Aggression with young children

[Tammy11]

Our BC male (who is about to get neutered) is 10 months old. He is a good dog with the family (9 children in all who all live here), except one child. My second youngest is 5yrs old and Reggie does not seem to like him. More recently, my 7yr old daughter whom Reggie has always loved was petting him just showed his teeth towards her while she was quietly petting him.

 

What he does it to look at the children while they are petting him and then he begins to show teeth, growl and finally bite.

My son and daughter are very sweet, loving and kind to the dog. There is no abuse or timid behavior in my children. I have my 5yr old feed Reggie and take him outside. Reggie is fine with all of that, but Reggie will not allow my son to pet him. Reggie growls and has bitten this one son of mine 4 times so far.

I don't allow Reggie alone with this one son because of this situation. Reggie does not have the run of the house (although he seems to desire the house to be his domain to rule and acts as if he is in charge of who can enter a room). Reggie is required to stay in the living room and can roam free outside as long as someone who is 16yrs and up is with him in order to keep him in the yard.

We exercise him by playing a lot of football and fetch as well as take him on runs with the older children. Yet all of that has been decreased more and more recently due to our lack of trust with him.

The techniques I've used to get Reggie to accept this one son is to feed the dog, pet the dog while he is eating out of my son's hand, train the dog with treats, and take the dog outside when he needs it.

This all has worked with other dogs that I have had in the past, but after 3 months of this, the only change is that Reggie will growl and run to his kennel when my son (Daniel) comes to give the dog attention.

On a few occasions recently, Reggie has come to Daniel for attention only to growl after less than a minute of Daniel petting him on the head and back.

I am sure that by now Daniel has grown weary and a bit timid of the dog, but that was not always the case. Daniel does not approach the dog with fear, he tends to be happy and want to play, yet the dog seems to have his mind made up about Daniel.

One time, Reggie was playing with my 18yr old son. When they were done, Daniel tried to imitate the same play techniques used by my 18yr old son which was to peak at the dog with the wall as a barrier on his hands and knees. The dog loved it when my 18yr old was doing it, but immediately began showing his teeth to Daniel.

The poor kid can't win, but he is always trying on his own. Like I said earlier, the dog is ALWAYS under my supervision, so I have caught everything between him and my son.

I am home with him and his 4yr old brother during the day until the family comes home from school and work at 3pm. Of course Reggie does most of this while the family is home when I am the busiest, which means he is in his kennel more often because I have to be in the kitchen more often when everyone is home (but only because of how he reacts to Daniel)

Do you have any ideas? I also would like to know how to teach Reggie not to bite other children in the ankles when my children's friends come to visit. He doesn't do it much to my children, and when he has done it, it was a soft bite. Yet he drew blood on a young girl who was walking fast a few days ago (again, I supervise everything). I had to promise the young girl's mother that Reggie will no longer be allowed near her child since this happened. This of course hampers my ability to train Reggie not to bite visitors.

We are at the point of looking into selling him to an adult with no children. The children are heart broken and I really don't know what else to do.

I appreciate your time and wisdom.

Thank you

[gcv-border]

So the behavior has not changed since you posted in April?

 

http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=34791&hl=tammy&do=findComment&comment=438231

 

Did you get him neutered? (not that it would resolve the behavior)

 

I would consider the advice given before about consulting a dog behaviorist. S/He may pick up on something that you may be missing in your assessment of the situation.

 

I don't think you should expect to 'sell' a dog with his history. Hopefully, you might be able to find a rescue that would consider taking him to be placed in an 'adult only' home, but don't be surprised if they do not want to accept the liability that comes with a dog with a bite history. (And if you do contact a rescue, please be honest about Reggie's behavior.)

 

Jovi

[waffles]

First thought... You need to remove the child from the dog the second he shows teeth or growls. Why wait until he bites?! The dog is telling the kid to back off and the kid doesn't so the dog bites. It is your job to remove the kid the second the dog looks uncomfortable. Don't punish for growling, he is communicating and no one is listening.

Get a professional behaviorist in to help or find a more suitable owner with experience if you can't handle him. You won't be able to sell a dog who bite kids but hope to find someone who love the breed and has lots of training experience and no kids.

By not exercising a 10 month old border collie and forcing him to interact with a person he fears, you are creating more frustration. Get the dog out more-walks, short jogs, dog park, trick training whatever you can do. Dogs need to get out an be dogs, it will help alleviate some of his frustration and help him to relax when he is home.

Also stop letting the kid pet him while he eats. The dog should be eating alone in his crate or in a room with no kids. The dog sounds so stresse out and another home may be best for him of you can find one. I wish you luck but please stand up for your dog when he tells the kids to back off (by growling ) and get a professional in there to evaluate the situation for the safety of your kid.

