We've had a couple of opportunities with children recently. My two don't like kids and are scared of them. They either slink away from them or bark defensively. We don't have many occasions to work on this because there are generally very few children around, but in the last few days, there seems to have been an increase in their numbers. Yesterday, in particular, was a good opportunity. We took them to a different part of the mountain, where there is a kids' nature trail. It was after opening hours, so very quiet. However, there was a group of young children playing in a little park area, with their parents. We were able to sit a good distance away from them, watching while the kids squealed and ran around. One had a complete meltdown after falling off a climbing frame. We were probably about 25m away, and the pups had the odd look towards them, but were very happy to sit there. The path we were on carried on closer to the play area, so we walked on down after a while and then sat and watched some more, from about 15m away. Again, there was very little reaction from the pups. We didn't push it, and wanted this to end on a high, so carried on our merry way afterwards. Teeny tiny steps with this one....
Sounds like good progress! Did something happen to make your two scared of kids or was it just the limited exposure you have to kids where you are? I have a similar but almost opposite issue with Ella where she gets so excited and seems to feel the need to bounce around like a loony and tries to jump on the child's head! Whilst far from ideal it is a little amusing to watch hehe ☺ I'm hoping this will settle down with age. She's already settled since we managed to explain to our friends son that squealing only makes it worse! Good luck and I hope they continue to improve! ☺
No, they didn't have any bad experiences. They met a few kids when they were very young, but it's always a bit of an effort to find them around here, so we foolishly didn't keep up the exposure. Neither I nor my husband like kids, either, so we're not going to go out of our way to surround ourselves with them! Friends with kids fall into two categories; either grown up kids or young babies/toddlers. Which means that, for the most part, it's not a problem, but it does become one when we're forced into a situation where kids are around, or when a child comes squealing and running towards us. If, say, we're sat outside at a cafe and a child walks by on the other side of the fence, the pups will usually bark. So, as much as I don't need to get them to the state where they're happy for kids to play with them, or clamber over them (I'd never allow that), I do want to get them happy with having children in their presence, and even petting them, under supervision. I think they have the same reservations as me - kids are just so loud and unpredictable, with very strange, jerky and rapid movement patterns. I can't blame them
I was advised by a behaviourist to try putting kids' shows on the TV for desensitisation. I tried with 'Cheaper by the Dozen', which has loads of kids in and lots of shouting. The pups didn't care at all and promptly fell asleep, but my nerves were frazzled by the end!
I'm with you on that one! I'm also frequently amazed how many parents just let their kids come running up to Ella and put their hands all over her! Whilst she's always happy with the attention, she's still a baby and I can't guarantee she won't jump or try to have a little nibble. It's funny that we work so hard to train our pups but I can't always say the same for parents training their kids! Shame they don't run kid obedience classes...
That's really good progress snowbunny well done. The only little children in my family are my nieces aged 1 and 3 and as they live in NZ there's no chance of a visit to the UK. I used to walk Mabel in an area where there was children coming out of school aged 4 up to 16. She wasn't slightly bothered then for some reason she decided she wasn't a great fan, I've never been able to put my finger on it I think it's just we are a child free home. Like Shaddow and Willow she will either back away or bark. Emily I'm also amazed by parents, we have been doing a lot of on lead training in parks during the 6 weeks holiday. I seriously can't believe it when a parent lets their 8 year old run at a big puppy bouncing a football. I have made lots of progress, yesterday completely ignoring children on metal scooters. I'm not a big fan of parks but it's just got to be done. I've got 3 boys all grown up now and not for one second did I ever let them man handle a strange dog. There are sensible parents out there but I do find the rest fall into two categories either force their child on your dog or tell them they bite you if you go near. Someone said that in the pub the other day. So I challenged them, they apologised.
Dog training is easier than child training I think..... I'm still working on both Good effort by your two though I'm sure they'll get the hang of children in no time with your gradual approach.
Great progress! I have a friend who is an experienced trainer but is in the same boat as you - they don't 'do' children, kinda of forgot to deliberately socialise their two BCs to kids (while ticking off on everything else under the sun), and then found that the BCs ended up not 'doing' children either. So they've done the same kind of thing that you are doing and the dogs are much more comfortable with kids now. I'm sure it will work.
There is no clicker training for kids .I am working on both , toddler training and pup training. Definitely, it is not easy to tell a toddler who loves dogs not to go to a dog when they see one . I am only teaching the right way to approach ( asking owner permission from far and waiting for a response(very important) , accepting a no etc. Work in progress , but will get there someday. As for the dog , I feel every dog needs to be comfortable around kids , socialisation helps I hope?
I read the thing wrong I thought you were clikcer training kids at first ha ha. might give it a try though? Me and my friend have often applied dog training tecniques with her kids . I had the same problem with most of my dogs even though they had seen and been raised with kids. I have none (kids) but there are plently around so I soon sorted it out by putting children on the telly and gradual exposure to children that were on the park or just knocking a round. All my friends kids have dogs so they were very helpful too, infact they were really proud to have helped. The thing I've found with my lastest pup is that he has a real thing for pre pubesant boys he gets very excited. Boys from about 10 to 13. He's just wants to sniff them and run up to them and play with them. Its a real worry I just put him on his lead and keep him close until they have gone. I imagine its because their bodys are going through some interesting hormonal changes and are often noisy and excitable but its still something i've not experienced before? anyone else? He's not neutered and nearly 2 I have no problems at all with kids who own dogs as they seem to have learnt how to approach dogs and like them. Rory does not get excited i keep him close on his lead and all is well. He is gaining confidence and so am I and I expect he will continue to get better with time and practice. Its still a bit of a tank slapper though.
