We have a 2 year old black lab, Bella, who when we were socialising her as a puppy was very confident and we thought bomb proof! However, at the time although we tried to ensure she was around children we didn't have children ourselves and didn't know many children so our best effort was making sure we took her with us everywhere. It seems we didn't do enough when she was little as she is very nervous around young children, she'll turn her head away and walk away. At the end of last year, we had a baby and At about the same time Bella was diagnosed and then treated for elbow dysplasia. So has spent most of this year on reduced walks and is only now at the point where she's able to be off the lead and enjoy walks again. Bella is extremely scared of our baby, nothing has ever happened but the problem seems to be getting worse now our baby is crawling. Bella won't look at her and will walk out of the room. Not that we encourage it, she won't go near food scraps if our baby is in the high chair. If Bella is given her food and our baby is in the same room she has on occasion refused to eat her food. Today, Bella wasn't even in the same room as our baby and was terrified, she was right at my heel and shaking. I always thought the problem would resolve itself but I'm so worried Bella is never going to accept our baby and I'm obviously concerned that Bella is extremely stressed. I feel like Bella's world has been turned upside down, with the baby and having the operation and I don't know how to help her. We are starting back at dog training this week, which we stopped last year so I'm hoping that will help with her confidence and we're also planning on having my in-laws cocker spaniel for a few days to try and show Bella that theres nothing to be scared of as Bella is much better when she is around. Has anyone else experienced this problem and have any advice? Should we be looking for her to see a dog psychologist? Can this problem even be fixed? Thanks for your help.
Welcome to the forum I would see a behaviourist for this - it's the best way to get strategies that will work for your situation. I'm sure that you can help your dog with a bit of professional guidance. The process will be the same as getting a dog to overcome fear of any other person, object or situation - a program of gradual exposure. The tricky bit will be avoiding overwhelming situations during the learning process....your dog and baby can't easily avoid each other but you might need to work out ways to manage that. In the meantime it is a good idea to have another dog over who is comfortable around kids. Let your dog stay at a distance but where she can see the spaniel comfortably interacting with the baby.
A warm welcome to the forum, I also would see a behaviourist. You can overcome this, it will take time and careful handling but you can do it. My girl who also has ED and went through surgery and severe restricted exercise she was also terrified of children, now 10 months later on the whole she is fine. I don't have any young family members living in the UK so I basically seek out anywhere where children inhabit, play areas, school run etc. I still do it now, for example on Monday we sat in a local beauty spot near to an ice cream van as part of our walk. I wouldn't worry too much that you didn't socialise her enough around children it's more than likely related to the ED and restricted exercise. Good luck and please keep in touch with your progress.
I hope I don't offend you but it is possible the other person in the "we" over reacted to a situation and scared your puppy without you knowing? It only takes one highly charged act towards a young pup to mark them. Ive seen this before.
Thank you for the welcome! And thank you for the advice, it's good to know we're on the right lines, I just don't want the problem to escalate any further. I'll ask at our dog training class and vet for recommendations for a dog behaviourist, hopefully there is one near us.
Thank you for the reply, I'm not offended. We're open to any suggestions! We're both pretty sure nothing has happened but I guess, there could be a reaction from anybody that has upset our dog.
Thank you also for the welcome and reply. We'll keep you posted on our progress. Hoping that once we're back to normal exercise and play that this will be able part of it but we will also look into seeing a behaviourist as soon as possible.
