hi again, So my butter-wouldn't-melt darling lab has always been a bit spooked by kids and I always thought it was because she tends to come across them in groups and they are usually quite noisy. Today however she ran up to a girl (8ish) and her mum on our street, tail wagging then started barking at the girl (who of course was then terrified, poor thing). Her hackles were fully up and although her tail was still high and wagging, her bark was almost growly. Needless to say I took her away but this is not a behaviour I ever want to see again. We have a couple of very mature girls across the road (I think maybe 8 and 11) and I was thinking of asking their parents and them- probably the elder of the two to start with- to help me with some training. Really simple stuff with high value treats. I was thinking something along the lines of: I treat tatti while girl approaches but stays at a bit of a distance. maybe ask tatti to do a few sits and downs. Me- lots of calm talking to girl, maybe girl can throw a few treats over if tatti manages to stay calm. Next stage: Girl standing next to me while I do some more basic training: maybe some nose touches, spins, etc Next stage Girl does some very basic training Next stage New context (maybe in park), girl approaches and either I or she treats tatti for good behaviour. What do people think? I should say, tatti is great with younger children. Another neighbour has a four year old that frequently comes over to play with her and tatti is so gentle (although we do have to separate them when the girl starts screaming and chasing tatti- not that tatti doesn't like it but just because it gets her very excited and she is a 30kg dog after all). I don't think it's agression, she does occasionally bark at random people but they are usually old people or people who pop out of nowhere and spook her. I have no idea why she does this. Once she has met a new person she is literally the softest dog in the world. Any other ideas?
Willow and Shadow did this a lot. It was fear. The high wagging tail is often anxiety rather than excitement. They're finally past it, and completely ignored screaming toddlers on the beach today, but it's taken a long time to get to this stage. For them, asking them for behaviours would have added to their stress. It was a path of counter-conditioning instead, using Look At That from a great distance to start, and gradually building in complexity, be that getting closer, or the kids being louder/more active. It took a long, long time and I'll never fully trust them to be happy enough to be petted by kids without very careful supervision.
