 'security' with the dog just to be cautious, but again, no incidents)

There's no really young children in the family now, but my current two did meet a little'un a few times (under 1 year) and showed absolutely no reactive/aggressive behaviour to him at all.

Using babygates can help with keeping dogs and children separate within the house, even with older children.

Wellyboots6

My previous dog was dog aggressive too (I like a challenge apparently!) and he was best buddies with my friends 4 year old little boy. They would chase around together and even ended up peeing up lamp posts together as her lad believed himself to be a dog!

I didn't leave them alone together, but I didn't see a hint of trouble at all between them. Little lad learnt to dog spot, so if he were in front and he saw another dog coming he would shout 'dog!' and run back next to his mum ready. He was never scared of my dog, even after seeing him react which amazed me!
My ex used to stay over with his 4 year old girl too, and her and dog used to play together. She was quite noisy and persistant however, and when dog had enough he would take himself off to his crate out of the way. She learnt that the crate was dogs bedroom and she should never touch him while he was in there.

Current Little Sod is a totally different dog around children, quite amazing to see. Again little lad, who is now 5, gets on well with him. They don't chase around though as current woof seems to calm around children and isn't his usual boisterous, mouthy self. LS tends to ignore him, unless he does want to play and then he will take his toy over and put it on the floor for little lad to throw. He won't tug which he usually does with adults, and he actually gives his toy over which is unheard of with adults!!
I am very vigilant with him with children just because I know he does have a bite history with people although in specific circumstances, and also because of the complete change in behaviour with him with children. I am not so used to seeing him like that, so take extra care and make sure to watch him carefully. He again has never shown any issues with children however.

I think with younger children you do have to be vigilant, but also teach the child how to handle the dog. Even if it's just very simple things like to never ever touch dog while he is in bed.

neveranymoney

My son is actually a timid wee fellow, but he is a very typical little boy, loud, fast and a pain in the !!!. We have very much tightened security at the minute, in fact, since the dog arrived we have been. I told the guy I was swinging like a pendulum at the minute and he agreed it was an emotional roller coaster, my husband LOVES the dog and firmly believes he is not human aggressive but he is very much black and white and had said if I am not comfortable or happy, he will make the call and take the responsibility off me.

The little sod, (the dog, not my son. He is in bed as school had started, yippee!) is lying up against my leg out for the count. His walks have been a good bit shorter and a lot less interesting, no paddling or beltjng about in the grass but thems the breaks for now.

My life, more so than anyone else's will be more, curtailed, shall we say. My plans for this weeks mornings have already been cancelled, I used the car tax money to pay the behaviourist so I will have put the shopping on visa now and I can't take my son to the barbers now really either and he is practically blinded by his hair. Think George best circa 1970.

What I am trying to say, in a rather long way is that I am taking each day as it comes for the next fortnight and then I will reassess the situation then!

Fosterdog

My dog reactive boy regularly spends time with a 10 month old little boy I babysit. He is only just standing and will hold onto the dog and has pulled his tail once, my dog isn't phased in the slightest by him and would let him do anything to him. He is also good with my 7 and 11 year old step niece and nephew.

I would never leave him unattended with any child but he has never given given any cause for concern when it comes to kids.

neveranymoney

I have seen a girl at my sons school who is a child minder and had two dogs, the newest one (I saw her ages ago in the street walking them) seems to be muzzled and I am dying to grab her and quiz her does she still have them. If she does, they must have been deemed ok to be a registered child minder. She will think I am a header when I leap on her!

To the OP with the primula suggestion - why do dogs like the things that I cannot have in the house without stuffing myself silly with? Peanut butter, cheese in general. I cannot be controlled around such delicacies, I am off found with a large spoon in a jar of something that is not meant for me.