I have a plan for winter, too. Once the ski season starts, the kids' groups always meet at the same time and in the same place. I'm going to take the dogs, individually, up the mountain - in the gondola, wheeeee! - and watch the kids from inside at first and gradually move closer. In time, I'll take them into the "garden" where the young ones start their ski lessons. I'll have to take this really slowly, because it combines all sorts of things; kids, winter clothing, ski equipment and different movement patterns. I don't want to flood them, obviously, but if I can approach it at an appropriate pace and get them comfortable with that, they should be pretty bullet-proof by the end of the season!
One problem with Labradors is that they have a natural affinity with kids. Another problem is that they are large and bouncy dogs and can easily bowl over or otherwise hurt children. This can be misconstrued as an attack. I always supervise Molly with my two eldest grandchildren who are 4 and 8. The 1 year old toddler is just starting to be allowed in the same room as her. I taught Molly to sit and proffer a paw a paw from a very young age. This had two advantages, one, her bum was on the floor, two,the kids loved it and Molly loved the feedback. I have been parent, Grand parent and dog owner. It was always MY responsibility to make sure the creatures in my charge acted properly.
Well, today should be good for them. We've been invited to a barbecue for a kid's birthday. There will only be four children there, and lots of adults, so hopefully manageable. It's at a place you can drive to, but we're going to walk instead - about 1.5 hours through the woods - to tire them out first. We'll see how we go; if it's too much for them, I can take them back home. It's a massive area, so we should be able to keep our distance from any kiddy activity.
Enjoy the barbecue . Hope Willow and Shadow get some positive experiences with the children there today
I grew up with dogs and have always had a dog .... different breeds, mixed breeds and of course Labs. I also feel that 'labs and kids ... most dogs actually, seem to go together'. However, that being said, I also firmly believe that children need to be taught that not all dogs are friendly, and even if they are, they need to be gentle and always ask before petting, etc. That however is not always the case when meeting children you don't know outside of your regular circle of family, neighborhood and friends. So, training the dog to sit and wait, along with communicating with the children or adults, I think is a great idea. I also believe that never being exposed to children either because they are not available or the owner doesn't like them either, is something maybe the dog can also sense? Could be wrong, but just a thought. We always taught our children how to behave around dogs ... (especially not running and screaming if they don't want to be chased!) and to always be kind. We also have 6 grandchildren who have been brought up with numerous dogs and taught how to behave. I take care of my grandson now, once a week, who is just 15 months. He was brought into his family with a Bassett Hound and Weimarana and they all get along famously. However, when brought here with Maui, I've had to do a lot of supervision! Most of the time they are gated apart. For the most part, they will meet at the gate and Maui will lick and my grandson will pat. For now, since he's just beginning to 'toddle', and Maui is SO exuberant that she unintentionally knocks him over, we need to be careful and constantly supervise. The biggest problem we have is my grandson in the highchair 'feeding' Maui!! LOL!! But, it's all coming along. I was advised that Maui should be exposed to just about everything .... and what we didn't have here, we should go and seek out so that she will be comfortable and able to go just about anywhere. We are doing that and it's a work in progress. Just this morning we saw our first 'cat' on our walk! She just sort of stopped, sat and looked ... like 'what is that?'!! I just talked to her and didn't want to go too close since the cat seemed to be a little timid and didn't want to scare it. After a bit Maui just decided she'd seen enough and we went on our way. Good luck with the kids .... I hope it works out .... it's just my opinion that there is nothing more beautiful than a dog and child together. But, that's just me!
Well, it was a success! I was naïve. Very naïve. I had thought, 4 kids at a BBQ, perfect. What I hadn't thought was, this was a public space and it was a lovely day. You know what that means? MORE kids (and a nun taking lots of selfies. Random). Anyway, the pups (sorry, "dogs", they're all grown up now) were a delight and put up with a lot. We made sure that they were always a good distance from the kids in our party and they didn't do anything bad at all. They had a few barks at people walking past "our" area, but that was whether or not they had children with them. After the party, J took the dogs with him a little way in front while I helped my friend with her toddler (about 2 years), with one of us holding each hand. We did lots of squeaky noises and swinging him around to get him down a long, uneven path. The dogs were brilliant. They came up for a sniff a couple of times, on their terms, and then just wandered away. I felt like it was a big breakthrough for them to see me interacting like that with a child. I don't expect them to love kids, and I don't even expect them to be truly happy around them for a long while, but today was a good day. There was also plenty of wine. That makes a good day even better
That sounds like a great day (especially the wine ). You've made so much progress, I didn't even think about it but I bet you being "happy" around the child helped to show them that they could be comfortable too.
