I hesitate to post on this thread again as my intention is not to rile the owners of reactive dogs. Perhaps I just felt the need to redress the balance of negative comments towards children (unfortunately, some people do seem to think children are born with an innate ability to know how to react towards dogs). When I talked of promoting positive interaction between children and dogs I was not referring to reactive dogs. However, I believe owners of calm and confident dogs (and there are a lot of them out there) can, and this will only be to the benefit of children and other dog owners. When the child approached Luna to pat her, I am sure your concerns were not so much for Luna (she wouldn’t bat an eyelid) but that the child might have approached one of your other dogs and the outcome would have been very different for both child, dog and you. By simply telling the child off do you think he understood this? Would it make him less likely to approach dogs in the future? What I imagine he probably learnt from the experience was to make sure that next time he would pat a dog when the owner wasn’t looking. A few minutes spent modelling how to approach Luna just may have stopped him approaching reactive dogs like yours in the future. As a dog owner and parent to hear ‘this is not my job’ really saddens me. It is this attitude that I find so disheartening and short sighted. Far better to 'teach' the child, then in future you may not have to 'growl' at them.
If I was you and you live in the uk I would go and read the dangerous dog act with its recent amendments. You will see just how your dogs behaviour is open to interpretation by those who don't like or understand dogs.t they can use this act to affect your dogs life.. There's also been a increase in firms offering litigation against dog owners for their dogs behaviour. You don't seem to perceive the danger your dog could be in. You need to he more aware as one upset child could mean trouble for your dog and you.
But I honestly don't think it is my responsibility to teach other people's children. To be fair, now I don't tend to mind children coming over to pet him but Stanley is ridiculously over friendly and he tends to think children are small furless dogs that are desperate to be his friend. We have a newphew and Stanley just adores him and basically follows him around with hearts in his eyes. But he's still a young boisterous over the top lunatic and he could easily hurt a child by knocking them over etc. So when we're out walking I pop him on the lead around them so I have a bit of control but there's always the warning (loud enough so the parents can hear) he's very boisterous and might jump up. If I didn't do that, and he went charging up to children, knocking them flying - are their parents going to spend 5 minutes of their day teaching him positively not to jump up? Of course not, they're going to shove him away and be really annoyed. Because my dog is my responsibility to control - and I think it works both ways.
@ziggy I'm not the owner of a reactive dog, nor do I have young children but I frequently work with both so I am fully in favour or protecting 'my' dog first. I am frequently out training a dog only for some unknown member of the public reach to touch the dog in passing - and yes adults frequently do this - ignoring requests not to. Children run up and touch ignoring requests not to. People allow their dog to run up despite requests not to. Is it my responsibility to educate these people while my dog is reacting on the other end of the lead and being accused of being aggressive because it's barking? I often have to sit parents down to explain to them how their behaviour and that of their children is affecting their own dog's behaviour and the risks of escalating that behaviour. My first responsibility is to the dog and protecting him/her - in an incident it is always them that are blamed.
I think it's mostly about knowing your dog and avoiding situations that will evoke unwanted reactions from your dog. It's also being aware and watching the body language of others and reacting to dissipate the situation. For dog to human as well as dog to dog. If your dog is going to react to children, another dog or any trigger then you need to keep the situation as safe as you can. Homer was quite a calm puppy, he's not a boisterous dog, I know he's fine being greeted and petted by the local children walking with their parents, there's one wild child I know to stay away from. I also know his triggers, men dressed in black with hoodies or with backpacks. Homer is not fond of puppies, so when we come close to a puppy and its owner I warn that he might growl and walk on picking up the pace. There's an elderly man with a older German Shepeard who Homer will growl at even from a distance, we always give him a wide berth.
@ziggy I agree that promoting a good relationship between dogs and children is important and beneficial to both, but I'm not sure that in a public setting when someone is out minding there own business with their dog is necessarily the right place, nor do I think parents should allow children to approach dogs as if it is a right. My little nieces can't have a dog of their own, but I really hope that in building a good relationship with Cassie she can be a positive addition to their childhood and they can learn about caring for a dog, and about the importance of respecting people and dogs alike. But I also know that Cassie's excitement and enthusiasm could easily be perceived as "dangerous" or "aggressive" and as @SwampDonkey points out the law has changed and we need to be aware of that. And I would be devastated if she were to scare a child. It's indicative I think of how society has changed since way back when I was growing up -- in those days it was normal for us to spend whole days roaming the countryside on our own -- but who came with us? The family dogs of course. That way we grew up around them, they were every bit our companions and partners in crime as our human friends. Different days.
The expectations of our animals in today’s society is so rediculously high it’s absurd. It compares to a human not being allowed to get angry and raise their voice. Imagine spending your entire life without getting upset and showing it even once. Well that’s what North America expects of your dog. I love my dog and my kids. The rest can stay away. Not my job to teach your kids or your dog. My job is to protect my children from your dog and protect my dog from your children. Non negotiable here. Sorry if I offend anyone but I’m not flexible on this topic. And further more, I think more people should educate themselves about training dogs and have the respect and courtesy to give me my space when I am working with my dog. I’ve been bitten several times by different family dogs growing up and none were ever “ put down”. In each case it was my fault and I now understand that through educating myself about animal behaviour.
