Lenny nipped the neighborhood girl and then Tayda growled at her. ACK!

[Quercus]

That is really interesting….did you have toddlers in your family while she was a puppy? Was she a baby puppy (eight - ten weeks) when she came into your home? Do you think the bites were guarding issues, like the sandwich bit episode? Did she get heavily reprimanded the first time she growled at a child?

Of course, there are some dogs that just don't like kids and/or strangers I suppose, but so much of it is socialization...

[phoenix3]

Ugh. So everytime I go out with Lenny and Tayda, the neighborhood kids always come over and want to pet them. I ALWAYS tell them to let the dogs approach them, and to hold their hands out palms down for them to sniff. And then once the dogs are satisfied with the sniffing, they can pet them on the head.

Today I was out with them, the neighborhood girl came running up, all excited to see the cutedogs. She has done this a gazillion times, and its never been a problem. She was really excited, running towards us flailing her arms, and Lenny got all excited too, he was pulling me on the leash, and I was holding him back. She stopped and let them sniff her, and then Lenny nipped her! I was so shocked, he's never done this before… not to people anyway. She looked scared and i asked to look at her leg. He did not break the skin but it was a little red. I think hope he was just excited and playing roughly. I"m sure he could have broken the skin if he wanted.

Then after that, the girl didn't seem all that deterred, she started petting Tayda and gave her a hug. As she put her arms around her I was just about to tell her not to do that, and then Tayda started growling. At that point, I said "ok, we need to go inside, they are misbehaving today"

This girl is always doing stuff like this... running up to us and wanting to pet them. Its not all that abnormal, but I guess I need to let her know that she has to be very calm when approaching us and not to grab Tayda in a full hug. Ugh.... I hate being the person with THAT dog....

Sorry, I'm just frusterated and venting...
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Phoenix will do that also if some kid comes up to him all excited he/she just gets phoenix excited and he wants to play is all i usally have a few treats with me when i take them for a walk and when i come upon a kid going puppy crazy lol i'll ask them to have the dogs sit and then give them a treat. I've noticed when i did that Phoenix switched focus and wasn't gong crazy trying to jump and nip to play with the excited kids he would want to show then how good he is to get a treat lol haha it's amazing how dogs can turn there "charm" on to get cookies lol

[Barklessdog]

Ours are around older kids a lot. One day I was walking the devil in tri's cloths and some little kid comes running up asking to pet the dog. I told him not to, it is not a good idea, but he keeps coming. He runs up to the dog (it's winter) the dog jumps up at him grabs his hand/mitten starts-growling and going half savage at the poor kid. He would not let go right away. Finally I pulled him off the kid and the kid gave me the most shocked look like "what's wrong with your dog?" and just walks away. The dog seamed more to be bullying or challenging the kid, not going into complete attack mode. He sure was not playing around and the kid knew it.

I was lucky he did not do any serious biting, but it was close to coming to that. I learned my lesson NEVER TO WALK THE DOGS CLOSE TO SCHOOL TIME, when all the kids walk home.

I had another time when some kid's walking a wild young lab with a inner spiked collar and stops some distance away from us and asks if our dogs can meet, I say No, sometimes he's not friendly, but again the kid does not listen and says my dog wont hurt him and he & the dog runs up to my dog all wild, my dog just let loose on the lab and bites him on the ear, the dog screams and the kid gives me the same look. I yelled at the kid and he & the dog ran home. Luckily, I or the dog did not get in trouble.

you run the guantlet when you walk a biter.

[Quercus]

When people ask to pet my dogs, if I am walking Querk or Ivy, I just say "no, they bite"…pretty much stops everbody Querk wouldn't bite anybody..but he does growl sometimes; and Ivy, well, y'all know her story.

[Barklessdog]

I have had parents actually thank me for warning them about not letting their kids pet our dogs.

[Quercus]

@Barklessdog:

I have had parents actually thank me for warning them about not letting their kids pet our dogs.

yeah, it is a great learning experience for the kids (assuming no one is seriously hurt, of course). Sometimes an experience like that gets thru much easier than a million repetitions from the parents.