[Syncrope]

I agree with waffles's suggestions, and I also think you ought to consider that at 8 months old, if he's not neutered then it could be hormones playing a part. You could see a change once he's neutered. I personally would have fixed him by now, though not everyone has the same opinions on when you should spay/neuter. You could also see if he has any physical issues, because some animals exhibit behavior such as this when they're in pain. You probably should mention it to the vet. Unfortunately dogs don't speak English and can't/don't always tell us if/where/when they're hurting.

[terrecar]

The poor kid can't win, but he is always trying on his own. Like I said earlier, the dog is ALWAYS under my supervision, so I have caught everything between him and my son.

 

I would discourage the child from trying on his own. Until you can get someone in to evaluate the situation, I think too much attention from the child could be adding to the dog's stress. Of course I am not talking about having the child behave as though he is afraid or timid. I'm just saying the attention could conceivably make matters worse.

 

I've noticed that children who love dogs the most are sometimes the ones that are most prone to getting bitten, because they aren't able to read the dog's body language, yet because they love dogs, they approach anyway, and often inappropriately. This puts too much pressure on a wary dog. This happens with adults as well.

 

I'll give you an example. My boss brought her two German Shepherds into work one day as we were leaving the building. One was goofy/friendly, the other was aloof. Because the one dog was wary, I was indifferent to her. She came up and sniffed and all was fine. Immediately behind me, my coworker walked out going "ohhh how pretty", gushing at the dog, though she didn't reach out to pet her. The dog backed up and started barking at my co-worker , freezing the girl in her tracks (that girl turned pale white). I told co-worker to ignore the dog, which she did. It took the pressure off of the dog, eased the tension and stopped the barking, while my boss could get over from a few yards away and get the dog.

[MrSnappy]

I completely disagree with Syncrope. The dog's sexual status has no bearing on his aggression with your kids; this is a puppy - and according to your posts, this dog has been aggressive with your kid(s) since forever. Moreover, the dog has been allowed to be in a position where he has bitten your kid(s) multiple times, and practice makes perfect.

 

This is not a case of a dog adjusting to a new baby, this is a dog who has demonstrated from an early age that he is not comfortable with your child or any child. I think it's unfair to allow the child to continue to "try" to befriend him despite the dog's warnings and I think it's not reasonable to expect this dog to changein this environment, or maybe at all. And now he's drawing blood on other people's children - all of this suggests to me that this dog is NOT a good candidate for your home, and rehoming him responsibly is probably a good idea.

 

But I will be frank in that, IMO, a PUPPY should not need to be "taught not to bite visitors." Puppies should be sociable and enthusiastic, and this dog is neither of those things, which is a much bigger concern for me than the fact that he does not like your one son. You have a very young dog who is biting all kinds of people - rehome the dog with someone who is in a position to evaluate whether or not this dog is even a candidate for social rehab. Not all of them all, unfortunately. But whatever you do - do not keep this dog.

 

RDM

[ChantalB]

If the dog will want attention for a minute than shows warnings, I think some BAT training would work the best. He just wants his needs heard. Please consult a professional in yor area.

 

The first sign of discomfort in the petting, remove the kid, way before a growl, look at the body tension and the eyes, breathing .. That way dog gets rewarded for appropriately communicating his wishes.

 

Not all dogs have to LOVE everyone, just get along and be respectful. With age both human and canine this may change.

[puppytoes]

9 children in one house sounds like a lot of activity for a young, sensitive dog to deal with. I only have 2 kids and my dog finds that overwhelming at times. I think your dog needs to have a safe place to go and I would cease all interaction between the dog and any children that make him nervous. I also think that your dog may need more activity during the day so that once the chaos begins, he can retreat somewhere quiet and doze off.

[Reekoh]

We had a dog once we couldn't trust with any kids (black flat coat retriever). She never bit any of the kids who came to our house (grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc) because we never let her be around them alone. Our dog was smart enough to remove herself from the situation with a kid so she didn't have to bite them, but she did show teeth on several occasions and growl at them if they followed her when she left. We worked with a dog trainer on this issue and while she never "got over" kids, she never liked them that much either. Was fine with adults, just not kids.

 

Sounds like your dog might have this problem. I think the best advice on this forum is find someone to help you work with your dog, and don't just go with the first guy at PetSmart. Our trainer is also one who trains police dogs, and he is very affordable, and really good at reading dog body language. Find someone who has a lot of experience with dog behavior and see what they think before you decide if you have to get rid of your pooch.

Good luck!