Baxter is 2 and nearly 6 stone so a big dog. He is a big soft bear but today when out on a walk on a lead a child asked to smooth him which is never a problem but after she stopped smoothing him, he jumped up and tried to grab her jacket and knocked her over and tore her dress. She was obviously upset and I offered to go home with her but she declined. Any.idea why Baxter did this? Worried we will have Police round and put Baxter down. We are so upset both for the.child and Baxter.
That must've been a shock to you, and to the girl. Without seeing it it's hard to say what was behind Baxter jumping up... Excitement and exuberance can be a cause. What was his body language while the girl was stroking (what you call 'smoothing') him? Was he relaxed with mouth open and tongue out or did he appear to be still and stiff? Have there been new or potentially stressful things that he's had to cope with recently (might be a string of small things..)? I'd say it's unlikely that the girl will be able to recreate the story in a way that will lead to you and Baxter. I know it's hard, but just don't let your mind turn to the worst. It's unlikely that anything will come of it. Just as a tip...if kids want to pat my dog I get him in a sit and get his attention on me and feed him treats continually while the kid is stroking him. I always demonstrate how to stroke gently on the chest (never the head). I keep the session really short. Or, to play it really safe, you can just tell kids that it's not ok to pat your dog.
Thank u for your reassurance. She has smoothed him before and he like today was relaxed and happy. Whether he is not happy that she had stopped smoothing him I don't know. Both of us cried our eyes out when home both for girl and Baxter. Everybody loves him and he is the softest cuddly dog we have ever had but in future will say no to anybody smoothing him when out on a walk.
I agree, it's impossible to know his motives without having seen the interaction. I can tell you that he wasn't cross that she had stopped stroking him and did something nasty because of that. My two three-year-old dogs can both mouth at me if they are having a lovely stroke and I stop, but it's not aggression, it's more a "please keep doing that, it was brilliant!". So it's possible Baxter was doing a similar thing and just didn't know his own strength. It doesn't help the incident become any less stressful, I know, especially if the child was hurt, but if this rings any bells, the chances are that it was simply over-exuberance from a young dog. It might be worth giving yourself a crash course on doggy body language. Turid Rugaas' book "Calming Signals: On Talking Terms with Dogs" is well worth a read. There's also a free smartphone app called Dog Decoder which is really good. And, for future interactions with children, the free videos at stopthe77.com are a must-watch.
Thank u so much for your reply. I really think it was over exuberance as he does not know his size and strength and gets so excited. Will definitely look at the app and the free videos. Still waiting for a knock at the door but .....
It does sound like over exuberance. You done the right thing by offering to walk her home. How old is she? Where any adults with her?
@mayonnaise I am sorry you are so worried about what sounds to have been some over exhuberance and misunderstanding between little human and dog. Why is such a young child wandering around unsupervised? Unless this happened in their yard? Or you were baby sitting? I may hypervigilant because of where I live but I would be super concerned if a child of that age was out and about without adult supervision...
It's very upsetting for you and I hope all will be well. It certainly sounds as if Baxter jumped up to ask for more, but it's too risky to allow that to happen. I'm not keen on allowing strangers to touch my dogs, as it seems safer to err on the side of caution, even if the dog is normally bomb-proof.
Yes definitely keeping them away from all children in the future. We live on a housing estate where children are allowed to go out and play on their own, some as young as 3. Disgusting behaviour by so called parents.
Thank u all so much for your reassurance . Going to walk them somewhere else as worried someone will have a go at me if they r related to young girl. Still waiting for a knock on the door by Police but hoping they would have come yday if they were going to.
I doubt that the police would involve themselves in something like this. If a government authority were interested it'd be a local council, or whoever has responsibility for domestic animal controls. And, to be honest, without any identifying info or an address they probably won't be pursuing it either. If you do see the girl or her family and a link is made then all you can do is apologise, say that your dog got over-excited and jumped up, and that you really wanted to walk the girl home to her parents etc. People can be more understanding and sensible than you're possibly expecting... I think that things will be ok.