[elena86]

I try not to let kids near Senji either. I tell them he doesn't like strangers. Sometimes these little kids are so darned quick though! If they're running towards him, I usually hide him behind me, or move his face away from them. I also tell them again not to touch him. He does fine with my nieces now…he spent the first 5 years of his life living with them. He likes them now, knowing that he doesn't have to live with them.:D
For some reason, he really HATES teenage boys, and will growl and baroo loudly at them. I think he still remembers boys who taunted him when he was living with my brother and his family. They used to tie him out on a long leash outside.

[sharronhurlbut]

I went to a class this last weekend…clicker training with a halti caller and a harness.
So interesting, sort of what they do with horses.
B's who like food, and mine will tap dance almost for cheese, were suprising good accepting the halti.
But they didn't just slap it on and say, take that...they worked up to the halti, with small strips that drap over the b's nose.
Doing that type of slow start, with cheese as the bonus, worked for mine.
I hope you can find a good trainer to help you keep the dog focused on you when you have these type of things happen.

[Barklessdog]

Ours walks on his hind legs like this

we used to take our dog to school to pickup our daughter and when school would let out all the kids would run up and pet the dog and he was fine with that!

He just changed as he matured, no bad incidents, just decided some people he likes others stay away from me.

I guess would you like a bunch of strange smelling, sticky handed kids putting their hands all over you?

He seemed to enjoy the attention, but again as he got around 2 he slowly changed.

[Quercus]

I can't remember…did you ever have his thyroid checked? A full panel run at MSU or Dodds?

[Barklessdog]

We had it checked when he was about three and it was fine. He is probably due for another check

[Quercus]

@Barklessdog:

We had it checked when he was about three and it was fine. He is probably due for another check

It just struck a chord that his behavior changed when he was around two.

[Barklessdog]

he was always a biter, but he just decided he could not get along with any male dogs, then after several incidents at home (biting the kids & my wife) I just thought it best to just not put him in those situations.

[annandael]

I've really tried to keep my dogs socialized with Children…but Kiya's first introduction to children when she was a young puppy and a 3 year old girl came running at her screaming "PUPPY!!!!!" She dropped in front of Kiya and grabbed her by the halti...that made Kiya growl in surprise.

Everyone thought she was a vicious dog...but after I removed the halti, and the girl got out of Kiya's face, they played chase.

It depends on Kiya's mood most of the time with smaller children 0-7 if she wants them around or not...she really doesn't like kids that get in her face...and I understand that completely!

Would you want someone grabbing your cheeks and talking right in your face?!

.<

[Barklessdog]

[Quercus]

Barkless, what is your tri boy's registered name?

[sharronhurlbut]

Could he possibly be going through some type of dominance change…do to his age.
How about taking him back to a gentle training class?
Get his head on straight re you and his relationship.
I only say that because I took my boy to one and it really did make a
difference re the behaviors I am seeing from him.

[sharronhurlbut]

I meant to add, taking a dog rescue class, the ages for dogs to be rehomed were 2 and 7.
At 2, they are going through teenage stuff we humans do.
At age 7 they look at the way the family is run, and think they can "become" top dog.
The recommendation was to get them back to basics.

[jayfabares]

i know that this may be 'late in the game' to post- but i have the exact same issues with neighborhood kids & isis.

i live in an apartment complex that allows dogs, so needless to say, there is a lot of them & a lot of kids wanting to pet them… and living in an apartment... isis needs her daily walk(s).

isis is friendly, but you need to respect how to approach her. she doesn't bite... but she is not used to little kids. one day a kid pulled on Isis's tail (my husband was turned away for only a sec) and isis growled and tried to nip at the kid.

it's hard having that dog the one that isn't all over you, shaking thier little tails and barking….

i just say that Isis is prissy... with people & other dogs... it is the basenji way.

[BDawg]

My dogs are the same way. Well, Lexi is anyways. Miles is much more approachable- he allows strangers to come up to him without any issues. Lexi on the other hand can just SEE a kid coming her way and she freaks out and tries to get away.