Kinski

I've not posted on your thread before as I had nothing to add before but now I feel I can ad a wee bit.
I have a fear aggressive sheltie who will turn on a dog in a heartbeat or ignore them completely I never know which it'll be, I do know though that a dog running at him will be snarled at and he will try and have a pop at it. I'm lucky that he's never bitten another dog but that's only because I'm very careful and he's very rarely of lead. A few months ago I was out with the dogs, my daughter and my 3 year old grandaughter, a dog I know who had a bad habit of jumping on people came flying up to us, Arran ( sheltie ) walked over to my gd and stood side ways in front of her, he never moved, he never looked at the dog just stood stock still, the dog stopped short of us and backed of, Arran then moved away from my gd. A few minutes later the dog came running at us again and Arran did exactly the same thing and the dog backed of, I've never been so proud of him as I was that day. Only one other time has he done anything protective and that was when my other dog a Bichon was getting hassle from a dog that wouldn't leave her alone, Arran flew at the dog and told it in no uncertain terms to p*** off which it did. I never leave him alone with any of my grandbrats but he adores every single one of the horrible things :rotfl:. I'm glad your not giving up on your lad and I hope you have many many happy years with him.

krlyr

neveranymoney wrote: »

I have seen a girl at my sons school who is a child minder and had two dogs, the newest one (I saw her ages ago in the street walking them) seems to be muzzled and I am dying to grab her and quiz her does she still have them. If she does, they must have been deemed ok to be a registered child minder. She will think I am a header when I leap on her!

To the OP with the primula suggestion - why do dogs like the things that I cannot have in the house without stuffing myself silly with? Peanut butter, cheese in general. I cannot be controlled around such delicacies, I am off found with a large spoon in a jar of something that is not meant for me.

A less tempting alternative is to source the refillable camping toothpaste tubes and fill with something like a homemade liver paste. The tubes are hard to track down though and aren't that cheap - though you could possibly use a Primula tube and once empty, snip the end off to to fill with liver paste and use this kind of food clip to seal the end
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70083252/

catkins

When my previous dog became dog reactive my nieces were 8 and 10. Obviously they didn't live with us but they did visit a lot. He was always absolutely fine with them, as I say, letting them comb him etc.

Whenever we were out he would start wagging his tail the second he saw any human, but particularly children. I live close to an infant and junior school and if the children were playing in the playground when we walked past he would try and stick his head through the railings to watch them, wagging like crazy.

Children often used to ask if they could stroke him and I always said yes. I used to ask them to stroke his head or back and obviously kept a close eye on him but I never felt any concern that he might hurt one of them.

The worst time was when about 6 young girls (aged about 6) run up to him without warning and surrounded him all shreaking. That bothered me and I quickly asked them to stop the shreaking and not all stand round him so close. He was fine though - I think he loved that much attention

krlyr

Or perhaps a cake piping bag with a longer nozzle. Thinking about it, I saw long nozzles designed for squeezing the jam into homemade donuts, that sort of thing would probably work
http://www.joepastry.com/pics/pastrybag1.jpg

orlao

My Terriost is fantastic with kids - very protective but gently IYSWIM, generally more obedient and tolerant with them.

I have 8 nephews and nieces from 13 yo down to 6 months - as you can imagine as a group they are noisy, spend all their time running around and the dog goes with them, plays nicely and enjoys them as much as they enjoy him! I really don't worry about him snapping or biting them.

They do know that if there is another dog about (my siblings also have dogs as does my father so family gatherings are quite dog heavy sometimes) that they MUST not get between them even if the dogs are getting on at the time.

Also OP - my dog came to live with me when I already had an ancient JRT and a Rottie. He tried it on with the old girl on his first day here and she told him his fortune so he never bothered her again and him and the Rott were good friends but the big dog was a saint who never ever retaliated when @rseache had a pop at him so peace reigned. He's now an only dog and tbh his DA worsened when he became one as he is fear aggressive. However the good news is that 2 years or so later while he is still muzzled in public (just not worth risking otherwise IMHO) there are dogs that he gets on with and plays with so there is hope