Smokey Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 I have a 7.5 month old Bloodhound/Black Lab mix. He will growl and show his teeth when our small 5 year old gets in the floor or even points at him. He has nipped a couple times when the child has not done anything to provoke. Any suggestions how to help him learn he can not dominate her? We really want to correct this behavior. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fearfuldogs.com Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Your dog sounds as if it is afraid of your child. It's not unusual for dogs to be afraid of kids, even if they've never had a bad experience with one. Just not having any experience is enough to make kids something to be wary of. You need to monitor this dog and not let your child close enough to provoke a reaction, of any kind from your dog. You should learn about triggers, thresholds, counter conditioning and desensitization. Basically you don't just want to force the dog to behave a certain way, you want to change how the dog feels about your child. You want the dog to associate good things with your child, so instead of getting the 'keep away from me' reaction you get a 'wow a kid, fantastic something good is going to happen!' reaction. You do this by rewarding your dog with super good treats when your child is around, but not close enough to scare your dog. You do not want to punish your do for his behavior. He is being very clear about how he feels and letting you know that your child needs to stay away, if you punish this out of him, you may get a dog that just bites instead of warns. Check out this site for more info and be sure to visit the books page for some good training resources. [url]www.fearfuldogs.com[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torii Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 You cannot make your dog not dominate your child. In some dogs it is hardwired. He does not like her and does not want her in his space. He is very much behaving as a member of a wolf pack--nipping those who are younger and less controlled. I am not saying this is okay. I am just explaining some of it. I too recommend you look at some websites on this issue. You certainly do not want your child harmed. Keep her away from him while you work on this. I would also look into obedience training as a way to establish who is running the house, you or him. Jo Ellen and her Akita pup, who is afraid of small children Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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