Snapping at little kids

[Sue Ann Richmond]

Our 4 yr old golden doodle has never been very kid friendly, and I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue? We have a 10 year old and a grandson 9 and granddaughter 3. He also has nipped at friends( older). He snaps at little kids if they are just trying to pet him or love on him. Any ideas of what to do about this?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Did he have a bone or other chew object at the time, or was he sleeping? 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This is such a good reminder for all of us. We often forget that there are correct ways to interact with dogs and incorrect ones.  Our dogs, who love us dearly, put up with many of our incorrect and unwanted behaviors. My three dogs really vary in their level of 'snuggliness.'  One is very independent and never sits on my lap, unless he is scared and insecure (doesn't happen often), and he does what we call 'drive bys' where he comes by briefly, gives us a kiss, and leaves.  Another dog will lay by you as long as you will pet him - he loves being petted, but rarely jumps up on the couch or bed to be with us.  The third dog is a total love bug - not in an insecure way but more trying to be dominant in a friendly way. This dog loves attention and will lay by you a lot of the time. He likes to control the situation.

[Stacy]

I just had this experience this week on vacation, and I'm going to post about it after I've taken a shower. But I took the dogs on vacation with the whole family and my little nephews were there. Turns out that Maggie is afraid of them. And she has two options. She can run away or she could bite. Luckily Maggie is a run away kind of girl, but it's my job as the mom to make sure that everyone is safe, and I was very careful to leave her an exit. She would go lay down in the bedroom and the kids weren't allowed to bother her. Our limited interaction was very closely supervised. And I would call it a success. Everyone came home happy, healthy, and exhausted. But I am going to have to rethink the Maggie as a therapy dog idea. She's such a good girl, but she has so many fears. My rule is supervision and separation. Not every dog can be Lassie.

I don't know how easy it is to fix these sorts of things. The easiest thing might be to tell the grandkids that they have to leave the dog alone. It's a bummer, I'm sure he's adorable and they want to love on him, but he's telling them in the only way that he knows that he can't handle it. And perhaps that means that the dog has to be in a crate or a closed room when they're there. It still stinks, but it keeps everyone safe.

Alternately, could they just ignore him and try tossing him treats without trying to interact with him, and see if he learns that good things happen when they're around? Katie loves everyone, so she wasn't really a worry. But it was hysterical to see how quickly she learned that if she stood under the high chair the baby would throw her food. I'm pretty sure that he is her best friend forever. Assuming that your pup doesn't have any other issues like Maggie maybe he could start to associate the little ones with really good things. I think the key is just that they don't reach, grab, jump, scream, or run. Let the dog come to them and decide that they aren't unpredictable and scary. 

[Julie and Charlie]

Supervision, and maybe some training for you and the kids. You need to be present with the kids and the dog in the same room, and directing and supervising respectful interactions. 

Kids (and adults! I am surprised at how many don't know what they are doing) should never be allowed to touch or interact with a dog that is giving off signals of stress or being uncomfortable. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

When our daughter started to crawl Luna took issue with the way the little one interacted with her and snapped at her a few times.  It took quite a bit of positive reinforcement training to have her be more comfortable.  We would have our daughter feed her treats, only allow her to touch Luna gently on her flank and make sure Luna always had an easy "out" to move away if she felt uncomfortable.

Once our daughter got a little older it was easier - she knew that if we told her to leave Luna alone she had to just let her go.  We told her Luna didn't really like hugs and she was never to "squish" her from above.  

The last few years Luna was super tolerant of kids because of her constant exposure but the training (of both kid and dog) was definitely a must!