My two don't like children. They've never had much opportunity to be around them, so they are scared of them. This can lead to them barking which is obviously not great at all. This morning, we walked the pups to our little corner shop to pick up some butter and flour for cookie-baking purposes. I stayed outside whilst J went in to buy the bits. A friend of ours was there with her little boy, who is about 18 months old and toddling pretty well. He came running (or at least, his approximation of a run) towards Willow and Shadow and I thought, here comes the barking, but no! They trotted past him and pretty much ignored him. So I relaxed and talked to my friend for a while, all the time watching the dogs' body language as little Oli tried to interact with them. In the end, Willow (who is the more nervous of the two) was going up to him and sniffing him. She was a bit jumpy when he waved his arms around, but she quickly went back for another sniff. It doesn't sound like much, but this small interaction with no barking is just brilliant. I'm going to see if we can arrange a few more random meetings like that when we're both here at the same time. On another happy note, as we were walking down the hill to the shop, a lady wanted to go past us, but she called that she was scared of dogs. W&S weren't on their leads (there's no traffic about) so I called them over to me and asked them to sit so she could pass with a wide berth. She decided to run past, which probably wasn't her finest moment, but luckily they didn't give chase! I've been working on their sit with distractions over the last two days, so I think that may have helped a bit
Well done, my girl's not a big fan of children either. Now the school holidays have begun I was a bit concerned, she's not been too bad much to my surprise. She normally likes to give chase. (On the lead I may add). Puppies can really surprise their mummy and daddy at times. X
Good Willow and Shadow! Not liking kids isn't great, but liking them so much you always want to play with them, play as in: kids make very good footballs, they squeal when you roll them; isn't all that great either.....
Juno hasn't had much interaction with children but she doesn't seem that bothered about them. Interested if they are making a lot of noise but only looks and then walks on . Her main interaction has been when she was staying with our trainer while we were in the UK in June as while there they had friends children around for the day.
The worse thing about the kids holidays is the kids. I despair i keep my dogs on their leads whilst around them so they are very close to me and when I see a child I keep them close on their leads cos Rory barks at kids(getting better with work) , but one ran straight into us again i mean 'm on a huge park and you would think we would be a small target but it happens all the time. Don't their eyes work ?
Maisie barked at some children yesterday when they came into the pet shop we were in. I am conscious that I didn't socialise her enough with kids when she was younger. Murphy was always brilliant with my niece and nephew and in fact any kids that wanted to say hi. He was so tolerant and gentle. Maisie as I said barks, I guess I need to work on this, but how? We plan on having our own kids in the next year or so so I guess I should start planning for it now. I need to find some dog savvy children!
I don't have many opportunities to set up scenarios, so it means being ultra proactive when there are kids around us. If we're sat somewhere and there are kids around, for example, I end up clicking like a mental thing - every time they look at the kid(s) to start off with, then if they can look for one second without barking, two seconds etc. If the kids are being more active, running past us yada yada, I click for every good thing - looking without barking, looking away etc. It's hard work! If you know someone with a slightly bigger, dog-friendly child, you can ask them to help you with your training. I managed to do this once at the end of the ski season with a boy who was on holiday (but known to us, not just some random). I asked the kid to stand still at first, whilst I stood at a distance, then closer, then walked up and down past him, C&Ting for good behaviour. When we'd done that for a while, we sat and had the kid slowly approach us, talk to me, ignoring the dog, and then interacting with the dog. I did it with each puppy individually. One of the problems is that there are different levels of development in kids, which makes them very diverse. Toddlers are generally very brave and move in a completely strange way, often jerky and running towards the dogs. When they're a bit older, they're still not coordinated, and tend to be a bit more fearful, waving their arms if the dog gets too close. Then there's the running-around-screaming age, where they have absolutely no concept of personal space... so it's tough! We're on a long road, that's for sure.
I have to socialise my pups with children of all ages from day 1. I make sure the dog is right next to me and they know I won't let the child do anything they don't like. I seek out toddler groups - the leaders don't mind at all as it's good for the kids too, and of course 99.9% of people love puppies! Twiglet is already at the 'oh, another kid' stage. Of course, children have often been eating, so not licking their hands is an early lesson!
When harley was younger she loved children and would run up to them to say hi, play etc if I didn't watch her closely. Luckily I have nieces, nephews and God children who come over every few weeks and some stay. Harley follows my 2 year old god daughter around and blocks her from crawling up the stairs. In the park until she was about 12/13 months old, she would get excited every time she saw a child, but something (maybe my training!!) turned this around. Harley is really good at being patient and not reacting with the kids. She loves playing ball with them, but only if she knows the child. If she doesn't know them she ignores them .
Sounds ass if you have Harley well trained, particularly ignoring unknown children and safeguarding little ones
Rory came from a woman who looked after her grandchildren and gets very over excited near kids which I working on. I think he misses them and has a very low tolerance for getting frustrated. He's very I want it I want it now. He was fine when younger and saw plenty of children and interacted with them. He seems to react to boys who are just about to hit puberty. It happened after he got kicked by a man on a local park. I'm just working on it but I dont have access to children so its hard. Fortunately there are some nice people out there and they've helped. People who have dogs and kids dont seem to be a problem as their kids understand dogs and approach them correctly. I even meet a group of teenages who kindly helped by letting him play ball with them under my supervison. They made him sit stay and be calm when I explained how and really helped. I go out with him when school closes and walk about near the kids. One day a group of them shouted oi missus you dogs got big pink balls and walked behind us laughing and singing about Rorys balls. Obviously i laughed cos they are big and pink but Rory did not even get excited. clearly he's very proud of them and doesn't mind teenages having a good look Its the random ones who bump into us or run up to us or away from use screaming or slap Rory on the head that are the problem. I've even had kids do it on purpose and laugh when they frighten Rory and me. Most young labs seem to be a work in progress I just have to remind myself that all the stuff I'm doing will work its just time and repeating stuff. I've begun to be a bit tougher with him too. He really is a lovely dog just young just a bit excitable and giddy.
